| Tadako Urata | |
| Native Name: | 宇良田 唯子 |
| Other Names: | Urata Tada, Yui Nakamura |
| Birth Date: | 3 May 1873 |
| Birth Place: | Ushibuka |
| Death Date: | 18 June 1936 (aged 63) |
| Death Place: | Tokyo |
| Occupation: | Physician |
Tadako Urata (宇良田 唯子) (3 May 1873 – 18 June 1936) was a Japanese physician, trained in ophthalmology in Germany. She and her husband ran a clinic in Tianjin, China, from 1912 to 1932.
Urata was born in Ushibuka (now part of Amakusa city), the daughter of writer and businessman Urata Genshō. She trained as a pharmacist in Kumamoto, then earned a medical license in Tokyo in 1899; she studied infectious diseases at Kitasato Shibasaburo's Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases.[1] In 1903, she left Japan for Germany, to pursue further studies in ophthalmology, one of the first group of Japanese women to seek advanced degrees abroad.[2] [3] [4]
Urata earned a doctorate at the University of Marburg in 1905, with a dissertation on the prevention of neonatal gonococcal conjunctivitis.[5] Her dissertation research was published as "Experimentelle Untersuchungen über den Wert des sogenannten Credéschen Tropfens" in Ophthalmologica.[6] "Urata was not only the first female Japanese," noted Helmut Sies in 2016, "but also the first female ever who obtained the title of medical doctor at Marburg University."[7] [8] The milestone was reported internationally, in both professional journals and daily newspapers.[9] [10]
Urata returned to Japan in 1906 and opened a practice in ophthalmology in Tokyo. Later, with her husband, she ran a clinic in Tianjin, China, from 1912 to 1932. She was an officer of the Japanese Women's Medical Association, and held the honorary title Professor of Medicine from the Japanese government.[11]
Urata was briefly married as a young woman, but left the marriage to continue her education. She married a fellow doctor, Nakamura Tsunesaburō, in 1911. She was a widow when she died in 1936, in Tokyo. In 1992 she was named a "Person of Cultural Merit" for Kumamoto Prefecture. There is a monument to Urata in her hometown.[12] A place on the campus of the university of Marburg is named after her.