Woodcuts of the Organs of the Body in Color

KOSAKA, Eisho (or Gen’yu).

Jing xue zuan yao [trans. in Japanese: Keiketsu san’yo; trans.: Chinese & Japanese Acupuncture explained].

Numerous fine woodcut illus. (18 of which are finely handcolored). 48 (irregularly paginated); 33; 39; 26; 28, 3 folding leaves. Five vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers (some worming in upper margin of each vol.), orig. block printed title label on each upper cover, new stitching. Tokyo: Mankyudo Hanabusa Heikichi, [Preface dated 1810].

First edition of one of the three most important early Japanese books on the history and technique of Chinese and Japanese acupuncture. This work is very different from all earlier Chinese and Japanese books on the subject. For the first time, the illustrations are finely and realistically rendered and are anatomically accurate, clearly influenced by European medical works which had circulated in Japan. Another important aspect of this book is that eighteen of the woodcuts, each depicting organs of the body, are finely handcolored. Also, the body is described in full, from head to foot, and is not entirely dependent on the fourteen meridians.

Kosaka was a court physician of the fiefdom of Kameyama, who had studied under the famous physician Motonori Taki (1731-1801), who was himself a member of a distinguished family of doctors.

The publisher of this work was the exclusive publisher for the government sponsored medical school.

Very good set.

Price: $8,500.00

Item ID: 6006