Wakodo’s founder, Prof. Tsukasa Hirota, was the pioneer of Japanese pediatrics
First pediatrician in Japan and author of first textbook of pediatrics
Doctor Tsukasa Hirota, the founder of Wakodo, was originally trained as a surgeon. A major career change occurred in 1885, when he was 25 years old during his studies in Germany. Dr. Hirota was studying at Medical Collage at the University of Strasbourg, and became homesick in the unfamiliar foreign country. He found his only solace in playing with the children at his boarding house. His supervisor, Professor Koltz, learnt that Dr. Hirota liked children, and strongly recommended that he become a pediatrician, a discipline yet to exist in Japan at that time. This was how Dr. Hirota came to give birth to Japan’s first pediatric care program.
When he returned to Japan, Dr. Hirota started giving lectures on Pediatric Medicine at Tokyo Medical School of the Imperial University in 1888. At the same time, Dr. Hirota published the first textbook of Pediatrics in Japan, “Essentials of Pediatrics (Jika Hikkei).” As Japan had no clinical specialty called Pediatrics at that time, this book not only played a role as a textbook for medical students, but also became an instruction manual for private practitioners in improving pediatric care service.
Textbook “Essentials of Pediatrics (Jika Hikkei)”
Dr. Hirota also inaugurated a scholarly journal, “Pediatrics,” the earliest predecessor of the current journal, “The Journal of the Japan Pediatric Society,” and founded the Pediatric Research Society, the earliest predecessor of the current Japan Pediatric Society, in 1896, and became its first president. He continued to devote all his energy into development of pediatric care in Japan. In 1891, Dr. Hirota founded Women’s Cooperative Education Society (Fujin Kyoritsu Kyokai), the pioneering initiative in Japan’s social welfare.
He made appeal to the women living in the Keihin area to sell disused goods to raise funds for the aid of impoverished children. Dr. Hirota’s caring heart for children has been inherited and still lives in the heart of Wakodo today.
Professor Hirota’s outpatient care (extract from “100 Years of Pediatrics at the University of Tokyo”)
[Reference]
Bunnosuke Ogi, “Professor Tsukasa Hirota: from a panel exhibition at the 34th Japan Pediatric Health Conference,” The Journal of Child Health
ASAHI GROUP FOODS,LTD. become an owner of WAKODO brand products. （As of 1, July 2017）
