A reading list for epidemics in premodern Japan?

[Jeffrey Niedermaier]

Dear all,

 

I am writing to ask whether anyone can recommend readings connected to epidemics and premodern Japan. I am aware that premodern Japanese society weathered many outbreaks of disease and wonder whether their writings might lend wisdom or solace to our current situation. Secondary sources would also be welcome.

 

An acquaintance has been organizing informal reading groups on Zoom, taking up Thucydides’ account of the Athenian plague, Boccaccio’s Decameron, and other premodern texts in translation. I participated in a few and found them valuable on multiple levels. The subject of epidemics is outside my wheelhouse, but if anyone decides to set up a Japan- or Asia-oriented reading group in a similar vein, I for one would be interested to know about it and think others on this list might be, too.

 

I’d also be fascinated to have experts weigh in about the language of disease in premodern Japan. The metaphor of influenza (‘influence’) has a whole metaphysics to it; what can we learn from yamahi and related words?

 

Take care,

 

Jeffrey Niedermaier

Jeffrey Niedermaier, M. Phil.

Doctoral candidate, Yale Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures

ジェフリー・ニーダーマイヤー　　哲　学　修　士　号

イェール大学東アジア文学学科　　博士論文提出志願者

[Kristina Buhrman]

In a quick response to Jeffrey: 

In terms of scholarship, Wayne Farris’ works on premodern Japan’s population cover a number of epidemics. Mimi Yiengpruksalan has also been looking at the epidemic under Michinaga’s court (around 1005?) for a number of years, but I can’t think of the title and journal of any articles off the top of my head. 

As far as texts in translation, I will need a little more time to think. 

Influenza has a worldview underlying the term—is also argue that 邪気 (jaki) does as well, and that’s a term (or the ja is in combination with another kanji) that appears in kanbun nikki. And let’s not forget mokke/mononoke!

I have been involved and participating in some covid19 calls and meetings as well, but more from a history and history of science approach. I would be interested personally in a premodern Japan focused (including early modern Japan, I think) reading group, and could coordinate via Zoom if others were interested. I think one issue would be access to texts in the age of library shutdowns and no ILL (thank goodness for Waseda and the Japanese National Archives digital collection), and another the fact that some of the relevant works might not have an English translation as of yet. The latter would make patience key if this became more Asia-area focused, as not everyone would be able to read every text. 

I would like to hear others chime in on the idea of a reading group. When I have more time to think about the subject, if I come up with works in translation, I will respond to this thread. 

-Kristina Buhrman, FSU, Religion

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[Ross Bender]

From my translation of Shoku Nihongi (2 days before the death of Retired Emperor  Shōmu )

天平勝宝八歳（七五六）四月壬子【廿九】○壬子。遣医師。禅師。官人各一人於左右京四畿内。救療疹疾之徒。」遣従五位下日下部宿禰古麻呂。奉幣帛于八幡大神宮。
Tenpyô Shôhô 8.4.29  壬子 mizunoe-ne
[June 1, 756]  
Physicians, meditation monks, and officials, one each, were sent into the Left and Right Capital and the four Kinai provinces to aid those suffering from disease.    
The court sent Jr 5 Lower Kusakabe no Sukune Komaro to present mitegura to the shrine of the Great God Hachiman. 

A Companion to the Global Early Middle Ages, ed. Erik Hermans, Arc Humanities Press, has just been released. I have the Japan chapter, available on Academia. In this chapter I rely on the work of William Wayne Farris, Population, Disease, and Land in Early Japan, 645–900. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985, for the demographic results of the smallpox epidemic of 735-737. Farris worked from the suggestions of William McNeill in Plagues and Peoples.

Attached is Chapter 18 from Global Early Middle Ages, "Climate and Disease," by Peter Sarris. It begins with the great Ilopango volcanic eruption of the mid-sixth century and its global effects on climate and disease. 

The book is available on Amazon, as well as from the Amsterdam University Press.

https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9781942401759/a-companion-to-the-global-early-middle-ages  

Ross Bender

https://www.academia.edu/42204336/Changing_the_Capitals_-_Japan_-_Chapter_Five  

[EMIKO OHNUKI-TIERNEY]

There are a number of them, including Miyata Noboru’s Kinsei no Hayarigami.  If sources in Japanese are OK, let me send you more.

 

Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney (eohn...@wisc.edu).

--

[Angelika Koch]

Dear Jeffrey,

For Tokugawa Japan, Hartmut Rotermund's work on measles and smallpox comes to mind; there are several papers available in English and as far as I recall they contain a good deal of translated passages from primary sources. Bettina Gramlich-Oka has published a paper on cholera in late Edo Japan and Gregory Smits on catfish and measles prints in a special issue on society and illness in East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine (nr. 30). Of course, there are also Ann Jannetta's books on epidemics and vaccinations. These just off the top of my head. On infectious diseases such as syphilis (rampant in Edo Japan) and leprosy you will find work by Susan Burns, on tuberculosis by William Johnston. 

