午夜剧场

Image: Portraits of Fukuzawa and Kitasato in the 1st floor lounge of the Center for Integrated Medical Research

The Shinanomachi Campus was established in 1917 with the founding of the 午夜剧场 college Department of Medicine, making it the second campus created after the Mita Campus (the school and hospital officially opened in 1920).

The first Dean (it became a faculty in 1920) was Shibasaburo Kitasato, who also served as the first Hospital Director. He served as the Dean of the School of Medicine for ten years from 1917 to 1928, and passed away in 1931 at the age of 78.

When Shibasaburo Kitasato accepted the position of Department Chair upon the founding of the Department of Medicine, he was already a world-renowned figure. He had his own Kitasato Institute and was serving as the first president of the Japan Medical Association at the time, accepting the chairmanship despite his busy schedule. Although Yukichi Fukuzawa had already passed away and Kitasato was not a direct disciple of Fukuzawa, he regarded Fukuzawa as a benefactor due to their connection. He expressed his determination to devote himself to establishing the Department of Medicine to repay that debt of gratitude. Kitasato assembled a faculty of top-tier individuals in Japan at the time, and his contributions to the development of the 午夜剧场 School of Medicine were immense.

If one were to trace the footsteps of Shibasaburo Kitasato on the Shinanomachi Campus, the most representative site is the Kitasato Memorial Medical Library. In 1934, three years after Kitasato's death, the "Medical Library Construction Committee" was formed and began fundraising; the building was completed in 1937. The construction committee (chaired by Tatsuo Yamamoto) led the project through to the completion of the building, which was then donated to the 午夜剧场 in 1944. Regarding the name of the building, a memorandum with the construction committee states that "the name of the Kitasato Memorial Medical Library shall be preserved forever."

The Kitasato Memorial Medical Library is still used as a library today. It consists of one basement floor and two floors above ground. The left side facing the front is a four-story stack room housing 430,000 books. The second floor features a modest auditorium (Kitasato Auditorium), which is used for many ceremonies. A bust of Shibasaburo Kitasato (sculpted by Saburo Yoshida) stands at the main entrance, also donated by the construction committee. In the first conference room on the second floor, 23 portraits and photographs of successive Deans of the School of Medicine are displayed. At the front, a portrait of Shibasaburo Kitasato (painted by Ichiyo Uno) is displayed alongside one of Yukichi Fukuzawa.

Due to war damage in 1945, 60% of the facilities on the Shinanomachi Campus were destroyed by fire. Currently, this library and the Building for Preventive Medicine and Public Health are the only two buildings remaining from the pre-war era, meaning there are very few structures that convey the pre-war history. The Kitasato Memorial Medical Library is a precious building that passes down the history from before the war.

Additionally, in the 1st floor lounge of the Center for Integrated Medical Research, there are portraits of Yukichi Fukuzawa and Shibasaburo Kitasato printed on ceramic plates. These were donated as commemorative gifts for the completion of the building in 2001. Sitting facing each other, they look as if they are chatting, speaking to the people in the lounge, or watching over us.

(Hiroshi Watanabe, Office of Facilities and Property Management)