Blind in early modern Japan : disability, medicine, and identity

Author(s)

• Tan, Wei Yu Wayne

Bibliographic Information

Blind in early modern Japan : disability, medicine, and identity

Wei Yu Wayne Tan

（Corporealities : discourses of disability）

University of Michigan Press, 2022

• : hardcover

Note

Content Type: text (rdacontent), Media Type: unmediated (rdamedia), Carrier Type: volume (rdacarrier)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-239) and index

Contents of Works

• Japanese ophthalmology : medical studies of eye conditions
• Eye medicines : the popular culture of cure
• The blind guild : status and power
• Nonmembership and the challenge of authority
• Texts and performances : the significance of one blind musician's career
• Healing by touch : blind acupuncturists and masseurs
• Epilogue : onward to the Meiji Period

Description and Table of Contents

Description

While the loss of sight-whether in early modern Japan or now-may be understood as a disability, blind people in the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) could thrive because of disability. The blind of the era were prominent across a wide range of professions, and through a strong guild structure were able to exert contractual monopolies over certain trades. Blind in Early Modern Japan illustrates the breadth and depth of those occupations, the power and respect that accrued to the guild members, and the lasting legacy of the Tokugawa guilds into the current moment. The book illustrates why disability must be assessed within a particular society's social, political, and medical context, and also the importance of bringing medical history into conversation with cultural history. A Euro-American-centric disability studies perspective that focuses on disability and oppression, the author contends, risks overlooking the unique situation in a non-Western society like Japan in which disability was constructed to enhance blind people's power. He explores what it meant to be blind in Japan at that time, and what it says about current frameworks for understanding disability.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables Map of Japan in the Tokugawa (Edo) Period (1600-1868) Map of Japan: Modern Regions and Prefectures Abbreviated List of Historical Periods A Note on Japanese Terminology and Names Acknowledgments Preface: A Personal Note Introduction Chapter 1 Japanese Ophthalmology: Medical Studies of Eye Conditions Chapter 2 Eye Medicines: The Popular Culture of Cure Chapter 3 The Blind Guild: Status and Power Chapter 4 Non-Membership and the Challenge of Authority Chapter 5 Texts and Performances: The Significance of One Blind Musician's Career Chapter 6 Healing by Touch: Blind Acupuncturists and Masseurs Epilogue Onward to the Meiji Period Bibliography Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BC14862849
• ISBN:
  • 9780472075485
• LCCN: 2022009825
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Ann Arbor
• Pages/Volumes: xx, 245 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : HV2113
  • DC23 : 362.4/10952
  • DC23 : 362.4109520903
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Blind -- Japan -- Social conditions -- Edo period, 1600-1868
  • LCSH : Blind -- Japan -- Occupations -- Edo period, 1600-1868
  • LCSH : Guilds -- Japan -- Edo period, 1600-1868
  • LCSH : Ophthalmology -- Japan -- History
  • LCSH : Blind -- Japan -- Social conditions
  • LCSH : Guilds -- Japan -- History
  • LCSH : Japan -- History -- Tokugawa period, 1600-1868
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA46350886