The question about primary sources in English is tricky; I believe the articles have some interesting passages in translation, but most of the primary sources I can think of are in Japanese.

There were certainly a lot of interesting illness metaphors in early modern Japan; my new research project is in fact focused around this notion. A historian of medicine c finds herself faced with familiar rhetoric these days; only that the "Chinese virus" (or rather "Chinese boils") was then syphilis for Edoites (in Europe or course variously French, Italian, Spanish disease). Military metaphors of 'waging war on disease' were, needless to say, also common. Now people are panic-buying hand sanitizer, back in the day apparently umeboshi and other things they believed would cure or protect them. As Susan Sontag pointed out, deadly, widespread and incurable diseases attract popular mythologization - we are living through this now. 

I have been teaching a class on Health, Disease and Body in Early Modern Japan and am happy to provide you with the syllabus.  I also recently finished a piece of research on body and illness metaphors, but it is not out yet.  If you are interested, just message me. If there is a reading group, I would certainly be interested!

Best wishes,

Angelika

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[Kristina Troost, Ph.D.]

in English,  I have not read it but would  like to:

Japan's medieval population : famine, fertility, and warfare in a transformative age

Farris, William Wayne

Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, c2006.

And  Population, disease, and land in early Japan, 645-900  Cambridge, Mass. : Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, and the Harvard Yenching Institute, and distributed by the Harvard University Press, 1985. 

And some others

 

When I was writing my dissertation, I relied heavily on Kitō Hiroshi, 鬼頭宏, 日本二千年の人口史, 1983; it is a bit old, but he quotes heavily from courtier diaries for the ancient and medieval periods; I don’t remember what he quotes from and I don’t have any of the sources at hand.  I was interested in smallpox and when it moved from being epidemic and killing people in their prime to being endemic and killing the young and the very old, as that led in my opinion, to a significant growth in population which was fortunately or perhaps as causally supported by an increase in productivity as land use intensified.  Wayne’s bibliography may be more helpful, as his book focuses on population and mine focused on the 惣 (sō).

 

Kris Troost

Duke University Libraries

 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

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[robin d. gill]

Not the same influenza, but the studied remarks by Morse in Japan Day by Day about why Japanese are better able to avoid cholera than the USA is interesting as the USA he described (difficult to teach Darwin's Evolution to) is basically UNFRIENDLY to science.

As for possible influenza or  aside from laments for kids who die and people bathing to celebrate recovery, not much BUT in Issa's ku i feel i see an awareness of Edo SPREADING colds/influenza to Ezo isles:

老一茶坊はイ＝「商人や嘘をうつしに蝦夷が島」ロ＝「江戸風を吹かせて行くや蝦夷が島」ハ＝「来て見ればこちらが鬼也蝦夷が島」という三つの文化的な反省を含む狂句を作った。  Maybe it is just re furyuu but that would not explain why the fled (seeing us as oni = as in kakurenbo)
best,

robin d gill   

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[matthewh28]

Dear Jeffrey,

In addition to these great suggestions, I would also suggest Chapter 4 of Andrew Goble's Confluences of Medicine in Medieval Japan: Buddhist Healing, Chinese Knowledge, Islamic Formulas, and Wounds of War (2011). The chapter deals with medieval conceptions of karmic illness and the emergence and treatment of leprosy (rai 癩).

Best wishes,

Matthew Hayes

[Paula R. Curtis]

Dear all,

Thank you for such rich conversation so relevant to our current moment! I have created a shared Google Doc through the PMJS administrative account for people to add their recommendations to as we continue to make them, though I ask that people please keep their broader discussions of the scholarship and terminology to the mailing list in the interest of clarity. I hope the growing list will be something we can eventually incorporate into future public PMJS resources (more on such projects in the near future). 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NslccE6W72b7fKqGzbTkGV3qA7t0PGxxyGGZDm_CR-I/edit?usp=sharing

Best wishes,

Paula

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[Ross Bender]

Thanks to Paula Curtis for beginning this list. I have added my translations of Shoku Nihongi 749-770 with some specific citations. The Kindle versions are searchable; searching on "disease" or "sick" will bring up a number of instances. 

