Mercury Therapies for Syphilis in Early-Modern Japan (1550-1850)

Syphilis arrived in East Asia during the 16th century, and soon spread across China’s coastal provinces and the Japanese archipelago. By the end of the 18th century the infection rate in some regions of Japan may have reached as high as half the total population, and syphilis was the disease that many early-modern doctors were most commonly called upon to treat. Technical treatises and self-care manuals on syphilis emerged as distinctive genres of medical writing, including annotated editions of Chinese books, translations of Dutch treatises, technical instructions for the preparation of therapeutic mercury compounds, and popular allegorical fiction.

This talk will explore the contexts of mercury-based therapeutics for syphilis in Japan, tracing the material and cultural flows of drugs and medical practices through the East Asian region and the early-modern world. It will examine economic aspects of the production, distribution, and consumption of mercurial compounds, as well as the ways in which knowledge about mercurial compounds was kept secret or disseminated. Finally, it will consider the ways in which early-modern Japanese doctors and their patients justified the use of therapies with such harsh side effects and the broader impact of mercurial syphilis therapies on the culture of early-modern Japanese medicine.