Tokoro Ikutarō (所 郁太郎, March 11, 1838 – April 7, 1865) was a doctor practicing Western medicine and also a patriot in the closing days of the Tokugawa shogunate.

[1] He became the head of the Kyoto Residence of Chōshū Domain upon the recommendation of Katsura Kogorō (later Kido Takayoshi).

In 1864 Ikutaro succeeded in saving the life of Inoue Kaoru by sewing about 50 stitches of tatami needle in the wounds on the whole body without anesthesia because of emergency during the domestic war time.

But when Ikutaro was suturing the wounds from right cheek to the lips, it seemed that he suffered pains... [2] This episode was introduced in the National Primary School Reader of the 5th Period.

Tokoro Ikutarō was awarded the title of ju shi-i no ge (従四位下, Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade) by the recommendation of Inoue Kaoru, Shinagawa Yajirō and so on.

[4] Inoue Kaoru rehabilitated the extinct family, the Tokoros, by bringing up Ikutarō's nephew from the family, the Yabashis, where Ikutarō was born, whose name was Minokichi Yabashi, in Inoue's residence at Torii-Zaka, Tokyo (now, International House of Japan).

...Tokoro Ikutarō, a patriot in the closing days of the Tokugawa shogunate, that our Akasaka Town gave birth to, proceeded with all his heart and devoted himself to the national affairs in all sincerity...Alongside the statue of Inoue Kaoru in Yudaonsen there is the monument to honor Tokoro Ikutarō which says as follows.