Here are some samples:

 天平勝宝八歳（七五六）五月丙子【廿三】○丙子。勅。禅師法栄。立性清潔。持戒第一。甚能看病。由此。請於辺地。令侍医薬。太上天皇得験多数。信重過人。不用他医。爾其閲水難留。鸞輿晏駕。禅師即誓。永絶人間。侍於山陵。転読大乗。奉資冥路。朕依所請。敬思報徳。厭俗帰真。財物何富。出家慕道。冠蓋何栄。莫若名流万代。以為後生准則。宜復禅師所生一郡。遠年勿役。
Tenpyô Shôhô 8.5.23  丙子  hinoe-ne
[June 24, 756]  
The Empress gave an edict:
“The Meditation Monk Hôei  has an upright and immaculate nature. There is none superior to him in guarding the precepts, and skillfully nursing the sick. Therefore he was summoned to the side of the late Retired Emperor Shômu and served by practicing his healing arts. The Retired Emperor received such results that he relied totally on him and did not use other physicians. However, just as it is difficult to stop flowing water, Shômu eventually passed away.  Hôei thereupon made the following vow:
‘I shall now forever forsake human society and will serve near the tomb, reciting the Daijôkyô, and assisting the Retired Emperor in traveling the realms of the dead.’
“We have heard the vow of Hôei and wish to reward his virtue, but to those who disdain the world and return to the true path, material goods are not treasure. Those who leave the world and follow the Buddha path do not glory in fine clothes and high status. They do not wish to hand down their fame to later ages or transmit themselves as a model for later generations. Therefore let the taxes be exempted for the district where he was born and let them be exempt from corvee labor in perpetuity.” 

天平勝宝八歳（七五六）五月丁丑【廿四】○丁丑。勅。奉為先帝陛下、屈請看病禅師一百廿六人者。宜免当戸課役。但良弁。慈訓。安寛三法師者。並及父母両戸。然其限者、終僧身。又和上鑑真。小僧都良弁。華厳講師慈訓。大唐僧法進。法華寺鎮慶俊。或学業優富。或戒律清浄。堪聖代之鎮護。為玄徒之領袖。加以。良弁。慈訓二大徳者。当于先帝不予之日。自尽心力。労勤昼夜。欲報之徳。朕懐罔極。宜和上・小僧都拝大僧都。華厳講師拝小僧都。法進。慶俊並任律師。
Tenpyô Shôhô 8.5.24  丁丑  hinoto-ushi
[June 25, 756]  
The Empress gave an edict:
“Let the households of the one hundred twenty-six healer meditation monks   who attended his late Majesty be exempt from all tax and corvee burdens. Moreover, let this exemption extend to the families of both parents of the Buddhist priests Rôben, Jikin and Ankan. However, the limit shall be for the lives of these priests.  
“Further, as for the Esteemed Monk Ganjin, the Junior Assistant Abbot Rôben, the Kegon lecturer Jikin, the Great Tang monk Hôshin and the Hokkeji Protector Kyôshun, they are men who excel in scholarship or practice the precepts clearly and without stain, and who protect the reign; they stand above the rest of the priests. Not only that but as for Rôben and Jikin, their great virtue was such that they exerted themselves night and day to the extent of their energy during the illness of the former Emperor. Therefore Our heart has no limits in seeking to reward their virtue. We award the Esteemed Monk Ganjin and the Junior Assistant Abbot Rôben both the office of Senior Assistant Abbot; the Kegon lecturer Jikin the office of Junior Assistant Abbot; and Hôshin and Kyôshun both the office of Master of Precepts.  

Tenpyô Hôji 2.8.18  丁巳 hinoto-mi
[September 24, 758]
The Emperor gave an edict:
“The Head of the Yin-yang Divination Bureau reported:
‘According to the Kukûkyô, next year, a tsuchinotoi 己亥year, is a very unlucky year of the Three Confluences. The Kukûkyô says “In a Three Confluences year there occur disasters of flooding, drought, and epidemic.’
‘We have heard that The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra is the mother of all Buddhas. If the verse of four phrases is chanted and the sutra read, then fortunate virtue will be accumulated. When the Son of Heaven prays thus, then military upheavals and natural disasters will not trouble the country, and if the common people pray thus, sickness and evil spirits of evil disease will not enter their houses. Thus evil will be averted and good fortune obtained, and there will be no further danger.’
“Therefore it is proclaimed throughout the various provinces of the empire that the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra shall be prayed at all times in the mouths of everyone, man or woman, young or old, traveling or at home, walking or sitting down. The Hundred Officials both civil and military shall when going to court or to their offices while on the way on the roads daily pray this sutra. What we pray is that wind and rain will come in their season, that there shall be no flood or drought, that cold and heat will come in order, that the disaster of epidemic disease will be entirely averted. Let this be known widely far and near, and let Our wish be made known.”

Ross Bender

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[Kristina Buhrman]

On that note, when I was working on my initial dissertation topic (until technical difficulties turned me to focus on astronomy/astrology, which was one of my test subjects), I relied a lot on two 年表, which I eventually obtained via Junkudo—they were not widely available, although the NDL has at least one. I’ll grab those and add them to the list. 

