A spatial perspective shows the introduction of smallpox vaccinations to Japan in a new light.  

After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan’s government and society underwent great changes. The new regime abolished domain rule and gradually dissolved self-governing associations among subjects. On one hand, these measures centralized governmental authority and produced a greater commitment to Western medicine and public health. On the other hand, they dismantled precisely the social and political structures that had so far supported vaccinations. How vaccinations developed under these circumstances is a subject for another occasion, but the growth of public health continued to be a slow, localized process, and the spatial layers of local society continued to matter.

This module has highlighted only a handful out of the many paths taken by the vaccine, even within the confines of Echizen province. Sabae domain and the town of Fuchū, for example, had active communities of vaccinators who treated subjects from other territories. By adding these and other cases, we will understand even better how bodies and territories in this province channeled the flow of the vaccine and were shaped by the vaccinators’ actions in return.