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What I learned from Sagen Ishizuka, a great doctor


From today I would like to introduce an important book written by Sagen Ishizuka "How to Stay Healthy Through Food" (published by Rural Culture Association, annotated by Maruyama Hiroshi, translated by Hashimoto Masanori), and I will share my thoughts on it. 

Sagen Ishizuka (hereafter referred to as Sagen) was a doctor and pharmacist from Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, who studied traditional Chinese medicine and served as a military doctor. This book is a modern translation of his work "Popular Food Regimen," an explanation for the general public of his academic book "Chemical Dietary Longevity Theory" published in 1896 (Meiji 29). In it, he describes the relationship between "food," "body," and "mind," and advocates the establishment of appropriate dietary habits, hygiene, medicine, childcare, and education methods in Japan.


Sagen first advocated that there is chemical evidence that "humans only exist when their diet is established." There is a proverb that says, "Different people are created depending on the locality," but in fact, it is the food that is produced in that area that determines who we are. In other words, how we eat affects our height, weight, way of thinking, and character. How we eat food must take into account the climate and season of the land, and we must change according to the place and season. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, which can also be interpreted as eating local foods according to the season.


Therefore, if people in each region were to properly follow the chemically balanced dietary regimen, they would enjoy large physiques, good judgment and intelligence, be free from disease, and be healthy and mentally sound, and they would be in line with the way nature gives birth to and nurtures all things.


This concludes the introduction to the preface. The preface alone was quite a good read. I think Sagen left behind this book because he felt a sense of crisis about Japan abandoning its own traditions and blindly adopting Western civilization during the Meiji period. His problem is not that he is rejecting Western civilization, but that Japan has adopted Western food culture without considering the climate and geography of Japan.


Since I started farming, I have come to understand that different soils and climates produce different crops. Different crops can be grown in warmer and colder regions of Japan, and even within a single prefecture, there are crops that are easy to grow and others that are difficult to grow. For example, apples can be grown in Daigo Town in the north of Ibaraki Prefecture, but they are rarely grown in the central and southern parts of the prefecture. Instead, mandarin oranges are grown in the southern part of the prefecture. Having tried farming, I have come to intuitively feel that it is best to eat what is available in the soil at the time of year. Sagen has chemically proven this. I will show you more at a later date. I hope you look forward to it.


A pumpkin I harvested this autumn

Lunch box including boiled pumpkins

Oct.10th, 2024: Taka




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