Biography of Iga Mori

Iga Mori, a prominent Japanese physician in Hawaii, enrolled at the University of Glasgow for one year in 1898, where he attended a single class in Pathology (winter session) and in Bacteriology (summer session) led by Professor Robert Muir and lecturer Joseph Coats..

Mori was born in Ishikawa prefecture in 1864. As a naval medical officer, he studied and graduated from the Naval Medical College in Japan in December 1877. Mori went on to study Internal Medicine at Cooper Medical College, California, USA, from where he graduated in 1891 with Sanzaburo Kobayashi, with whom he later established Japanese Hospital in Honolulu. As one of the earliest Japanese graduates of the college, Mori was invited by the Hawaiian Government to work as an immigrant supervisor and physician in Kohara. He worked there for over 3 years, and at the outbreak of the Japan-Sino War in 1894, Mori resigned to serve as an army surgeon. After the war, Mori returned to Hawaii, and established a private Japanese Hospital in Honolulu together with Kobayashi in 1896 to serve Japanese immigrants.

Mori was a prominent member of Hawaiian society: He served as president of the Japanese Benevolent Society; chairman of the United Japanese Society; director of the Institute of Pacific Relations and its Division of Science; and was on the Board of Directors of the Mid-Pacific Institute. He was the first Japanese to be elected honorary member of the Honolulu County Medical Society, in 1914.

During the Second World War, Mori was interned at Sand Island, but released after a few months due to his health and age.

Sources

Printed Materials

• Jiro Nakano (1996), Kanda Home: Biography of Shigefusa and Sue Kanda, University of Hawaii Press
• Michael M. Okihiro M.D.(2002) ‘Japanese Doctors in Hawaii’, The Hawaiian Journal of History, vol. 36
• Reference: Yukiko Kimura (1992) ‘Issei: Japanese Immigrants in Hawaii’, University of Hawaii Press

Archival Materials

• R8/3/1 Matriculation slip
• SEN10/42 University Calendar

Summary

Iga Mori
Born 1864.
Died 18 January 1952.
GU Degree: Medicine, 1898-1899;
University Link: Student
Occupation categories: physicians
English snippet: Medical student at the University of Glasgow, 1898
Record last updated: 25th Jul 2013

Country Associations

Japan, Ishikawa
Place of Birth

University Connections

University Roles

• Student

Images

Iga Mori matriculation slip 1898-99