MS Japanese 23

A study of obstetrics, covering conception, pregnancy, childbirth and post-natal complications, compiled by Katsuki Gyūzan, including references to I Ching divination and the use of talismans and spells, with line illustrations depicting women of the aristocracy. It is one of his earliest published medical works and based largely on Chinese gynaecological works with the addition of some Japanese medical theory and and reference to the practice of gynaecology in Japan. The work was first published in 1708, but this is a later reprint published by Kawachiya Kihei of Osaka: the original blocks had apparently worn out and some of them were replaced in 1796.

Japan, 1796

Material: paper; 3冊 3巻 | 3 volumes (3 sections); binding dimensions: height 255mm, width 177mm, depth 33mm