A brief History of the JCS

In April 1935, “The Nippon Clinical Angio-Cardiology (Journal)” was first published by Prof. Toshikazu Mashimo at the former Kyoto Imperial University (now Kyoto University). He acted as the chief editor of the journal and noted in the preface that they should publicize new knowledge on circulatory organs for researchers and physicians to recognize its importance and have interest in it, because there were neither special societies which provided researchers with opportunities for presenting the results of studies nor publications which enlightened general physicians in Japan in those days. If you pick up an old issue of “The Nippon Clinical Angio-Cardiology (Journal),” you will find commentaries as well as essays and the results of studies in it, including lessons, explanations and clinical lectures which the chief editor himself wrote for every issue. Prof. Mashimo also wrote the editorʼs postscript with humor in an effort to make the journal familiar to readers.

March 30, 1936, the Nippon Association of Clinical Angio-Cardiology was founded and The 1st General Meeting/Lecture was held at the auditorium of physiology, the Medical Department of the Kyoto Imperial University. It was the forerunner of the present Japanese Circulation Society. The initiators of the Association were Prof. Toshikazu Mashimo at Kyoto University, Prof. Takeshi Kure at Tokyo University, Prof. Renjiro Kaneko at Kyushu University, et al. About 300 persons came from all over the country to attend the meeting.

As the chief editors of the above-mentioned journal, Prof. Takeshi Kure and Prof. Renjiro Kaneko joined the Association in 1940 and also Prof.
Tsurayuki Sasa at Tokyo University, Prof. Tando Misao at Kyushu University, Prof. Imasato Donomae at the former Chiba Medical University (now the Medical Department of Chiba University), Prof. Yoshio Mikamo at the former Kumamoto Medical University (now the Medical Department of Kumamoto University), Prof. Toru Hara at Manshu (Manchuria) Medical University (now China Medical University), and Assistant Professor Magojiro Maekawa at Kyoto University in 1942. Thus, the Association laid the foundations of its position as an association for clinical angio-cardiology. The membership increased year by year and the site for the general meeting was changed from Kyoto to Kyushu for the first time: when The 6th General Meeting/Lecture was held at Kyushu University.

When World War II broke out in 1941, the pages of the journal were limited due to a shortage of paper and the quality of paper became extremely poor. At The 9th General Meeting in 1944, studies were presented only on paper. In 1945, they reluctantly suspended the publication of the journal. To our sorrow and regret, Prof. Mashimo died unfortunately during the medical survey in Hiroshima in September 1945.

After the end of the war, The 10th General Meeting/Lecture was held at Kyoto University in November 1946. No less than 935 members attended the meeting. Despite post-war confusion and shortages of supplies and provisions, so many people gathered at one site. This fact tells us how much the Association was expected to restart. Moreover, the name of the Association was changed to the “Nippon Association of Angio-Cardiology” omitting “Clinical” with the intention of expanding the range of research to basic studies without limiting it to clinical research.

In 1953, the English designation of the Association and the journal was changed to “The Japanese Circulation Society (Journal)” in order to facilitate global activities of the Association. Both members and theses increased year by year to such an extent that the number of general lectures had to be limited at The 21st General Meeting/Lecture in 1955. Then, it was determined that a certain number of lectures would be allocated to each region in proportion to the regional membership. With this as a momentum, regional associations were organized. There were initially 6 districts, including Tokai, Kinki, Kanto-Koshinetsu, Kyushu, Tohoku-Hokkaido, and Chugoku-Shikoku. Afterward, Hokuriku was separated from the Kinki District, Tohoku from Hokkaido, and Chugoku from Shikoku. Since then, 9 regional associations have been active.

In 1958, the group of secretaries set up a committee for revising the rules of the Society. After the discussion, the committee determined on revising them so that the Society would be managed under the organizational system comprised of the president, the chairman of the board, directors, councilors, auditors and secretaries. In 1960, the revised rules were approved at The 24th General Meeting, where Prof. Magojiro Maekawa of Kyoto University was elected the first chairman of the board. In April 1981, “The Japanese Circulation Society” was approved as an incorporated association.
Subsequently, the articles of incorporation were formulated and the secretariat was set up.

In 1989, a system called “Board Certified Member of the Japanese Circulation Society” was initiated. Prior to the approval, they were required to obtain approval for internal medicine. Thus, the system for specialists was established to meet international standards. In 1993, “The Journal of Board Certified Member of The Japanese Circulation Society” was first published for the purpose of educating and training specialists in this area.

Cooperation and collaboration with international associations have been increasingly promoted every year. At the Second World Congress of Cardiology in 1954, Japan became a member of the managing body. When the Asia-Pacific Congress of Cardiology was founded in 1956, the Japanese Circulation Society also joined the managing body. In September 1978, The Eighth World Congress of Cardiology was held in Tokyo. It was one of the largest scientific congresses in the world, which lasted 7 days providing 12 special lectures, 45 symposiums, 1,300 general lectures, scientific exhibitions, educational sessions, and satellite symposiums at a total of 17 sites. There were a total of 6,223 participants, including 4,105 foreigners from 86 countries. In 1996, the Society began inviting foreigners to its general meetings. At The 65th General Meeting in 2001, English was adopted as the second official language. All excerpts were written in English and oral presentations in English accounted for about 40%.

Thus, the Japanese Circulation Society has played a leading role in the study and diagnosis of circulatory diseases in Japan. It should be noted that the whole Society is also making a great contribution to medical improvement in Japan through its efforts to fulfill its social mission, including the preparation of guidelines, and the examination of heart recipients toward the resumption of heart transplantations in 1999.