ACUPUNCTURE: A COLLECTION OF TEXTS.

Manuscript on paper, entitled in manuscript on title label on upper cover & on first leaf: “Kyuji hizoku den” [“Acupuncture Treatments Passed on from Many Sources”].

Many small brush & black ink drawings in the margins throughout. 111 folding leaves. 8vo (232 x 157 mm.), later patterned wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: (in trans.): “copied by Tanaka on 29 January 1830.”

The index on the first two pages describes the arrangement of the manuscript: by sections of the body. These include the upper section (head, eyes, nose, teeth, throat, and lungs), middle section (heart, abdomen, hips), and lower section (urinary tract, large intestine, rectum, and legs). This is followed by one page describing treatments, which are either fast-acting or long-term. There is a further division of treatments for women (including reproductive organs), children, and skin diseases (which include contagious diseases and cancer).

Next we have the main text, which gives a series of approximately 450 case histories and general diagnoses and treatments, arranged by symptom. Within each case history or diagnosis, the following information is given: symptoms, references to either medical works or doctors who have dealt with this illness, names of relevant pressure points, recipes for medicines to be used, and details of the specific case history.

In the section devoted to women’s reproductive organs, there are treatments to encourage pregnancy, to cause an abortion, and recipes for birth control.

The printed or manuscript medical texts referred to are largely Chinese works. They include Zhang Jiebin’s 張介賓 Lei jing 類經 [IIlustrated Appendix to the [Yellow Emperor’s Inner] Canon Arranged by Topic], Chen Ziming’s 陳自明 Waike jingyao 外科精要 [Essentials of External Medicine], Sun Simiao’s 孫思邈 Qianjin yifang 千金翼方 [Supplementary Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces], Gong Tingxian’s 龔廷賢 Shou shi bao yuan 壽世保元 [Prolonging Life & Preserving the Origin], and others.

The delicate drawings depict mostly pressure points on the body.

Fine copy, written in one neat hand.

Price: $4,500.00

Item ID: 7072