General work on disasters include that of Fujiki Hisashi, who focuses more on famine generally (but highlights the effect of war in creating famine)—as in Farris’ work, however, epidemics are often treated as secondary disasters, following after famine (or war). (Farris’ work on the pop land and disease book is a bit different, but his revisitation of the topic post Japan’s Medieval Population, Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan, focuses on provisioning first, if I am recalling correctly.)

In terms of Those Who Study Disasters (not necessarily epidemics), Kitahara Itoko has been the supervisor or editor of a number of reference works, which do include epidemics (again, as I recall; I have in my apartment the saigai encyclopedia she headed a few years ago, so I will double check). So that’s also another name to look for and around, in terms of saigaishi (“disaster history”), along with Fujiki, who entered the field before Kobe (if, again, I’m remembering right).

Certainly, an interesting historiographical project is tracing via introductions and biographical references the personal キカケ for studying anything disaster related. Perhaps the predominance is earthquakes in this field is the result of Kobe and other recent major earthquakes. By contrast, Fujiki cites bad harvests in the early 90s due to cold snaps as a factor for his work on famines. Perhaps there is a SARS inspired scholar out there? I have to admit, after dropping epidemics from my dissertation research in 2008, I have not kept up as much on that literature. 

-Kristina Buhrman, FSU, Religion

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On Mar 25, 2020, at 5:51 PM, Kristina Troost, Ph.D. <kristin...@duke.edu> wrote:



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[Nobumi Iyanaga]

Hello,

This is not really related to epidemics, but my article "An Early Example of Svasthāveśa Ritual: A Chinese Hagiography of the Early Fifth Century," Circulaire de la Société franco-japonaise des études orientales, 42 (2019), p. 1-32, contains a list of Japanese studies (in Japanese) on the Buddhist healing method by "spiritual possession" of deceases caused by "spiritual possession" (mononoke 邪気), from the Heian period up to Muromachi period (p. 5-7). The paper can be downloaded from:
<https://www.academia.edu/40044352/An_Early_Example_of_Svasthāveśa_Ritual_A_Chinese_Hagiography_of_the_Early_Fifth_Century>

Best regards,

Nobumi Iyanaga

[Caleb Carter]

Dear all,

Pierce Salguero's edited volume Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources (Columbia U Press, 2017) is an excellent resource for translated sources (covering Asia), especially if you expand the discussion to rituals and doctrine on medicine and healing. Particularly relevant for plagues (oni) in premodern Japan is Andrew Macomber's "Moxibustion for Demons: Oral Transmission on Corpse-Vector Disease," an early Kamakura-period ritual text from Onjōji.

Best,

Caleb

---
Caleb Carter                                                      

Assistant Professor, Japanese Religions and Buddhist Studies

Kyushu University, Faculty of Humanities

imapkyudai.net

カーター・ケイレブ

日本宗教・仏教学

九州大学人文科学研究院 講師

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[Claire-Akiko Brisset]

Dear Jeffrey,

I hope this email finds you well.

If I may, and since I know you can read French, here are two suggestions for nice secondary sources :

- Bernard Frank, Démons et jardins. Aspect de la civilisation du Japon ancien, Paris, Collège de France, Institut des hautes études japonaises, 2011, 1st part (I can't have access now to my office at the University of Geneva, so I can't tell you the exact pages, sorry)

- Hartmut Rotermund, Hōsōgami, ou la petite vérole aisément : matériaux pour l’étude des épidémies dans le Japon des XVIII^e-XIX^e siècles, Maisonneuve et Larose, 1991

Those 2 books have been translated in Japanese.

Take care,

Claire Brisset

PO histoire culturelle du Japon

département ESTAS

Faculté des Lettres

Université de Genève

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De : pm...@googlegroups.com <pm...@googlegroups.com> de la part de Ross Bender <rosslyn...@gmail.com>
Envoyé : jeudi 26 mars 2020 00:56:39
À : pmjs
Objet : Re: [PMJS] Re: A reading list for epidemics in premodern Japan?

 

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[Jeffrey Niedermaier]

My thanks go to everyone who has responded so far, and especially to Paula for setting up the bibliography.

I am delighted to see how this is taking shape so quickly. What we have is a showcase for completed and ongoing research and a generous resource for new interventions that might be formulated in these idle days.

I would be excited to see the list grow to include more primary sources, especially from the Heian and Kamakura periods, but in any case I look forward to further developments.

I wish I had more to contribute besides naive questions and encouragement, but I am glad the ball is rolling.

Gratefully,

Jeffrey

Jeffrey Niedermaier, M. Phil.

