The second volume

Japanese

"Hideyo Noguchi (1876 - 1928)" - 1 -

In 1876, Hideyo Noguchi was born in Fukushima prefecture and raised as the eldest son by a poor farm family. As his farther was a heavy drinker and indulged in gambling, the family earn a living by his mother's hard working.

When he was only one and a half year old, he fell into the hearth with fire by accident and suffered severe burns on his left hand as he lost his fingers.
His mother thought that the accident was caused by her carelessness and she spent the rest of her life suffering from guilt. It was pretty common for the eldest son to succeed to the family business, but he was unable to do physical labor anymore. Under such circumstances, his mother took a firm decision to give him high education so that he can stand on his own feet in the future.
Since children were a valuable labor in the farming community in those days, she received unfavorable criticism from her neighborhood.
However, his mother endured their criticism and worked harder to create more favorable environment for him. Since he was very young, he sometimes showed his faintheartedness. At that time, his mother tenderly persuaded him,
"You have to become an educated person, or you won't be able to survive."

No sooner had he entered a primary school than he distinguished himself as a brilliant student in the school. It is said that there was a unique curriculum that a brilliant student gave lessons in a class instead of teacher and sometimes Hideyo stood on the platform, but he was not only a grind but also a child frolicked with friends outside. Using his inconvenience left hand well, he enjoyed sumo wrestling and was also strong wrestler. And in this primary school, he met his teacher Hideyo did not forget through his whole life.

To be continued...