SAKADO, Saitama -- The achievements of a couple who worked to promote awareness of nutritional science from the prewar years on are showcased in the Shozo and Aya Kagawa Memorial Museum on the campus of Kagawa Nutrition University in Sakado, Saitama Prefecture.
Shozo Kagawa (1895-1945) and his wife Aya (1899-1997), who met at a doctor's office in the medical department of Tokyo Imperial University, came to recognize that "a true medical doctor should strive to prevent anyone from becoming ill," a maxim they gained through their research into treating beriberi patients and preventing that illness through diets including rice with germ that provides a lot of vitamin B1.
Following their marriage, they began private classes at their home in Honkomagome, Tokyo, launching nutritional education from a viewpoint of preventive medicine.
In May 1935, they started a monthly magazine called "Eiyo to Ryori" (Nutrition and cookery). In this magazine, besides carrying articles on nutrition science, they introduced how to cook various kinds of dishes, while writing about appropriate amounts of ingredients and seasonings for these dishes on the "cooking cards" in its supplement.
The couple's enthusiasm for striving to enhance people's interest in nutrition shines through in the photos of their lectures and articles from early editions of their magazine on display at the museum.
Their private classes were well attended and later renamed Joshi Eiyo Gakuen (Women's academy on nutrition) with the construction of a new school building.
But in April 1945, the school burned down in an air raid. And in July the same year, Shozo died suddenly in Gunma Prefecture, where he had evacuated.
"Either one of us will survive the war and will continue the work," they had promised to each other.
So, Aya in 1946 restarted "Eiyo to Ryori," which had been suspended during the war.
She made remarkable achievements, including making innovative measuring cups and spoons with units standadized in cubic centimeters, and popularizing their use.
She also established the "numerical system for four food groups," which shows the ideal amount of foods to be consumed each day out of four basic food groups: 1) dairy products and eggs; 2) meat and seafood; 3) vegetables and fruit; and 4) cereals and sugar.
The museum opened in 2001 on the Sakado campus of Kagawa Nutrition University, a university offering four-year courses that Aya had long dreamed of creating.
The couple's grandson Akio Kagawa, 60, who is the president of the university and head of the memorial museum, said, "Fostering people who think of nutritionally well-balanced diets and put their thinking into practice has been our mission, which is unchanged from prewar years."
In recent years, the whole nation has been striving to prevent lifestyle-related illnesses. Could Shozo and Aya, who advocated the importance of nutritional science in the prewar years, have expected the advent of an era like the present day?
Shozo and Aya Kagawa Memorial Museum: The Sakado campus of Kagawa Nutrition University, 3-9-21, Chiyoda, Sakado, Saitama Prefecture
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
