2021 年 1 月 30 日開催 第 111 回公開講座「疫病は江戸時代にどう描かれたか」
ウェビナーQ&A に寄せられた質問に、後日スティール先生が回答しました。
１）国力を削ぐために、他国がわざと病気を流行らせる、という考え方はあったのでしょうか。
Unfortunately, in world history, there are many examples of the use of “germ warfare” (生物戦争). During the so-called “Black Death” (ペスト) in the 14th century, plague infested corpses
were launched into the enemy camp using a catapult. More recently, despite the Geneva
Convention in 1925 against the use of biological weapons, some countries attempted to use
biological weapons in the Second World War. See the Wikipedia site on Biological Warfare formore details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare

２）この当時、薬師如来といった仏や仏教は、庶民にどの様に関わっていたのでしょうか？
The hope that the Buddha would protect the country (護国) from epidemics (天然痘) was why
Emperor Shōmu ordered the construction of the Great Buddha (大仏) in Nara. This particular
manifestation of the Buddha, the Rushana Buddha (盧舎那仏) was thought to be particularly
powerful against the spread of disease. For details on the Tenpyō period epidemic and theconnection with Tōdaiji, see: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/天平の疫病大流行
Other manifestations of the Buddha were worshiped for their powers to fight against disease(厄除け). They included Yakushinyorai, the Medicine Buddha, first worshiped at Yakushiji in
Nara; also Bishamonten (毘沙門天) and other of the so-called Gods of Happiness (七福神)were known protection against disease. Here is an easy-to-read description on ordinary
people, through history, see connections between religion and epidemics:
https://www.city.adachi.tokyo.jp/hakubutsukan/folklore_akueki-taisan.html

３）この資料（＊）は大阪の米相場の記事のようですが、民間発信のものでしょうか。民間発信が先行するのでおまじない等が多様化するのでしょうか？
Yes, this is a very interesting document「*嘉永年間より米相場直段并年代記書秡大新版」(see link to
the image in the Ishimoto Collection, Tokyo University:
https://iiif.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/repo/s/ishimoto/document/13a002d9-ba2d-4d52-866ea5dbdd5c9d25). It was issued in the late summer/early autumn of 1868. We don’t know thename of the creator. It is interesting because it links political and social change with themarket price of rice. In 1853, 100 copper coins (mon 文) could buy 10 gō (合) of rice; thebuying power of that same 100 mon fell steadily; in 1868 it could only buy just over 1 gō ofrice. This sort of information was widely available and understood, especially by members ofthe merchant class. People at that time well understood visual, textual, and numericalinformation that the print displayed, leading many to believe that the world as they knew it
was coming to an end.

４）疫病や自然災害の要因が、鬼や鯰だけでなく特定の人間のグループに背負わされることはなかったのでしょうか？
Who or what is responsible for natural disasters, such as epidemics? Are they man-made (人災) or are they natural (天災)? There is always a combination of both elements—better
preparations could have been made, for example, to prevent the spread of a disease. In thelate Edo period, it is true that many diseases such as cholera came from outside (fromforeign ships that came to Nagasaki, for example). But there is no evidence that harmful
diseases were introduced on purpose (わざと). The spread of disease in the late Edo period
was not the result of any sort of germ warfare. (See question 1)５）医学や科学が進んだ現在も、なぜ人々は疫病を鬼と表現したり、神様にすがったりするのでしょうか。
I tried to answer this at the end of the lecture. It is a good question. Even today, with all theadvances of sciences and rational thinking, when confronted by what seems to be a hopelesssituation, when people feel helpless, many find relief and hope from spiritual sources;
through prayer, through rituals, and even through superstitions such as avoiding the number
4 in hospitals. You might be interested in this “conversation” about religion and the outbreaksof the coronavirus epidemic in the United States—it shows that sometimes believing in
religion instead of science may lead to dangerous situations.
https://theconversation.com/why-people-believe-that-religious-faith-will-save-them-fromdisease-138901

