Smallpox Illustration, Japanese Manuscript, ca. 1720

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Watercolor illustration from a Japanese work on smallpox entitled Toshin seiyo [The essentials of smallpox] consisting of a manuscript in two volumes. It contains numerous colored illustrations of different symptoms of smallpox, which were executed on separate sheets of paper: they were then cut out and pasted into place.

According to the beginning of book two, the author was Kanda Gensen (c.1670–1746) and the text was edited and supplemented by one Enokimoto Gensho, whose dates are unknown and about whom all that is known is that he practiced medicine. Kanda was a doctor who is known for his illustrated explanatory works on natural science and materia medica.

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