Siebold: A German doctor, who served Dutch, and lived in Japan

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19th century was an age of exploration. European powers were in unchartered waters, and their expeditions were now in far ends of the world. Rare breed of such explorers were doctors, who travelled far to quench their curiosities. Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold, or Siebold for this blog, was one of them. Born on 17th February 1796, both Germany and France have honoured him with postage stamps in 1996.

Siebold was born in a family of doctors, and had completed his medical education by 1820. While he started his practice in Bavaria, Germany, explorer in him was itching to travel to far lands. Two years later, in 1822 he entered into the service of Dutch military, with sole aim of travelling to Dutch east Indes (now Indonesia). Eventually a day after his birthday, on 18 February 1823, he was in Batavia (now Jakarta) as a ship-surgeon. Given his love for the plants, and his desire to travel farther, Dutch authorities posted him to Dejima, their outpost in Japan. So, in August of 1823, Siebold’s love for Japan had begun.

Siebold in Japan

Once in Japan, he successfully treated a local Japanese officer. This enabled him to gain entry into the Japanese system. Later, in 1824 he established a medical school in Nagasaki. This private western medicine school Narutaki-juku was a European style two storied building with a herbal garden. Medium of instruction in this school was in Dutch. Many of the Japanese who studied at Siebold’s juku became pioneers of Western modern medicine and biology in Japan.

Since Siebold never accepted money for treating Japanese patients, he recieved many gifts. He collected these gifts and they were works of art. As a part of these collections and interactions, he obtained a map of Northern Japanese territories. This innocuous gift, was to be be his future bane.

Meanwhile, he was in a live-in relation with a Japanese girl Sono Ōgi and in 1827, the two had a daughter together called Kusumoto-Ine. Ine later became the first Japanese female to train in western medicine as a physician.

In 1828, Japanese discovered that Siebold was in possession of the maps. It was forbidden to keep a map of yet unexplored part of Japan. Hence Siebold was accused of being a Russian spy. Siebold himself insisted that he was interested in the maps only as part of his studies of Japan’s fauna and flora. However after an enquiry, he was deported back to Netherlands in 1830.

Yearning to return back to Japan

Siebold returned to Netherlands with many plants, works of art, a Japanese salamander and a wealth of knowledge. Thereafter dutch government rewarded him and appointed him as an advisor on Japanese affairs. In 1834, he wrote his famous book Flora Japonica on plants in Japan. His another six volume book Archiv zur Beschreibung Nippons on Japanese culture and art, introduced Europeans to the Japanese culture. As an authority on Japanese affairs, he advised various European nations on Japanese affairs.

Siebold was desperate to be back in Japan. By 1858, the Japanese government had lifted his banishment. He could return back in 1859, now as an adviser to the Agent of the Dutch Trading Society. This assignment was rather short. Then, in 1861 he tried to become an advisor to the Japanese emperor. At this time, Dutch government rejected these endeavours, and placed him on a pension. He returned to Europe. In subsequent years, he made a few more unsuccessful attempts to be in Japan. He died in 1866, in Munich, Germany.

Legacy

Many Japanese plant species are named after Siebold. His Japanese art collections are now museums, both in Netherlands and Japan. He contributed to understanding of Japanese studies in Europe. World remembers him for being a pioneer in Euro-Japanese cultural exchange.