WESTERN MEDICAL PIONEERS IN FEUDAL JAPAN

ABOUT THE BOOK: Two centuries before Commodore Perry arrived in Japan, a handful of Dutch were being permitted to maintain a small trading post on the island of Deshima in Nagasaki Bay. This group, as John Bowers' absorbing narrative discloses, achieved the first real penetration of Japanese feudal society by Western culture. The central figures were European and Japanese physicians. In the middle of the seventeenth century the Japanese began coming to Deshima to learn about Western medicine. In this unique book, Dr. Bowers tells the full story of the rise of Western influence in Japan through medicine.

From an online review: “This book profiles and explores the lives of four doctors who helped advance the medical practices of the Japanese during the Tokugawa shoganate's regime. It explains the obstacles of teaching in a closed society and Japanese reverence for health and medicine. This is a wonderful resource and an interesting read.”

CONDITION: This hardcover, retired library book of 245 pages was copyright 1970 and is in good condition, its pages very clean, bright and tight. Due to its age and subject matter, I imagine that this book might be harder-to-find. Please note: There is no dust jacket present – title page appears in the scan below. Burgundy boards are in very good condition with only very minor shelf scuffing and one corner slightly bumped. As with most retired library books, the dust jacket had been glued to the hardcover – tear marks and some paper residue remain inside the covers on the illustrated inside boards. Library i.d. remains in and on the book. Most significantly: Some library barbarian removed page 49/50 from the book when removing library i.d. If you can live without these two pages, the book is otherwise in great shape for its 38 years. Physicians, doctors, medical pracitioners, history of medicine.

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