６）大変貴重な講義をありがとうございました。膨大な資料（興味深い絵画等）をどのようにして収集されたのでしょうか？
Thank you for your interest in the talk. I have been collecting “political/satirical cartoons” (諷刺画) for many years. Since they are usually created by anonymous artists, they are relatively
inexpensive, and I used to love to walk around Jimbocho to visit old book shops. 諷刺画 areespecially good documents to show how common people thought about events taking placein their society. They were often illegal—a sort of underground publication. Most dealt with
political and economic events, but lately I have been interested in the way natural disasters,such as earthquakes, floods, fires, and epidemics, were depicted. I only have a few of theseprints, but you will find many on sites such as this:
http://www.eisai.co.jp/museum/history/0700/sub0101.html

７）日本の絵に描かれる病気の鬼は、西洋の例えばこれらを死神になぞらえた絵より可愛らしい気がします。それは私が日本人だからでしょうか。日本以外の文化で育った先生方の目から見てどう思われますか？
Yes, but most of the “cute” demons are recent; in the medieval and early modern (近世) era,
many of the disease devils, as in the West, were very scary (恐ろしい)—but you are right tosee even in these scary devils a touch of humor. Perhaps in the attempt to depict somethingthat cannot be seen but if you do see it, it will kill you, the artist “humanized” the demonswith some cuteness? Take a look at the Legends of the Yūzū Nembutsu Sect (融通念仏縁起)
scroll from the Muromachi period. The villagers prayed to Bishamonten for protection and thedisease devils were forced to stay outside the gates of the village.
https://scrolls.uchicago.edu/view-scroll/27 (The image of the devils gathered in front of thevillage gates is near the beginning of the scroll—it is the third painted image from the
beginning). This particular scene in the scroll depicts a story showing how the village head
(myōshu 名主) of Yono (与野) village in Musashino-kuni, responded when his village was
threatened by epidemic demons. Under instructions from Bishamonten, he closed the village
gate and gathered all the people in the village together and everyone recited the nembutsu.
The village headman then made a list of all the names of the people in the village who
participated in the ritual. He took this list and showed it to the disease demons who had
gathered at the village gate. They decided to leave this village and headed off to anothervillage to spread disease. The “tragedy” in this story is that the village headman’s daughter
was in the neighboring village and would soon die of the disease. His village, however, wassaved by grace of Bishamonten.

８）外国から入ってきた疫病が多いように感じましたが、日本発祥の疫病もあるのですか？
Good question. Are there any plagues or terrible diseases that originated in Japan? In
premodern times, Japan was separated from the Asian continent—epidemic diseases such as
smallpox (天然痘) entered Japan just at the same time as so-called civilization—new things,
new technologies, and new political and religious institutions, arrived from the Asian
mainland—around the time of Shōtoku Taishi. So, from that point forward, yes, epidemic
diseases came from outside. Only from the modern eras do some diseases, often associatedwith rapid industrialization (and industrial pollution), originate in Japan—the most famous
being Minamata-byō.

９）興味深い話をありがとうございました。江戸時代、疫病や災害にあった人々は、どのようにお互いを助け合い、被害から復活していったのでしょうか。現代でも参考になることがあれば知りたいです。
This is a good question but I’m sorry I don’t have a good answer. When an epidemic likecholera hit Japan, as it did in 1822, and then in 1858, we know what the government did(and did not do), but we know little about how people helped each other. One thing for sureis that by the middle of the 19th century (from the 1850s) there was increasing knowledge ofWestern medicine and awareness of the need for sanitation, hygiene, and the promotion of
public health. Thanks to Japanese doctors trained in Western medicine, people in Japan were
widely vaccinated against smallpox. For details, see: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/種痘Looking at the Measles Prints (麻疹絵) that were issued in 1862, we can see that: 1) people
feeling helpless looked to gods (such as Lord Mugi 麦殿 and Shōki 鍾馗), but 2) people,
unable to depend on the government for help (even though it set up relief stations anddistributed food), became to be more self-reliance—to help themselves by avoiding certain
types of foods and eating only food thought good to overcome the disease. By this time, it
was common knowledge that good health is based on a proper lifestyle and diet. People who
followed a healthy diet and took care of their body would be less likely to contract a deadly
disease. Where did this knowledge come from? From experience of course, but added to thiswas something new: books were published and lectures were given about the importance ofgood health. Here is a site with many Measles Prints:
http://events.nichibun.ac.jp/pc1/ja/open_day/materials/
Please look especially at the print (you have to enlarge it) with the title: 「妙医甲斐徳本麻疹之来記」 (文久２年［1862］). You will see a doctor giving a lecture to the people. Note all the
books he has beside him. He is telling them not to rely on strange medicines or on prayers to
the Shinto or Buddhist gods. Instead, people should take good care of themselves BEFORE
the disease strikes (so-called “preventative medicine”). The key to prevention is not prayer,
but good food, good hygiene, good exercise, and overall a healthy lifestyle. Note also that the
God in the upper left corner seems to be approving of this secular message. And finally, I
should note that this message is valid for us today. It would seem still the best way toprevent getting the coronavirus disease is to wear a mask, wash hands, have good exercise,and a healthy lifestyle. And due to the requirement to stay “home alone,” like the people inthe 1860s, we may have to depend more on ourselves than our neighbors.

