MS Japanese 69

A manual of anatomy written by Udagawa Genshin (1769-1834) with the assistance of his follower, Suwa Shun, originally published in 1805. As Suwa explains in his introduction, Udagawa’s text was based on extracts taken from the works of the Dutch physicians Steven Blankaart (1650-1704) and Jan Palfijn (1650-1730), and from those of Jacob Winsløw (1669-1760), a Danish professor of anatomy in Paris famous for his Exposition anatomique de la structure du corps humain (1732). The text consists of passages in kanbun with some kunten, and explanatory notes written in a smaller size in katakana-majiri script. There are no illustrations but an anatomical atlas to accompany the text was published three years later.

Japan, 1805

Material: paper; 3冊 | 3 volumes; binding dimensions: height 267mm, width 183mm, depth 23mm