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Nanayama Jundō at Work: Medical Knowledge and Reproductive Health in Early Modern Japan

Air date: Thursday, June 5, 2025, 2:00:00 PM
Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
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Description: The historical collection of the National Library of Medicine includes a remarkable collection of materials that once belonged to Nanayama Jundō, a physician who lived and worked in the villages outside the castle town of Yuzawa in Japan in the 19th century. In addition to his medical library, in total almost 60 volumes most of which were hand-copied, the NLM also holds two volumes of Nanayama’s case notes and several unpublished commentaries on the Chinese medical classic, the Shanghan Lun (A Treatise on Cold Damage) and its formulas. These materials offer a window into the nature of medical knowledge and practice in Japan at the grassroots level at an important moment of transition as Western medical texts and materia medica were being introduced to Japan. In this presentation, I want to focus on Nanayama’s work as an obstetrician, an important part of his work as a phsycian. Of the 223 cases recorded in Nanayama’s case notes, more than a third were concerned with menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and post-partum ailments. Although the well-known proverb of the time, "the womb is a borrowed thing," seems to imply that female life was cheap, valued primarily for its reproductive function, Nanayama’s records suggest that villagers were deeply concerned for health of their wives and daughters, often calling in multiple doctors in the hope of saving their lives or improving their health, likely at considerable expense, since treatment often lasted weeks if not months.
Author: Susan L. Burns, PhD – Professor, Departments of History and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago
Runtime: 1 hour