Mitani Koki

Mitani Koki
Kaitai Hatsumo (A New Work of Anatomy), 1813
1950

5 volumes, 8o 26 color illustrations (10 double-page), line illustrations. Contemporary patterned wrappers; blue folding case with bone fasteners. Provenance: Jean Blondelet (sold Tajan, Paris, 23 October 2001, lot 23). FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE JAPANESE ANATOMY, based upon original observation and dissection, and the first to be extensively illustrated in color. The author undertook the dissection of a condemned prisoner in 1802, but did not publish until 11 years later. Most probably the book circulated in manuscript before it was printed since the author's preface is dated 1806, and other prefaces by Mitani's colleagues are dated 1809 and 1810. Even though the Kaitai Shinsho had been published thirty-nine years earlier, many Japanese still clung to the ancient traditional medical information that had been passed down for 3000 years, and one of the motivations of Mitani Koki in writing this book was to demonstrate the superiority the new Western understanding of anatomy and physiology over the ancient traditions. The work includes a total of 23 very well executed woodcuts drawn from life during the dissection. These reflect a considerable advance in detail from woodcuts in prior Japanese anatomies in the Edell collection. The last volume is an appendix written by Konsei Minamoto, one of Mitani Koki's pupils. Mestler, "A Galaxy of Old Japanese Medical Books I", Bull Med Lib Assoc XLII (1954) pp. 316-17 (5)

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