Knowledge is contextual. Knowledge is not something that is conjured out of thin air, or extracted from nothingness. It comes from a certain place. Like a body.

 

Take anatomy, for example. The branch of science concerning the bodily structure of humans. Knowledge in this field historically comes from dissections. One would imagine this work done by the skilled hand of a learned doctor, but in Japan, that was not historically the case.In reality, the hacking and slashing into the body was delegated to the eta, who were far from physicians themselves(1). As they were traditionally delegated to the role of executioner and butcher, this task that should have led to looking at the insides of the body with an inquisitive eye and mind, was left to the uninformed. Progress in this field was blocked due to social norms. Although no laws existed to criminalize the procedure, dissection was seen largely as taboo. Because of Japanese customs, anatomy was unable to progress past traditional understandings. An understanding of the body that saw organs that weren’t there. In fact, the gozo roppu zu theory of anatomy, the traditional model, canonized an organ that didn’t actually exist(1,2). This erroneous view of the body persisted due to context. That is, until certain political and societal factors came into play.

 

A paradigm shift was imminent in Japan due to its intellectual exchange with the West, specifically the Dutch. This was evident through the work Kaitai Shinsho, which translates to A New Work on Anatomy, which was completed in 1774(1). The novelty of this work, which was a set of illustrations that provided a more accurate depiction of every facet of the human body, came from the new perspective it introduced. As one of the first anatomical texts from the West to be translated into Japanese, it was made apparent that Western and Japanese physicians were looking at the body in fundamentally different ways. When grazing your eyes over the inside of the human body, over the mass of flesh and bone, it is hard to make sense of it all, without the help of the right guides. Using the guides of the West allowed Japanese physicians to turn a more discerning eye on the body.

 

Such an intellectual revolution was only possible thanks to the specific conditions, and eventual removal of sakoku, or closed country(3). Tokugawa shoguns had come into power in 1616 and sealed off Japan from the western world, due to unsavory interactions with Portuguese missionaries. Despite these edicts, Dutch physicians were allowed to exchange ideas with Japanese scholars, leading to intellectual progress. The prevalence of Western ideas was apparent, as in 1740, Shogun Yoshimune implemented a systematic study of Dutch language and texts, in a field called Rangoku. This intellectual revolution persisted through the 18th century and into the next.

 

This new anatomical knowledge spread throughout Japanese society in various ways. Ukiyoe, or woodblock prints, were a popular art form used in the Edo period of Japan. Two of these works, produced by Utagawa Kunisada, were circulated around 1850(2). These works brought the viewer into the body, to understand its ins and outs. The function of each organ was compared to a household or everyday chore, familiar to the Japanese common folk. In Inshoku yojo kagami, or Rules of Dietary Life, a man is shown drinking sake, holding a goblet in his hand. Deeper inside, his liver is represented by several men pushing a large millstone, grinding food into powder. Where his spleen should be, there are men carrying food in buckets to a large cauldron placed over a fire. A similar scene is shown in Boji yojo kagami, or Rules of Sexual Life. Inside of the woman shown puffing smoke from a tobacco pipe, readers can find women working in a brothel. Where her lungs should be, there is a woman creating a light breeze by flapping a large fan. At the heart, a proprietress is leafing through a notebook of clients and schedules. But that is only have the substance of these ukiyoe. They were also meant to impart moral lessons to a people that were faced with two different realities. During this time in the Edo period, the elite

Through looking at this brief history of anatomy around 18th century Japan, we can see that knowledge is shaped through political and societal contexts. Social taboo kept early Japanese physicians from truly connecting with the body. Isolationist laws and their removal allowed for intellectual exchange. And finally, the ills of Japanese society during the Edo period lead to material that warned against behavior that was largely considered to be foolish.

 

References

(1)Leslie, Charles, and Allan Young. “Between Mind and Eye: Japanese Anatomy in the Eighteenth Century.” Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge, 1992, pp. 21–43., doi:10.1525/california/9780520073173.003.0002.

(2)Shirasugi, Etsuo. “Envisioning the Inner Body during the Edo Period in Japan: Inshoku Yojo Kagami (Rules of Dietary Life) and Boji Yojo Kagami (Rules of Sexual Life).” Anatomical Science International, vol. 82, no. 1, 2007, pp. 46–52., doi:10.1111/j.1447-073x.2006.00159.x.

(3)Tubbs, R. Shane, et al. “The Evolution of the Study of Anatomy in Japan.” Clinical Anatomy, vol. 22, no. 4, 2009, pp. 425–435., doi:10.1002/ca.20781.