Tatsuji Inouye-Topographer of the Visual Cortex. Exemplar of the Germany-Japan Ophthalmic Legacy of the Meiji Era

Abstract

Purpose: To give historic recognition to Tatsuji Inouye, M.D., as the originator of our modern concepts of the topography of the visual cortex and to highlight his further contributions to ophthalmology. Historical approach or resources: The Meiji era (1868–1912) was a period in which Japan welcomed all Western influences. Germany became the primary source for dissemination of modern medical knowledge, a role that the Dutch had played for 250 years during the prior Edo era. Within a short 40-year span, Japan's physicians were to make significant contributions in all medical fields. Body of paper: Among them, Tatsuji Inouye must be recognized. In the Russo-Japan War (1904–5), he examined bullet wounds of the occiput and in his subsequent publication deduced the functional role of the visual cortex. His achievement was overshadowed by similar studies carried out in World War I by Gordon Holmes, whose name alone, to this day, is identified in medical texts with the map of the visual cortex. Summary or conclusions: Tatsuji Inouye deserves credit, along with Holmes, for our modern concepts of the topography of the visual cortex and for furthering ophthalmic care in Japan.