10）日本では、疫病を引き起こす鬼に両義性が見いだされていますが、海外においては両義性は認められるのでしょうか。
Yes, isn’t it interesting that demons can be both good and bad? In the past many houses had
a special devil tile (鬼瓦) on their roofs to keep bad devils out! This ambiguity can be found inmany cultures. There are angels, who help people come close to God, but their opposite,
devils, are sometimes called “fallen angels.” The origin of many Japanese “devils” (鬼)actually goes back to early Buddhism and even Indian Hinduism. The Wikipedia site on 鬼 isinteresting: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/鬼 Perhaps everyone has seen Kōshin stonemonuments (庚申塔)—there are many in the Mitaka area from the Edo period:
http://www.mitaka-iseki.jp/kikaku4/3koshintou.html The armed hero (underneath him are
the three monkeys) is Shōmen kongō (青面金剛). He is a deity who came to Japan from China
who was known to protect against diseases caused by demons/devils (鬼); but he wasoriginally a demon/devil himself who caused disease but who was conquered andtransformed into a protector against disease. He was a common “god” in Japanese folk
religion, especially called upon in times of sickness—the understanding was that it takes adevil to defeat a devil.

11）疫病にかかった人を忌む、避けるということはあったのでしょうか（村八分など）。／近世の日本では、疫病に罹ってしまった人を「隔離」する、といった考え方はあったでしょうか（ある施設にまとめて隔離する）。／患者は家で看病するのか、それとも療養所などで隔離されたのか、どちらが一般的だったのでしょうか。
I don’t think there was mura-hachibu or that sick people were excluded from the community.
The idea of quarantine and “lock down” came only in the Meiji period; but people were awarethat certain diseases were 伝染病 that required sick people to stay at home. I tried to findout more about disease and mura-hachibu. Here is one interesting site:
https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/344666 The idea of “self restraint” (自粛) was common in
the Edo period, but it usually meant behavior that would protect the shogun or the daimyo—social and political leaders—and not one self or one’s neighbors. As for 隔離, here is an
example from Iwakuni: https://www.city.iwakuni.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/28352.pdf

12）西洋では日本のように病気を鬼の姿に表したり、アマビエのようなものにすがったりする行動は現代では見られないのでしょうか。日本独特なものですか？／日本人は疫病を動物や鬼に例えて、視覚的なイメージを作ってきたようですが、西洋ではどのようなイメージで捉えていたのでしょうか。
Yes, in early Christianity sickness was often thought to have come from devils or demons
playing a role similar to devils in Japan and China. This BBC site is on art during events ofplague:https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200514-how-art-has-depicted-plagues13）教授は歴史学でもっと疫病に関して注目すべきだとおっしゃっていましたが、歴史学では疫病についてあまり言及されていないんですか？
Because of the two recent major natural disasters (3/11/2011 earthquake, tsunami andnuclear meltdown) and the 2020 Novel Coronavirus epidemics, there have been many new
books on the role of natural disasters in history. But I would not say there are “too many.”
Until recent years, the mainstream of history writing in Japan and the West has focused onpolitical and economic history. Who has wealth and power and how did they (the great men)get that way? More recently the so-called “new history” has begun to research different
topics; history from below (social history), gender history (especially women’s history),
environmental history, and the history of disease/epidemics. The new history deals withproblems confronting the world today— what are the origins of inequality, racism, climatechange, religious intolerance, and the spread of deadly new disease. Our world is now
confronted with the worry of global destruction (the end of the world!) not just by thepossibility of nuclear warfare, but by even more deadly global pandemics and destruction
caused by global warming. One of the very first books on disease and world history was
William McNeill, Plagues and People published in 1985. (Translated into Japanese as 『疫病の世界史』新潮社) Since this is such an important topic (global human survival) I hope that more
students will research and study pandemics. Why study history? To help us understand thepresent—and help us create a better future.

