Editing Hideyo Noguchi (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Fukushima 20180305110152 (41878183530).jpg|thumb|Hideyo Noguchi's childhood home and fireplace]]
Born Seisaku Noguchi in the [[Inawashiro, Fukushima|Inawashiro]] in [[Fukushima Prefecture]] in 1876 to an impoverished farming family.<ref name="noguchi">{{Cite web |title=野口英世の生涯／明治9年～明治24年 |url=http://www.tdc.ac.jp/noguchi/01.html |website=www.tdc.ac.jp}}</ref> His mother Shika worked to maintain the family farm and restore the Noguchi name to the honor it once had. Seisaku being descended from [[samurai]] in the days of his great grandfather.<ref name=":37">{{Cite web |last=Mehl |first=Margaret |date=2023 |title=From Fukushima to Ghana: Noguchi Hideyo, the Peasant Boy Who Made It |url=https://margaretmehl.com/from-fukushima-to-ghana-noguchi-hideyo-the-peasant-boy-who-made-it-1/}}</ref><ref name=":52">Plesset, Isabel (1980). ''Noguchi and his Patrons''. Fairleigh Dickson University Press. p.&nbsp;14-15.</ref>

=== Childhood accident ===
Noguchi was two years old when he was left with his deaf grandmother who had poor eyesight alongside his four year old sister, Inu, while his mother worked in the rice fields.<ref name=":37" />  He fell into an [[irori]] and suffered burns and developed an infection on his left hand. 

Since there were no doctor in Inawashiro, his left hand was unable to receive medical attention and remained useless as the upper joints of the fingers were gone, and the remaining joints had adhered to each other to form a solid clump. His thumb was drawn down to his wrist and had become attached to it.<ref name=":52" /> While Seisaku could no longer become a successful farmer. Shika promised to give her son an education.<ref name=":37" />

=== Early education ===
In 1883, Noguchi entered Mitsuwa elementary school. His teacher elementary teacher Kobayashi saw his talent and due to generous contributions from his teacher, Noguchi received surgery for his left hand fifteen years after the accident.  {{nihongo|Dr. Kanae Watanabe|渡部 鼎|''Watanabe Kanae''}} was the surgeon that operated on Noguchi's hand at his clinic in [[Aizuwakamatsu]].<ref name=":37" />

Noguchi recovered some functionality of his left hand. Afterwards, Noguchi decided to become a doctor. In 1893, sixteen year old Noguchi apprenticed with the same clinic as the doctor who had performed his surgery.<ref name=":37" />

Japan was undergoing a modernization of its medical system during the [[Meiji Restoration|Meji Restoration]]. In 1872, Japan introduced [[Medical license|medical examination]] for doctors, a costly and time consuming process. Although graduates of the [[University of Tokyo|Imperial University]], an exclusive and elite college, in Tokyo were exempt from the examinations.<ref name=":37" /> 

Noguchi was not able to get into the Imperial University because of his peasant class. In 1896, he left for Tokyo to receive formal training and prepare for his examination. After one month, Noguchi passed his written portion, and subsequently passed the clinical examinations at twenty years old.<ref name=":37" /> He worked at the port of Yokohama as a quarantine officer, earning 35 yen a month.<ref name=":56" />

During this period, he indulged in brothels and wine.<ref name=":56">{{Cite web |date=November 24, 204 |title=Discordant notes... |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2004/11/21/general/discordant-notes/}}</ref> In 1898, Noguchi changed his first name to Hideyo after reading a novel by Japanese author [[Tsubouchi Shōyō]] about a college student whose character had the same name as him. The character in the story, Seisaku, was an intelligent medical student but became lazy and ruined his life.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tan |first1=Siang Yong |last2=Furubayashi |first2=Jill |date=October 2014 |title=Hideyo Noguchi (1876–1928): Distinguished bacteriologist |journal=Singapore Medical Journal |volume=55 |issue=10 |pages=550–551 |doi=10.11622/smedj.2014140 |issn=0037-5675 |pmc=4293967 |pmid=25631898}}</ref> 

Noguchi received a position at the [[Kitasato University|Kitasato Research]]. Although, he was an outsider as one of the few doctors to have not graduated from the Imperial University.<ref name=":37" /> 

=== Noguchi's patrons ===
[[File:Hideyo Noguchi.jpg|thumb|Young Hideyo Noguchi]]

Dr. Watanabe introduced Noguchi to [[Morinosuke Chiwaki|Chiwaki Morinosuke]] founder of the Takayama Dental College (precursor to the [[Tokyo Dental College]]) who made him an apprentice. Both Noguchi and Morinosuke became close friend. Morinosuke felt Noguchi showed great talent. 

Noguchi's main benefactors were, Sakae Kobayashi, his elementary school teacher and father figure,<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Plesset |first=Isabel |title=Noguchi and his Patrons |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |location=Rutherford, N.J |publication-date=1980 |page=117}}</ref> Kanae Watanabe, the doctor who performed surgery on his hand,<ref name=":16">{{Cite journal |last=Yoshimine; Do; Moriyama; Yanagisawa; Takayesu; Ishikawa |first=Norio; Shinichi; Norinaga; Takaaki; Yoshinori; Tatsuya |date=1999 |title=The Villa of the Late Dr. Hideyo Noguchi in Shandaken, New York State and the Tokyo Dental College |url=https://archive.org/details/hideyo-noguchi-in-shandaken-new-york/The%20Villa%20of%20the%20Hideyo%20Noguchi%20ni%20Shandaken%20%281%29%20/mode/2up |journal=Journal of the Japanese Society of Dentistry History |volume=1 |issue=1 |via=National Library Diet Digital Collection}}</ref> and Morinosuke Chiwaki, who helped fund his travel to the United States.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Kita |first=Atsushi |title=Dr. Noguchi's Journey: A Life of Medical Search and Discovery |publisher=Kodansha USA |year=2005 |pages=viii}}</ref> 

=== Leaving Japan ===
Noguchi was inspired to go to the United States. Partly, motivated by difficulties in obtaining a medical position in Japan as it required expensive schooling.<ref name=":10" /> He experienced discrimination as employers were concerned his hand deformity would discourage patients.<ref name=":10" />

In 1899, Noguchi met [[Simon Flexner]] during his internship as his translator, being one of a few people who spoke English and Japanese at the Kitasato Institute.<ref name=":29">{{Cite journal |last=Lederer |first=Susan |date=March 1985 |title=Hideyo Noguchi's Luetin Experiment and the Antivivisectionists |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/232791 |journal=The History of Science Society |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=34 |doi=10.1086/353736 |jstor=232791 |pmid=3888912 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Flexner, who was visiting to see research being made on dysentery from foreign scientists, gave polite words of encouragement to his desire to work in the United States.<ref name=":29" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Kita |first=Atsushi |title=Dr. Noguchi's Journey: A Life of Medical Search and Discovery |date=2005 |publisher=Kodansha USA |pages=}}</ref> 

Noguchi decided that was that and bought a ticket on the ''[[America Maru]].'' Chiwaki took a loan to pay for it.<ref name=":56" />''<ref>{{Cite book |last=KIta |first=Atsushi |title=Dr. Noguchi's Journey: A Life Of Medical Search and Discovery |date=2005 |publisher=Kodansha USA |pages=131}}</ref>'' Noguchi hosted a party to celebrate, spending most of his money before leaving.<ref name=":56" />