Doctoral candidate, Yale Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures

Visiting research student, Dip. sull'Asia e sull'Africa mediterranea, Unversità Ca' Foscari Venezia

ジェフリー・ニーダーマイヤー　　哲　学　修　士　号

イェール大学東アジア文学学科　　博士論文提出志願者

ヴェネツィア大学アジア研究科　　訪　問　研　究　員

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[EMIKO OHNUKI-TIERNEY]

The major sources in Japanese:

立川昭二　　近世　病草神――江戸時代の病気と医療。平凡社

　“　　　　日本人の病歴　　中公新書

宮田登　江戸のはやり神．評論社／ちくま

週刊朝日百科。９７．日本の歴史。近世から近代へ。コレラ騒動、

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[ronald toby]

In addition to her Epidemics and Mortality, let's not forget Ann Jannetta's The Vaccinators: Smallpox, Medical Knowledge, and the 'Opening' of Japan (Stanford, 2007). There's also G. Cameron Hurst's 1976 Monumenta Nipponica (Vol. 34, No. 1 (Spring, 1979), pp. 101-112 ) article, "Michinaga's Maladies."

The classic history of disease in Japan is Fujiwara Yū, Nihon shippei-shi 日本疾病史, originally published in 1912, and reissued most recently as vol. 122 of Heibonsha's Toyo Bunko series (1969).

For devastation of the smallpox epidemic of 737 that killed the heads of the four branches of the Fujiwara house (Fusasaki, Maro, Muchimaro & Umakai), see entries in the Shoku Nihongi  6th~9th months.

For pictorial materials, there's the Heian-period Yamai no sōshi, reproduced in full in Nihon emakimono shūsei, v. 9, and Nihon emakimono zenshū, v. 6. It's also available on-line at:

http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/100995/000/000?d_lang=zh&s_lang=ja&word=&class=&title=&c_e=&region=&era=&cptype=&owner=&pos=1&num=5&mode=detail&century=

There are also scenes depicting victims of Hansen's disease (a.k.a. leprosy) in the Ippen hijiri-e (ca. 1299), which is likewise in the Shinshū Nihon emakimono shūsei, v. 11, and Nihon emakimono zenshū (10);

Ron Toby

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[Jordan Sand]

While we are on this interesting and timely topic, and knowing there
are many erudite ancient historians on the list, I would like to ask
about a particular ancient epidemic. The Nihon shoki chapter on Sujin
Tennō records:

“5th year. There was much pestilence throughout the country, and more
than one half the people died. 6th year. The people took to
vagabondage, and there was rebellion, the violence of which was such
that by worth alone it could not be assuaged.” (This translation is
from the Aston translation in the Berkeley Historical Text
Initiative).

I understand that the Sujin reign is in a semi-mythical grey zone, so
that if this calamity actually occurred, it remains impossible to
determine based on textual sources when it did. But there are signs
that some of the events described in the Sujin chapter are genuine.
Chinese annals list numerous epidemics in the first centuries of the
Common Era. I wonder whether anyone has ever tried to trace this one
in connection with disease on the continent. Sakai Shizu, Yamai ga
kataru Nihonshi, a brief but informed history I have looked at, does
note that epidemic disease must have come frequently from the
continent in prehistoric times too. William McNeill's classic Plagues
and People, which cites the 1940 Nihon shippeishi that Ron mentioned
(McNeill had Japanese research assistance), claims that Japan remained
sufficiently isolated and sparsely populated that diseases would have
failed to become endemic until perhaps the thirteenth century, with
the result that each assault was so damaging as to have "held back the
economic and cultural development of the islands in drastic fashion."
I think you'll agree that this is quite a claim. Wayne Farris' study
of ritsuryō-era records leads him to support McNeill's hypothesis with
regard to early epidemics, but of course there are no such records
surviving for earlier periods.

A colleague of mine in medieval European history works with
paleobiologists analyzing the DNA in bones excavated from mass graves
to identify the diseases that might have caused mass deaths. Has
anyone done similar work in Japan?

Jordan

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--
Jordan Sand
Professor of Japanese History
Georgetown University

[walthall]

For an offbeat take on epidemics, see Yoshinaga Fumi's Ōoku, a manga
series first published in book form in 2005 that posits a Tokugawa
period in which most of the male population dies from the "red-face
pox", leaving the shogunate in the hands of women and the ōoku populated
by men. I know that at least the first volume was translated into
English. It's great fun.
Anne Walthall

>> Boccaccio’s _Decameron_, and other premodern texts in translation.

>> I participated in a few and found them valuable on multiple levels.
>> The subject of epidemics is outside my wheelhouse, but if anyone
>> decides to set up a Japan- or Asia-oriented reading group in a
>> similar vein, I for one would be interested to know about it and
>> think others on this list might be, too.
>>
>> I’d also be fascinated to have experts weigh in about the language

>> of disease in premodern Japan. The metaphor of _influenza_

>> (‘influence’) has a whole metaphysics to it; what can we learn

>> from _yamahi_ and related words?