14）大明神などの日本的な神様に頼るだけでなく、キリスト教などの神様を用いることはなかったのでしょうか。
Before the Meiji Restoration, as you know, Christianity was thought to be an “evil religion.” In
the 1850s and 1860s, confronted with earthquakes, floods, epidemics and foreign threats,ordinary people did not turn to Christianity for salvation. And even after the lifting of theprohibitions against Christianity in the Meiji period, Christians helped in times of need by
setting up hospitals, orphanages, schools (especially for women), and sought social reform to
improve working conditions, etc. To be sure, Christians in Japan prayed to Jesus and God forhelp in this world and for healing, but this was not a general phenomenon.

15）ポスターで黒いマスクをしているポスターがあったのがびっくりしました。ついこの前まで、マスクは白だと思い込んでいたので。昔は日本でも黒いマスクをしていたのですね。（すみません、黒いマスクは、講義中の資料のポスターです。電車の中の咳を題材にしたポスターのことです。）
Yes, as you saw on the posters giving advice on what to do (and not do) during the 1918–
1920 influenza epidemic in Japan, people were wearing masks. This practice did not originate
in Japan—it was following the advice of Western medical practice: wear a mask, wash hands,
get fresh air, stay indoors, avoid close contact—essentially the same sort of advice given
today throughout the world. Here is an article on the beginning of the use of masks in the
United States in 1918: https://theconversation.com/mask-resistance-during-a-pandemicisnt-new-in-1918-many-americans-were-slackers-141687
Here is another article that shows that many American resisted wearing masks then as now:
https://crosscut.com/2020/07/mask-wars-1918-flu-pandemic
I looked for black masks in USA photos and posters from 1918, but could not find any—mostwere white. So I have not yet been able to find out the origin of the black masks shown on
the Japanese posters.

16）今日は大変貴重なお話をありがとうございました。「浮世絵」という呼び方から確かに「呑気な絵」の印象をもっていました。けれども、スティール先生が今日ご紹介くださった絵から、当時の人々にとって自然災害がどれほど大きなインパクトを持っていたのか、よくわかりました。先生がご存じの絵のなかで、こうした疫病や自然災害に関する絵の割合はどれくらいありますか？
I tried to answer this question in the discussion period. Most of the genre called ukiyo-e (浮世絵) were devoted to depictions of beautiful women, landscapes, kabuki actors, sumo
wrestlers, historical events. The Tokugawa government prohibited depictions of current
events. That meant, however, that artists had to use parody and disguise when theyattempted to discuss contemporary topics. I am especially interested in this category ofsatirical/political cartoons, 諷刺画, that were often issued without the name of the artist or
the publisher—making it a sort of illegal art. Since it was also forbidden to publish woodblock
prints that deal with foreign affairs, the kawaraban (瓦版) that were issued when Perry camein 1853 and 1854 were also illegal; the same for prints that depicted epidemics such as 麻疹
絵. In comparison with mainstream ukiyo-e, the number of prints (most illegal) dealing with
contemporary topics was much, much smaller. But to a social historian like myself, they are
valuable historical documents from which we can learn much about the way ordinary people
thought about the events of their day.

