EARLY JAPANESE EMERGENCY MEDICINE FOR THE HOME., TAKI MOTONORI. 1732-1801. [ALSO CALLED TAKI GENTOKU.]

Kokei saikyuho [Emergency remedies for the benefit of the people]. Edo [Tokyo]: Igakkan [Government Institute of Medicine], Kansei 1-2 [1789-90, but possibly later].

TAKI MOTONORI. 1732-1801. [ALSO CALLED TAKI GENTOKU.] Kokei saikyuho [Emergency remedies for the benefit of the people]. Edo [Tokyo]: Igakkan [Government Institute of Medicine], Kansei 1-2 [1789-90, but possibly later].
3 volumes. 8vo (260 x 180 mm). 136 woodblock illustrations. Traditional blue paper wrappers, with woodcut lettering pieces pasted on, rubbing to wrappers, worming to upper margin of 2nd half of volume 2, intermittent staining.
Provenance: Richard C. Rudolph (1909-2003); Jeremy Norman, A Collection of Early Japanese Medical Works from Richard C. Rudolph's Personal Library, item 14, 2006.

AN IMPORTANT JAPANESE PEOPLE'S MEDICINE. Compiled by Taki Motonori (also called Taki Gentoku) at the direction of the shogun Iyeharu before his death, Kokei saikyuho intended to bring medicinal information to the common people of Japan, and secure the reputation of the Shogunate. Written in simple Japanese in order to be both practical and useful, it includes uses for common Japanese plants and medicines that would have been widely available. The publication medical secured the Taki family's position as one of the most important medical families in Japan, and made the Seijukan, their medical school, extremely influential in the practice and development of medicine for years to come. The backing of the Shogunate clearly supported the superb illustrations and fine materials employed in the work. Heirs of Hippocrates 1000. Mestler A Gallery of Old Japanese Medical Books I, p 303.