>>
>> Take care,
>>
>> Jeffrey Niedermaier
>>
>> Jeffrey Niedermaier, M. Phil.
>>
>> Doctoral candidate, Yale Dept. of East Asian Languages and
>> Literatures
>>
>>
> ジェフリー・ニーダーマイヤー　　哲　学　修　士　号
>>
>>
>>
> イェール大学東アジア文学学科　　博士論文提出志願者
>>
>>
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[Kristina Buhrman]

Dear Jordan,

Since we are having a general discussion on this, I’ll reply to the list, and anyone who knows more can correct me or chime in (for example, Jannetta’s first book is older scholarship by now, and I know that there is ongoing work on vaccination is building on and revising material and conclusions from The Vaccinators).

Some diseases, specifically smallpox, that were endemic in China were not epidemic in Japan, in the Heian and pre-Heian period. Jannetta based this conclusion in the early part of Epidemics and Mortality in Tokugawa (1983) by looking at time of reoccurrence of disease in the Rikkokushi. She very possibly got this information from other scholars, or the idea to look there—I’m afraid that I last read that book in 2006 or so, so while I remember things from it, I do not remember the footnotes.

Therefore, although an epidemic in China may mean its more likely that Japan also saw an epidemic, I should think that it would also depend on the course of the disease and the length of the sea journey. COVID-19 could have made the crossing; I think people are fairly clear measles did (another not necessarily as of yet endemic disease), despite its virulent nature and short incubation period (perhaps its duration and not necessarily high fatality rate helped). But this is speculation, as I never got the training in epidemic modeling to have a more solid hypothesis (and armchair epidemiology is not always done according to standards of the field, we’re seeing now*).

In the case of imports from China, and when and how a disease makes the shift, like smallpox seems to have done, from periodic import to endemic by the Tokugawa Period (and endemic can still have epidemics...), I will admit I cannot really guess, although it is an interesting question. I suspect Charlotte von Verschuer’s work on trade might be helpful in such modeling (and Bruce Batten’s as well, although his Hakata: Gateway to Japan book may downplay the amount of transmission between Japan and China—certainly, one gets a different impression from that and from Across the Perilous Seas, although the latter is focused more on later time periods).

As for why Sujin’s records might match up with Chinese annals... I think we need to entertain the possibility, since the Nihon shoki compilers had access to some such works of Chinese history, we can’t discount the influence being there. Does the Kojiki, for example, mention epidemics for his reign as well?

-Kristina Buhrman

FSU, Religion

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 26, 2020, at 11:11 PM, Jordan Sand <sa...@georgetown.edu> wrote:
>
> While we are on this interesting and timely topic, and knowing there

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[Bruce Batten]

Dear Jordan,

Good question.

As you note the “Sujin reign” is semi-mythical, so it is really impossible to attempt to tie the events described within anything that happened in China or elsewhere in Eurasia.

Regarding the European research on DNA, if my memory doesn’t fail me, most of this has to do with victims of the Black Death.

In Japan, as far as I know, the only excavated mass graves are from the Kamakura period or later, and contain the remains of war casualties, not disease victims.

In general, skeletal material from prehistoric/ancient Japan is said to be relatively scarce because the soil composition does not favor preservation.

I don’t know of any attempt to extract DNA from bones for the purpose you mention. There is research on bone pathology to look for evidence of tuberculosis (in prehistoric times) and syphilis (in the Edo period).

This is all just off the top of my head, and there are probably other people in the list who know more (or have better memories). Hopefully they will respond.

Best,

Bruce Batten

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[Ross Bender]

To Jordan Sand's question. In Peter Sarris' "Climate and Disease" chapter from A Global Companion to the Early MIddle Ages which I uploaded to the list a few days ago, he has these lines:

Indeed, the dust-cloud event of ca. 535-536 and its aftermath may even have been discernible as far afield as China and Japan: the author of the Nan Shi (The History of the Southern Dynasties), for example, recorded how late in 535 "yellow dust rained down like snow" while other sources refer to yellow dust or ashes raining down from the sky in 536 and 537 and bitter frosts ruining crops in Qingzhou (roughly on the same line of latitude as southern Spain).The early Japanese chronicle known as the Nihonshoki attributed an edict to the Japanese Great King, Senka, in which he declared in 536: "Food is the basis of the empire. Yellow gold and ten thousand strings of cash cannot cure hunger. What avails a thousand boxes of pearls to him who is starving of cold?"

The Sarris chapter begins with the Ilopango volcanic eruption in Central America in the 6th century and the global climatic effect, including epidemic disease, that is well recounted in Western and Chinese sources.Here he speculates that a famine in Senka's reign may be linked. His source here is Keys, David. Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World. (London: Century House, 1999.)

