Medical and surgical treatments for a lame princess and others. Colour woodcut by Kuniyoshi, 1849/1852.

A medico-political caricature of an historical figure, a princess, daughter to the Emperor, who was lame and did not want people to know it. She is shown in the right panel, wearing red, being attended by a doctor or surgeon in black (all the figures in black are doctors or surgeons) The yellow notice next to the princess says "Doctor no good! Quack!". At the top of the right panel a woman treats the facial effects of smallpox with a hot liquid mixture or its fumes. At the bottom of the right panel is a crouching woman with a long neck which she wants to have shortened

The figures in the left panel are as follows: (top left) a dwarf who disguises his shortness with a long kimono; (right of dwarf) a man with colic; (middle left) a creditor demanding money from a debtor (the debtor is below); (lower left) a fat man who wants to be slim; (bottom left) "gonorrhoea" (or syphilis?), in which the mouth is eaten away; (middle right) caricature of slimming: a man is removing excess fat from a woman with the aid of a mallet and chisel; (top right) an angry woman

Other scenes depicted include: fitting a princess with a raised sandal to disguise her lameness; removing teeth with pliers

[Edo [Tokyo] (?) : [publisher not identified], 1849/1852]

3 prints : woodcut, triptych printed in colours ; triptych 35.5 x 74.5 cm

Kitai na meii Nanbyo chiryo Lettering in Japanese

Sen Nakahara, Manners and customs of dentistry in ukiyoe, Tokyo: Ishiyaku Shuppan, 1980, p. 156 and plates 107, 109, 110

Wellcome Collection 565543i