page_title: Kaitai Shinsho
section_title: Content
hierarchical_section_title: Kaitai Shinsho / Content
caption_attribution_description: Japan's first treatise on Western anatomy, 1774. National Science Museum, Tokyo. Photograph by PHG, 2004.
context_page_description: Kaitai Shinsho is a medical text translated into Japanese during the Edo period. It was written by Sugita Genpaku, and was published by Suharaya Ichibee in 1774, the third year of An'ei. The body comprises four volumes, the illustrations, one. The contents are written kanbun-style. It is based on the Dutch-language translation Ontleedkundige Tafelen, often known in Japan as Tafel Anatomie, of Johann Adam Kulmus’ Latin Tabulae Anatomicae, published before 1722 in Gdańsk, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a full-blown translation from a Western language, it was the first of its kind in Japan.
context_section_description: Kaitai Shinsho is generally said to be a translation of Ontleedkundige Tafelen. However, other than the work itself, Bartholini's, Blankaart's, Schamberger’s, Koyter’s, Veslingius', Palfijn's,  and others' works were also consulted; the cover is based on Valuerda's. Of course, Asian sources and opinions also had an influence.
  The book is not a mere translation; the translation was done mostly by Maeno Ryōtaku and then transponed into classical Chinese by Sugita. There are notes in various places left by Sugita, as leftovers from the work. All those lengthy footnotes that cover more than 50% of Kulmus' book were left out.
  The contents are split into four volumes:
  Volume I
  General remarks; forms and names; parts of the body; skeletal structure: general remarks about joints; skeletal structure: detailed exposition about joints.
  Volume II
  The head; the mouth; the brain and nerves; the eyes; the ears; the nose; the tongue.
  Volume III
  The chest and the diaphragm; the lungs; the heart; arteries; veins; the portal vein; the abdomen; the bowels and stomach; the mesentery and lacteals; the pancreas.
  Volume IV
  The spleen; the liver and gall bladder; the kidneys and the bladder; the genitalia; pregnancy; the muscles.
  The illustrations only comprise one volume.
caption: The Kaitai Shinsho, published in 1774
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot S110", "Image DateTime": "2006:05:19 12:24:04", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Tag 0x1001": "1600", "Image Tag 0x1002": "1200", "Image ExifOffset": "146", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/8", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:05:19 12:24:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:05:19 12:24:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "3", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "97349/32768", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "1223/1000", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "173/16", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "800000/103", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "240000/31", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera"}