IMHO the link to Senka's reign is an extreme stretch. The relevant passage, describing Senka's attempts to deal with famine is in Aston, Vol. 2, p. 34.

Sarris also says

From that point on, however, mentions of epidemic episodes proliferate, with “abundant evidence documenting numerous waves of epidemic disease in China and Japan during the T’ang dynasty (618–907).” An intense series of outbreaks of epidemic disease in China from 635 to 655 (when West Asia was suffering from repeated bouts of the bubonic plague) was followed by further occurrences in 682 and 707, while “a long list of regular outbreaks of epidemic disease in Japan and Korea” is attested to have begun in 698. A major outbreak of disease is also recorded to have occurred in Tibet in 739–740. Whether these Far Eastern occurrences were all bubonic in character (as opposed to consisting of diseases such as smallpox or typhoid) is, however, currently unclear, although some have argued that it is reasonable to infer that they were.

Farris definitely argues that the Japanese epidemic beginning c. 735 was smallpox, and his sources are much better than those of Sarris. But the global effect of the Ilopango eruption is historically attested for much of the world, although the effect on Japan is still speculative.

Ross Bender

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[Josha Sietsma]

Dear Paula Curtis,

I have a question regarding an associative thought on this whole matter of epidemics. 

At the moment I'm teaching the Ise monogatari to my high school students and during the reading of episode 45 we came across death and pollution due to sickness and death (see p.106 in Mostow&Tyler's translations where they speak of 'thirty days of seclusion' after pollution). Are you familiar with this tradition of seclusion for thirty days (basically a quarantine) after death (and perhaps certain ills)? 

The same episode also mentions the wild geese in autumn that according to the same translators also could be associated with the festival of the Dead (O-bon

wild geese and festival of the Dead (O-bon お盆). Do you know if there's an association between these animals (wild geese) and death due to epidemics in premodern literature?

Thanks for taking the time to read my questions. I'm not sure if these are the appropriate questions for the group. If so, please let me know and I will add them to the public server. 

With kind regards,

Josha Sietsma MA

Bennekom, the Netherlands

Op woensdag 25 maart 2020 23:54:21 UTC+1 schreef prcurtis:

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[Arden Taylor]

Dear Joshua,

What a good topic, I was just reading that passage as consolation for this quarantine. I'm sure Dr. Curtis can give a much more complete answer, but as I happen to be researching a similar topic at the moment, maybe I can contribute a little. There is a good article by 内田 暁子 about the あはれ one can find in 枕草子, in which she says that by the Heian period, birds would be associated with regret at the passage of time, as people would have been hearing them in the evening and early morning. I would also speculate that this is very much influenced by the Man'yoshu, in particular there is a 長歌, XIII:3344 and 3345, which also includes fireflies as does the Ise poem, and ties geese skimming across a lake to the feathers a soldier (the dead love of the poet) carried on his back. X:2129 also has a very similar phrase 雁は我が恋妹に告げこそ to the Ise's 雁に告げこせ, and although it doesn't specify that the object is dead, certainly the geese calling to her does seem to imply that to me. Hope this helps and all the best of luck teaching a great text,

Arden Taylor

(he/him or they/them)

MA Student in Classical Japanese Literature

AL&L GSA President

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--

Arden Taylor

(he/him or they/them)

MA Student in Classical Japanese Literature

AL&L GSA President

arde...@uw.edu

[Kristina Buhrman]

Dear Josha,

I hope you won't mind me butting in. I don't know the particular wording in Ise monogatari (poetry being a weak point for me), but in kanbun literature this seclusion would be marked by the word monoimi 物忌 in the entry. The rules for death pollution were indeed 30 days, but if you encountered a partial corpse (or had a dog drag one into your house), that was 五体不具 pollution (kegare 穢 or ケガレ if you're reading anthropological works), and only lasted 7 days.

A number of texts on court procedure and ritual (various nenjū gyōji; Hokuzanshō among others) describe the details, but the Engishiki prescriptions are usually what are cited. Those are: death pollution, 30 days; birth pollution, 7 days; death of an animal pollution 5 days; birth of an animal pollution 3 days. (Legal wrangling over partial corpses was after the Engishiki it seems, but not too long after, as Fujiwara no Sanesuke seems clear on the practice.)

There are more recent books on kegare but you still see Yamamoto Kōji's Kegare to ōharae (山本幸司『穢と大祓』) cited.

(It's been 12 years since members of the seminar I was in designated me to be the expert on gotaifugu kegare. Although this was partially because the Daina end of the year exorcism was already claimed, I do still wonder if it was a comment on my personality....)

-Kristina Buhrman, FSU, Religion

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From: pm...@googlegroups.com <pm...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Josha Sietsma <joshas...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2020 10:22 AM
To: PMJS: Listserv <pm...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [PMJS] Re: A reading list for epidemics in premodern Japan?