17）幕末の政府が、unusual な歴史に対応できず、機能しなくなり、新しい仕組み・政府ができた、という展開を肯定的に捉えるとすると、先生は明治維新を肯定的に捉えますか。今の米国、日本の政府も同様に、unusual
な歴史に対応できていない気がします。日米に新しい仕組みは出てきますか？
Nice questions linking past and present and future. To be sure, the Meiji Government wasmore proactive in public health issues compared with the Edo Bakufu. The Iwakura Mission
not only visited factories and naval shipyards, but also hospitals and medical schools. They
were particularly interested in the German medical system and German public health policies.
I view these changes positively. Japanese life expectancy in the late Edo period was only
about 38–40 years old. Another “unusual” history would be to look at the development of
medical education and research in Japan. Already in the 1890s, around the time of themuch-celebrated war with China (1894–95), Dr. Kitasato Shibasaburō was doing important
medical research to isolate the plague bacillus and later made other medical breakthroughabout how to deal with infectious diseases through vaccination and other means. See his
biography: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/北里柴三郎 Is this his and other medical discoveries,
work that helped to save lives, as important as the war with China in which many lives were
lost? Now, I want to know why Japan was so slow to start its coronavirus vaccination
program—and why Japan was not able to develop its own vaccine? Where are thegovernment’s priorities? The same can be said about the United States. Fortunately, the new
President Biden seems committed to improving social welfare, public health, environmental
health, international cooperation, medical research, etc. Perhaps he will be the one to makeAmerica great again—but not for its military might and its number of billionaires—but for its
role in helping people around the world to have hope for a brighter future.

18）厄除けの赤色は日本だけの特徴ですか？
This is an interesting question. As you know, the color red is thought to have a sort ofprotective power. And red is now the near universal sign of danger—stop signs and traffic
lights are red; green is go, or safe. There is the “red” cross and the red “crescent”—theworld’s most respected hospital and emergency care systems devoted to the protection ofhuman life and health. In Japan, red was quickly (in the Nara and Heian periods) associatedwith smallpox (天然痘.) Red was the color of the disease (and devil responsible for the
disease was also often red)— but red was also the color that protected people from thedisease. Red paper streamers (御幣) were hung around houses to keep the disease out; andpatients were often dressed in red to help promote recovery. And, of course, there is
Akabeko! Clearly red is an apotropaic (厄除けの) color. East and West alike, red is the color ofblood—of life force. It also symbolizes love, passion and fire.

19）江戸幕府は、疫病が流行っていた時にわざと被害を小さく見せるために情報統制などはしていたのでしょう
か？／疫病がはやると人々が宗教に走りやすくなり、政情不安になる傾向があるかと思います。江戸時代の当時、政権はその傾向に対し、どのような対策を取っていたのでしょうか？
Although the Edo Bakufu limited information about current political and international affairs,
there is no indication that it sought to suppress information about disease and other natural
disasters. In such situations, it issued directives warning of dangers, set up relief stations anddistributed food. It called on priests to offer prayers. It gave various tax reductions. Local
intendants (代官) sent in reports of the deaths. But the welfare of people in daimyo domains(諸藩) was not the responsibility of the bakufu, so the response to disease varied from place
to place. Information about the epidemic largely came from informal sources such as
kawaraban and word-of-mouth and it was by no means accurate. If anything, these sources
exaggerated the number of deaths. A book has been published recently on how the Edo
Bakufu responded to epidemics. I have not read it yet, but it looks interesting: 安藤優一郎、『江戸幕府の感染症対策 なぜ「都市崩壊」を免れたか』集英社、2020 年。

20）最近、「鬼滅の刃」というマンガ、アニメーションが国民的ブームになっていますが、コロナ禍との関係性も指摘されています。これについてスティール先生とエスキルドセン先生はどう感じていらっしゃいますか。
Yes, isn’t this fascinating! I have not seen the anime or read the manga or played the video
game, but it does seem to be the big hit of the Corona era. Of course, Kimetsu no Yaiba (The
Demon Slayer) was issued before the coronavirus epidemic—but its popularity exploded in
the summer of 2020 and has continued to grow. There are a number of newspaper articles
about the phenomena, including Asahi Shimbun:
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASNDZ627KNDTONFB00H.html (Sorry you can only read thefirst part of this article for free). Here is another article from the Mainichi in English:
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201028/p2a/00m/0et/022000c

