Erwin Bälz

Erwin von Balz ( born January 13, 1849 in Bietigheim (Württemberg ); † August 31, 1913 in Stuttgart ) was a German internist, anthropologist and physician to the Imperial Family of Japan. Together with the derived also from Germany surgeons Julius Scriba he is regarded as the founders of modern medicine in Japan.

Life

The son of a building contractor visited in Stuttgart, the Eberhard -Ludwig -Gymnasium. The study of medicine, he started with 19 years in Tübingen. After Physikum Bälz moved to Leipzig, where he earned his degree in 1872. In the same year he accepted a position as assistant to Prof. Karl August Wunderlich (1815-1877) on, in 1872 a doctorate and habilitation in 1876. During his studies he was a member of the fraternity Germania Tübingen.

Through contacts with a Japanese patient, he was appointed in 1876 as O- yatoi gaikokujin for initially limited for two years at the Medical University of Tokyo ( from 1877 the medical faculty of the University of Tokyo ) as the successor to the German doctor Agathon Wernich ( 1843-1896 ). As a high school teacher, he was nearly 30 years in Japan and has taught over 800 students in western medicine.

During his total of 29 - year stay in Japan Bälz worked not only as a university professor. He was also taken at meetings and deliberations of the Japanese health ministry data, he led the supervision of the University Hospital and entertained beyond his own practice.

His medical skills related his appointment as court physician advisory in the 1890s and the personal physician of the Crown Prince. He visited in the summer of 1899, the Korean capital Seoul and the port city of Busan and took it ethnological investigations. From April 22 to July 3, 1903 he was again in Korea and made with Richard request an expedition into the interior of the country. 1902 Bälz held his farewell lecture at the medical faculty of the University of Tokyo. His position as court physician he knew until his return home in 1905.

Put back in Germany Bälz his medical practice in order to devote himself to his anthropological studies. His great project to write a textbook on human East Asia, he could not realize that he began in 1910 to suffer from vascular disease. This he died in 1913.

He married the Japanese Hana, together with whom he had two children.

Doctor, anthropologist and researcher

Erwin Bälz applies in medical history as the discoverer and explorer of unknown diseases in East Asia. Bälz also brought the German medicine through his many years as a physician and professor in Tokyo at high reputation in Japan. The anthropology owes him important publications and research contributions to the cultures and peoples of East Asia. In addition Bälz applicable in Japan as a pioneer of modern Japanese medicine, as proven friend of the Japanese people, and finally as a cultural mediator between Germany and Japan.

Until the mid- 70s the medical cards were conducted in German in Japan due to his influence. On his initiative, the volcanic springs of Kusatsu were expanded to the today's most successful resort in Japan.

He also devoted himself to both anthropological and ethnological studies, which he carried out on his travels through Japan. His anthropological and ethnological research in Japan was much easier for him by his knowledge of Japanese. Both in the field of Medicine ( Textbook of Internal Medicine, 1890) as well as in the field of ethnology and anthropology Bälz made ​​important contributions. He promoted the Japanese way of life ( Jiujitsu, Balneology ) and Japan evinced a keen interest in art and poetry.

Bälz was also a passionate art collector. Much of his Japanese works of art is now on display at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart.

Tributes

At his departure from Japan in 1905 Bälz was honored by Japanese Emperor with the " Grand Cross of the Rising Sun ".

1905 Erwin von Bälz was awarded the Kommenturkreuz of the Order of the Württemberg Crown, with which it was connected to the personal title of nobility. In 1911 he was elected to the Academy Scholars Leopoldina.

A stone sculpture at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen reminiscent of his services for the Japanese medicine. Since 1961 there is a twinning between Kusatsu and Bietigheim -Bissingen. The Town Museum Bietigheim- Bissingen there is a Baelz Cabinet with exhibits on the life and work of the native Bietigheimers.

Erwin von Bälz and the martial arts

His sporting passion also led him into the world of Japanese martial arts. At the Tokyo Imperial University of Erwin Bälz made ​​advertising for the ancient Japanese martial arts, mainly for the Jiu -Jitsu, which in his opinion was highly suitable for the physical exercise. Together with two other doctors, Dr. Miyake and Dr. Julius Scriba, he was accepted into an existing team of the Ministry of Education, which had the task to integrate Jiu- Jitsu for physical training in the education training. Whether he pushed at the Imperial University on the young student Kanō Jigorō, remains unsecured. The fact is that Kano was at the same time at the Imperial University, and at the same time to be applied Bälz judo as a means of physical exercise.