 

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[Chris Kern]

Dear Joshua and Arden (and others)

The Ise  雁に告げこせ  is an interesting case. The poem appears in the Gosenshu (252) as a 題知らず poem, and in the Narihira Collection the prose preface indicates a literal scene -- Narihira sitting outside seeing fireflies and telling them to inform the geese that autumn has come. The Tales of Ise version is clearly a 作物語 based on the poem, but was the author of this 作物語 influenced by a connection between geese and the dead? I checked Takeoka's Ise commentary and some of the commentaries he cites do say that geese were said to carry spirits to the lands of the dead. They cite several Genji and Kojiki passages in support of this idea (such as 常世出でて旅の空なるかりがねも from "Suma"). Takeoka personally disagrees with this interpretation of the poem, but the connection with geese and dead spirits does seem to have some support. Not specifically epidemics, though.

Sincerely,

-Chris

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[Lisa Kochinski]

Dear Joshua and All,

May I suggest Narikiyo Hirokazu's book on women and pollution, which cites many texts that detail the length of seclusion following contact with death, birth, and other keagre 穢.

Narikiyo Hirokazu 成清広和. Josei to kegare no rekishi 女性と穢れの歴史. Tokyo: Hanawa Shobō, 2003. 

While the main focus of the book is blood pollution, she also discusses bukki ryō  服忌令 (mourning codes) that were established at Ise and other shrines. The oldest is believed to be Hiesha bukki ryō 日吉社服忌令 (1168). Ise is thought to have been the first to compile taboos into a single work, titled Bunpōki 文保記 (late Kamakura). 

Best regards,

Lisa Kochinski

Lisa Kochinski, Ph.D. Candidate

School of Religion, University of Southern California

http://dornsife.usc.edu/religion/

https://usc.academia.edu/LisaKochinski

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[Jos Vos]

Dear All,

I'm please to announce the first complete and annotated translation of 徒然草 in Dutch:

https://www.vanoorschot.nl/oorshop/de-kunst-van-het-nietsdoen/

With kind regards,

Jos

[raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch]

Dear Jos (if I may)

Thanks for letting us know. Unfortunately, the publisher's website is not very informative - could you tell us a bit more about this translation and the annotation? Is it largely catering to the general public, or does it include discussion of translational choices or other topics of scholarly interest?

(I'm asking because I'm considering ordering it for our library, but I guess others might like to know as well).

Thank you, and kind regards,

Raji

Prof. Dr. Raji C. Steineck
Professor für Japanologie
Principal Investigator
ERC Advanced Grant Project "Time in Medieval Japan" (TIMEJ)

Asien-Orient-Institut
Universität Zürich
Zürichbergstrasse 4
8032 Zürich
++41+44-634 4085

Neue Publikationen/new publications

Chronographical Analysis: An Essay in Methodology

Kritik der symbolischen Formen II: Zur symbolischen Konfiguration altjapanischer Mythologien

----...@googlegroups.com schrieb: -----

An: "pmjs" <pm...@googlegroups.com>
Von: "Jos Vos"
Gesendet von: pm...@googlegroups.com
Datum: 06.04.2020 11:49
Betreff: [PMJS] 徒然草 in Dutch

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[Jos Vos]

Dear Raji (if I may be so bold),

Thank you for your interest. I've been told the volume will be available later this week.

It's a literary translation intended for the general public, comparable in approach to Meredith McKinney's 2013 translation for Penguin Classics, but with the addition of a limited number of kanji where the annotations seemed to require them (i.e. when the author himself chose to discuss specific kanji).

With kind regards,

Jos

---

From: pm...@googlegroups.com <pm...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch <raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch>
Sent: 06 April 2020 15:32
To: pm...@googlegroups.com <pm...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Antwort: [PMJS] 徒然草 in Dutch

 

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[raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch]

Dear Jos,

thank you for the clarification. It is always good to learn of alternative translations. I think we need those, and in as many different languages as possible.

Kind regards,

Raji

Prof. Dr. Raji C. Steineck
Professor für Japanologie
Principal Investigator
ERC Advanced Grant Project "Time in Medieval Japan" (TIMEJ)

Asien-Orient-Institut
Universität Zürich
Zürichbergstrasse 4
8032 Zürich
++41+44-634 4085

Neue Publikationen/new publications

Chronographical Analysis: An Essay in Methodology

Kritik der symbolischen Formen II: Zur symbolischen Konfiguration altjapanischer Mythologien

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An: "pm...@googlegroups.com" <pm...@googlegroups.com>

Von: "Jos Vos"
Gesendet von: pm...@googlegroups.com

Datum: 06.04.2020 19:33
Betreff: Re: Antwort: [PMJS] 徒然草 in Dutch

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