Cholera Outbreaks and Public Health in Modernizing Japan

The frontispiece to the work Ansei korori ryūkōki (Record of the Ansei Cholera Outbreak) shows a scene with so many coffins, it is impossible to burn them all. (Courtesy National Archives of Japan)

Ogata Kōan created his treatment handbook Korori chijun (Guide to the Treatment of Cholera) based on abridgements of three foreign medical books. (Courtesy National Diet Library)

In this picture, Korera taiji (The Slaying of Cholera), plum vinegar is presented as a miraculous medicine for overcoming the disease. (Courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Archives)

A copy of Ekidoku yobōsetsu (On Prevention of Epidemics), a book ordered by the shogunate. (Courtesy National Archives of Japan)

Article 13 of Ōkubo Toshimichi’s Korerabyō yobō kokoroesho (Instructions on Cholera Prevention). It includes provisions that after a patient has died or recovered, the family should disinfect the house and members may not attend school until 10 days have passed. (Courtesy National Diet Library)