[The arterial system of the Japanese anatomist Buntaro Adachi].

The Japanese anatomist Buntaro Adachi (1865-1945) has to be regarded as the pivotal figure of vascular anatomy of all times. His masterpiece, "Das Arteriensystem der Japaner" was published in 1928 as a result of over thirty years of research on hundreds of bodies, and it remains today a bibliographical reference that can't be ignored. However, Buntaro Adachi intended writing much more than an encyclopedia of vascular anatomy : he wanted to introduce a concept of racial anatomy, pointing out the anatomical specificities in Japanese people, probably in reaction against the Chinese and then Occidental influence on anatomical knowledge in Japan.