The start of brain surgery: Developing a new medical field
Japan’s first hospital department dedicated to brain surgery

• “Brain surgery” is an ordinary term nowadays, but it was not used until after the WWII.
• Until the Ministry of Health and Welfare took over the role after the war, the old First National Hospital of Tokyo (now the NCGM) produced brilliant results in brain surgery, primarily, for battle wounds. Moreover, by the standards of the time, the National Hospital was quite well-equipped in terms of surgical tools.
• In 1949, Tokyo University Medical Professor Moriyasu Nobuo assumed a position at the National Hospital, where he advocated for a brain surgery facility. Moriyasu oversaw the construction of a new brain surgery operating room, in which 140 operations were performed in the following five years.

*The equipment for microscopic brain surgery that was used at the NCGM is on display in the exhibition room.