Kusumoto Ine (楠本 イネ, 10 May 1827 - 27 August 1903), also known as Oine was the first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan,[1] and the daughter of German Dejima-based physician Philipp Franz von Siebold.
Her mother was Kusumoto Otaki, who may have been a courtesan but who in any case bore a courtesan's stamp in her official papers allowing her access to Siebold in Dejima,[2] the Dutch East India Company enclave in Nagasaki closed to almost all Japanese but courtesans.
Her father was caught smuggling a variety of items, chiefly forbidden maps (which, it was believed, could fall into the hands of Japan's enemies, such as Russia, which posed a threat on Japan's northern borders), and was sentenced with banishment from Japan on 22 October 1829.[3] He left the country by the end of 1829, two-year-old Oine and her mother waving goodbye to him from a small boat in the harbor as his ship pulled away.[1]
Oine remained in touch with her father during his long exile, and was provided with Western medicines by him and with a training in Western medicine by his students who remained in Dejima.[1]
Her father returned to Japan on 4 August 1859, after thirty years of absence. By this time, Oine had married, had a daughter of her own, become the first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan and established a gynecology clinic in Nagasaki. She would see him for the last time in April 1862, as he was forced to return to Europe once again, and never returned to Japan.[1]