Fukase Yōshun (Japanese: 深瀬 洋春; 1834–1905) was a Japanese physician and vaccinologist.
Fukase Yōshun was born in Hakodate as the eldest son of Fukase Kōsai Kazumoto (深瀬 鴻斉 一甫), a medical expert originally from the Yonezawa Domain in Dewa Province who moved to Hakodate in order to open a medical practice. Fukase Yōshun's brother, Fukase Kōdō (深瀬 鴻堂), became the second director of the Hakodate Medical Center (箱館医学所, Hakodate igakujo) founded by Kurimoto Jō'un.[1]
In 1857, alarmed by an epidemic of smallpox spreading rapidly among the Ainu, Abe Masahiro ordered a small team of physicians including Fukase and Kuwata Ryūsai to enter Ezo and carry out compulsory vaccination of the Ainu populace.[4] The team prepared their vaccine from samples of plasma collected from smallpox victims (痘漿, tōshō).[5] Fukase traveled to Karafuto and carried out the first known smallpox vaccinations there.[5]
In his later years, Fukase returned to his hometown of Hakodate and served at the local medical outpost of the Kaitakushi.[2] He died in 1905.
↑Walker, Brett L. (February 21, 2006). The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion,1590-1800 (1sted.). United States: University of California Press. ISBN0520248341.