Days of Watching Morning Dramas | Satoko Nagata, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care
The NHK morning drama series "Kaze, Kaoru" (The Wind Fragrant), which began in April, is described as a story about "diving into the world of nursing, which was still unknown at the time, rushing to protect the injured, and sometimes fighting against the powerful," and "an adventure story of two slightly unconventional nurses seeking happiness in the turbulent society of the Meiji era" (quoted from the NHK official website). The drama is an original story based on the Chuko Bunko book "Meiji no Nightingale: The Story of Chika Ozeki." The characters "Rin," played by Ai Mikami, and "Naomi," played by Juri Kosaka, are said to be inspired by Chika Ozeki and Masa Suzuki, respectively. As of early May, when I am writing this manuscript, Rin and Naomi, along with their classmates, are deepening their learning about nursing at a newly established Nurse Training Center, translating Nightingale's Notes on Nursing and organizing the environment of the school dormitory. Every year, in the first session of the required fall semester course "Home Care Nursing" for second-year students, I teach the establishment of the Visiting Nurse Association by Masa Suzuki in 1891 as part of the history of home care nursing in Japan, so watching the recorded drama has become my nightly routine. There are many interesting depictions, such as the various circumstances of students learning nursing in an era when it was difficult for women to be independent, and the nature of nursing, which seeks to maintain health and promote recovery from a standpoint different from medicine. I am looking forward to the future developments.
Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, established a nurse training school in London in 1860. Subsequently, the Nightingale system of education spread to Japan, and the Sakurai Girls' School Nurse Training Center, which served as the model for Rin's training center, was established in 1886 (Meiji 19). According to literature, there were 60 nurse training centers across the country by the 1890s (Hirao, 2001). Later, ensuring the quality of nurses trained in various regions became an issue, and the Nurse Regulations were enacted in 1915 (Taisho 4), establishing the national qualification for nurses. The School of Medicine was established at Keio University in 1917, and its affiliated Department of Medicine Nurse Training Center was opened in 1918. This means that Keio nursing began its journey almost at the same time as the institutionalization of nursing in Japan. As Keio marks 108 years since the start of nursing education and the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, the daily morning drama provides a good opportunity to look back at history, confirm values that persist today, and look toward the future. Since both Chika Ozeki and Masa Suzuki lived through the Showa era, I intend to watch the drama until it reaches its finale in September.
The Japanese Nursing Association is also collaborating on this drama. While I was writing this manuscript, happy news arrived that Takuya Okabe, an 11th-year graduate of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, won the Grand Prize at the Japanese Nursing Association's "Nursing Day" event for the 2026 "Unforgettable Nursing Episodes: Professionals Protecting and Supporting Life, Daily Living, and Dignity." It has also been adapted into manga and anime, so please take a look.