. It is generally believed that Japan at the beginning of the 20th century lagged far behind the world's leading powers, but this
was not the case for a science as young as bacteriology. A closer look reveals that the contribution of Japanese physicians is very great, although little known. Every bacteriologist has known the words “inaba”, “ogawa” and “hikojima”, meaning the three serotypes of cholera
vibrio of the O1 serogroup, but the history of the origin of these names, as well as the names of the physicians Takagi Itsuma (高木 逸磨
), Kabeshima Tamezō (壁島 爲造) and Nobechi Keizō (野辺地 慶三) are unknown. They are not found in academic literature, and in scientific literature they are mentioned only in a small number of articles.
In this article, based on articles by Takagi, Kabeshima and Nobechi, memoirs of their descendants and contemporaries, and archival material, the history of the theory of “Kabeshima — Nobechi types”, its approval by the medical community in Japan, and the reasons for the
subsequent transition from the “original”, “variant” and “intermediate” types proposed by Kabeshima and Nobechi to the modern names
in world science are reviewed. The biographies and influence of the history of the Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, founded by Kitasato Shibasaburō, on the proposed theory and the relationship of its authors are discussed separately.
The portrait of Kabeshima, found in the collection of the Kitasato Shibasaburō Memorial Museum of the United Corporation of Kitasato
University, is published for the first time