I think the popularity of the film may have something to do with the conditions we (in Japan,
but also people around the world) are forced to live in during the time of a pandemic. First of
all there is reference to the idea of the dual or ambivalent nature of devils. The story begins
in which a family is attacked by demons; a brother and sister survive; the sister turns into ademon, but the brother joins the Demon Slayer Corps to fight the enemy. This reminds me ofthe story of Shōki (鍾馗) who was once a bad demon turned into a good one. And the young
boy has a special sun blade sword to slay the bad demon. Yes, there seems to be lots ofviolence, but the story also has aspects of resilience during a time of crisis. People seek toprotect each other seeking to survive in a world of endless self-restraint. Will the slayers
succeed in their fight against the deadly demons (read the Corona devils)? Locked in our
houses, we urge them on! Perhaps this widely-shared experience is the reason why Kimetsu
no Yaiba is so popular.

21）海外にもアマビエみたいなものはありますか？
Interestingly, the Amabie image is now an international phenomenon. People around theworld love Amabie! Here is an example from BBC:http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200422-amabie-the-japanese-monster-going-viral
But the question is whether there are Amabie-like disease-fighting “gods” or “demons” in theWest. As you can well imagine, during times of plague and epidemics in the West, people
prayed to several Catholic saints for protection. St. Sebastian (known by all the arrows
sticking him) was known as the “Plague Saint”:
https://library.bc.edu/venetianart/exhibits/show/st-sebastian/st--sebastian (Link to view)22）沢山の資料も出して頂いて、とても有意義な講座でした。
Thank you for your kind words. I hope you continue to be curious about the way epidemics
are depicted in art, literature, and music, past and present.

23）市民がより強いリーダーを求めたことがきっかけの一つとなって、日本の近代化が進んだというお話がありまし
たが、強いリーダーと近代化の関係性がいまいちわかりませんでした。もう少し詳しく教えていただきたいです。
As far as combating deadly epidemics are concerned, I think strong leadership is necessary.
Since epidemics like the coronavirus do not make distinction between rich and poor, race,
political or religious affiliation, etc—there is a need for a unified response that protects the
weak as well as the strong. As for the importance of strong leadership in general, in Japan’scase, after the Meiji Restoration, the Satsuma-Chōshū dominated government was able topush through modernizing reforms including industrialization and military modernization.
But they also suppressed demands for a more democratic government as advanced by the
People’s Right Movement. It is difficult to conclude whether this is good or bad—without astrong military and rapid industrialization, Japan may have lost its political and economic
independence. But the Meiji wealth and power policies, and a nationalism centered on adivine imperial symbol, led to imperialism and dreams of world hegemony. Is modernity
good? That depends on what we mean by modernity. Is it to be measured by the productionof wealth of power (creating a more elitist and authoritarian society) or its distribution(creating a more equitable and democratic society)? That is the question.

24）ご講義ありがとうございました。教授著の『明治維新と近代日本の新しい見方』では今回の講義について更に詳しくお話しされているのでしょうか。
Yes, the first chapter of the book deals with the woodblock print of an illustrated chronologyof the years between 1853 and 1868 in more detail, but it does not necessarily focus on
epidemics. It looks at how people felt increasingly worried that the world as they knew it wascoming to an end —foreign threats, floods, earthquakes, epidemics, fires, rise in commodity
prices (the price of rice especially), social unrest, urban and rural rioting, ee ja nai ka, andfinally civil war! The second chapter focuses more narrowly on the reaction of common
people to the Boshin Civil War of 1868.

25）江戸の人々は、疫病を「異人」や「唐人」が持ち込んだと考えていたのでしょうか。もし、そう考えていたのなら、異人や唐人へ偏見や非難はなかったのでしょうか。
Good question. I have not seen any specific example that links the jōi (攘夷) movement in thebakumatsu years with contemporary (at the same time) anti-epidemic (厄除け) spiritual or
medical activities. This may be because the question has not been asked. I’ll keep my eyes
open. Certainly, many bushi responded negatively (anti-foreignism) to the coming of Perryand then, after the opening of Yokohama to foreign trade in 1859, to foreign merchants.
They were likened to devil that had to be expelled (鬼退治). This is a topic that needs further
study.