Background
Genseki Habu was born in 1768 in Aki Province (Hiroshima Prefecture). His family had been one of eye specialists for generations.
Genseki Habu was born in 1768 in Aki Province (Hiroshima Prefecture). His family had been one of eye specialists for generations.
He won great reputation in Edo where he practiced. Was made a physician to the Shogun in 1810 after he successfully treated the eye trouble of the widow of the Lord of Nambu. In 1826, when Siebold, a German physician, came to Edo, he presented Genseki with a medicine to dilate the pupil of the eye fo r surgical operation. Genseki in return gave Siebold a garment which he had received from the Shogun. When Siebold was imprisoned in the same year, Genseki was also imprisoned on the charge that he had given the garment to the foreign regardless of the regulation prohibiting such a practice. In 1843, he was set free and practiced prosperously again in Fukagawa in Edo.
