, or the National Sanatorium Nagashima Aiseien, is a sanatorium for leprosy

Leprosy

Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...

 or ex-leprosy patients on the island of Nagashima in Setouchi, Okayama

Setouchi, Okayama

is a city located in the southern part of Okayama Prefecture, Japan. As of 2004, the city has a population of 39,377. The total area is 125.51 km²....

, Japan, which was founded in 1930.

Background

In 1927, members of the Lower House presented a paper stating that the present prefectural leprosy sanatoriums were insufficient, and that the Government should establish national sanatoriums. When the bill for this was passed, it was decided to build the first national sanatorium on an island, following the recommendation of Kensuke Mitsuda

Kensuke Mitsuda

was a Japanese leprologist and director of the Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium and the National Sanatorum Nagashima Aiseien. He had been at the frontier of leprosy policy of Japan. He was given the Order of Cultural Merits and Damien-Dutton Award...

.

Timeline

• November 20, 1930: Several buildings were completed and the National Leprosarium was founded. The first director was Kensuke Mitsuda.
• March 3, 1931: The National Leprosarium Nagashima Aiseien was named by the Interior Ministry.
• March 27, 1931: 85 patients arrived from Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium
  Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium
  Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium, or National Sanatorium Tama Zenshoen, is a sanatorium for leprosy or ex-leprosy patients situated in Higashimurayama-shi, Tokyo-to, Japan starting in 1909.-Background:...
  
  , Tokyo.
• December 23, 1931: 10-ttubo (33 square meter) houses were built with donated money.
• January 10, 1938: The responsible Ministry changed from the Interior Ministry to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
• May 5, 1944: An elementary school was established.
• November 1, 1946: The facility was renamed the National Sanatorium Nagashima Aiseien.
• September 16, 1955: Niirada High School was established within the sanatorium, with students coming from other leprosy sanatoriums.
• March 3, 1987: The high school was closed. (369 students had been enrolled and 307 students had graduated.)
• May 9, 1988: The Oku-Nagashima-Ohashi Bridge was completed.
• November 1, 1989: A bus service from Okayama to the sanatorium started running.
• April 1996: The 1953 Leprosy Prevention Law was abolished.
• July 1998: The trial for compensation started.
• May 11, 2001: The trial for compensation ruled that detaining patients under the previous law was unconstitutional.
• May 25, 2001: The trial for compensation was confirmed. The compensation of 8,000,000 yen to 14,000,000 yen was given to patients depending on the duration of unconstitutional periods.

Number of patients

Year	Number of in-patients
1945	1478
1950	1496
1955	1701
1960	1675
1965	1509
1970	1326
1975	1167
1980	1073
1985	955
1990	841
1995	685
1999	590

Year	Number of in-patients
2003	499
2004	471
2005	445
2006	424
2007	396
2008	369

Background

Kensuke Mitsuda

Kensuke Mitsuda

was a Japanese leprologist and director of the Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium and the National Sanatorum Nagashima Aiseien. He had been at the frontier of leprosy policy of Japan. He was given the Order of Cultural Merits and Damien-Dutton Award...

was so determined to eliminate leprosy that he admitted too many patients compared with the capacity of the sanatorium. In 1936, the number of patients admitted was 1163 in July, while the capacity was 890. Naturally, food and housing conditions deteriorated.

Riot

On August 10, 1936, four patients tried to escape and were caught and there was an atmosphere of unrest. On August 13, Mitsuda called a meeting of the patients and warned them against misconduct. This delayed the time of dining, and in the night the patients gathered and got excited, demonstrations took place and some people refused to do their assigned work. Some patients were used as spies and the unrest had to be controlled by special policemen.

Negotiations

After 10 days of heated negotiations with officials from the Interior Ministry, the Police Department of Okayama Prefecture, Special Police Section and Kensuke Mitsuda, the patients were permitted to form Jichikai (a patients' association), a kind of self-governing organization. However, later patients divided into pro-Mitsuda and anti-Mitsuda factions.

Oku-Nagashima Ohashi Bridge

On May 9, 1988, the mainland and the island of Nagashima Aiseien and Oku Komyoen were joined when the Oku-Nagashima-Ohashi Bridge was completed. It is recorded that patients had been advocating for a bridge since 1968, presumably after they realised that improvements in bridge construction such as the "5 bridges of Amakusa" in 1966, made such a bridge possible. Lobbying was repeated from 1972, and the bridge was completed in 1988. The bridge was planned and built, not by the Ministry of Construction but by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The completion of the bridge was a great joy to the residents of Nagashima and was a means of decreasing the stigma of leprosy.