Seven red & black ink illus. in the text, two full-page black & red illus., & one full-page illus. with two images in several colors. 39 folding leaves. Oblong 8vo (163 x 230 mm.), orig. blue wrappers (wrappers a little frayed), new stitching. [Japan: n.d., but mid-Edo].

An usual, well-illustrated, manuscript on acupuncture; a detailed and extended text on how to handle and apply the needles to acupuncture loci. This explicit account is the first such text we have encountered.

The manuscript is divided into two parts; the first (leaves 1-13) is entitled “Kyusho ken” [“Manual Book of our School of Acupuncture”]. This section contains... More

Vol. I with a number of small text illus. & Vol. II with 18 full-page drawings (several using blue, brown, & red ink as well as black) & one diagram. 48; 19 folding leaves. Written throughout in one fine & legible hand. Two vols. 8vo (255 x 182 mm.), orig. wrappers (Vol. I in blue wrappers; Vol. II in drab brown wrappers), new stitching. [Japan]: at end of the vols.: “copied in 1734 & 1735.”

A most unusual manuscript, on a topic we have not yet encountered: this is, amongst other subjects, very largely concerned with how to accurately draw meridians and acupuncture points and how to label them on acupuncture models... More

Ten full-page brush & ink illus., highlighted in red. 26 folding leaves. 8vo (258 x175 mm.), orig. wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: dated on final leaf “April 1685.”

This early manuscript on the use of needles in acupuncture contains family secrets, passed from one generation to another. The information comes from many sources including manuscripts from the highly respected Sanmi hogen (or Sani hogan) family of doctors. On the final page of the manuscript, we learn that Tsushin Tadateru Mizuno gave the information described here to Kihei Hirano.

The text begins with a discussion of the relationship between doctor and patient: they must deal with... More

Five full-page woodcut illus. Eight folding leaves (several split at fore-edges). 8vo, orig. wrappers (quite rubbed & somewhat worn, some occasional soiling), early manuscript title label on upper cover “Tanza ryu ekigoku byoketsu,” new stitching. Edo: Ichirobee Shokai, mid-Spring 1656.

First edition of this extremely rare and early acupuncture book describing the Tanza School of acupuncture’s techniques; WorldCat lists only the Kyoto University copy, which lacks the final leaf. This is one of the earliest books to be published by Ichirobee Shokai, one of the first commercial book publishers of Edo (see Kornicki, The Book in Japan, p. 200); Shokai’s first book... More