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Bodies and Structures 2.0: Deep-Mapping Modern East Asian History

Senkyōroku, entry for the 23rd day of the 11th month, 1849

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Children's Bodies and the Transfer from Kyoto to Fukui
As a back-up for the glass containers, Kasahara Ryōsaku recruited parents with young children for arm-to-arm transfers, two children from Kyoto and three from Fukui.
On 11/16 (according to the lunisolar calendar used in Tokugawa Japan), Kasahara initiated the transfer from Kyoto to Fukui by vaccinating the two children from Kyoto. After confirming that pustules had developed on their arms, he traveled with the children and their parents to an inn in Nagahama on Lake Biwa, an important way station en route to Fukui. On 11/22 the children's pustules had ripened, and Kasahara extracted lymph from their arms and transferred it to the three children from Fukui, who had traveled to Kyoto for this purpose together with their parents. The children from Kyoto then returned home, and Kasahara and the remaining families hiked back to Fukui, braving a blizzard and extremely deep snow as they crossed Tochinoki Pass (Kasahara Hakuō-hitsu senkyōroku). On 11/24, the party reached the highway station of Imajō, where physicians from Fuchū were already waiting with three local children in tow. Kasahara vaccinated one of these children as a back-up. On 11/25, the travelers arrived in the castle town of Fukui, where Kasahara immediately began to vaccinate further children. He probably used the lymph from the glass container at that time, as the pustules of the arriving children would not yet have been ready for extraction (Fukui-ken Ishikai 1968, 177).
Although arm-to-arm transfer turned out to be unnecessary in the case of this relatively short journey, it later became the preferred method of transmission due to its reliability. The author of “Gyūtō Kaihei” (“Uncovering Cowpox”) from 1852 argued that scabs in particular should only be used in rare cases, for example for long-distance transfers, because they were more likely to result in spurious pocks and did not offer the same degree of protection as direct transmissions (Umihara 2014, 196).
The "Vaccine Travel Record"
The most important primary source for this module is the “Vaccine Travel Record” (Hakushin-yō ōraidome). Kasahara Ryōsaku, a town doctor and pioneering vaccinator from Fukui town, recorded nine volumes (the first of them is missing) between 1849 and 1858, with one final entry from 1860. He used this record to take notes as well as copy correspondences and documents about retransmissions, rules, procedures, and other matters regarding the movement of the vaccine to and from Echizen and within the province.
Another vaccine-related record (Senkyōroku) in Kasahara Ryōsaku's archive describes Kasahara's trip to Kyoto and back to Fukui to carry the vaccine to Echizen in 1849. Only volume 5 of this record has survived.

In this module, the pages related to Ōno domain are based on new research on the “Vaccine Travel Record” and other primary sources. Pages about Fukui and Sabae domain draw on research by Yanagisawa Fumiko, Ban Isoshirō, Umihara Ryō, and other scholars, who have likewise made use of the “Vaccine Travel Record.” The record has been published as Hakushinki: Hakushin yō oraidome (Fukui: Fukui-ken Ishikai, 1997).
Use the Territorial Approach to Vaccinations or the Vaccinating the Nishikata Enclave pathways to explore new research on Ōno domain that draws on the “Vaccine Travel Record.” Or use the link below to continue on the pathway “Written Records” to read more about the vaccinators' oath and other important records facilitating the vaccination process.