Blind in early modern Japan : disability, medicine, and identity / by Wei Yu Wayne Tan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tan, Wei Yu Wayne, author.

Contributor:

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Series:

Corporealities

Corporealities: Discourses of disability

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Blind--Japan--Social conditions--Edo period, 1600-1868.

Blind.

Blind--Japan--Occupations--Edo period, 1600-1868.

Guilds--Japan--Edo period, 1600-1868.

Guilds.

Ophthalmology--Japan--History.

Ophthalmology.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xx, 244 pages) : 16 illustrations, 2 tables.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, [2022]

Summary:

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.

Contents:

1. Japanese ophthalmology: medical studies of eye conditions

2. Eye medicines: the popular culture of cure

3. The blind guild: status and power

4. Nonmembership and the challenge of authority

5. Texts and performances: the significance of one blind musician's career

6. Healing by touch: blind acupuncturists and masseurs

Epilogue. Onward to the Meiji Period.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-240) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472220434

0472220438

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.