ABSTRACT
Jennerian vaccination against smallpox using cowpox virus was introduced in Japan during that period, which also witnessed the decline and end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The sharp decrease in smallpox mortality resulting from the generalization of vaccination probably had an important incidence on population growth in Japan. According to some historians and historical demographers, smallpox was one of the main causes of child mortality in pre-industrial Japan. There are not many research works on this subject; therefore, knowledge about smallpox mortality, epidemics, and traditional treatment methods is insufficient. The Jennerian smallpox vaccine was first introduced in Nagasaki by Dr Otto Gottlieb Johann Mohnike, in August 1849. He imported it from Batavia, in Java Island, which was then a Dutch colony. In January 1875, Mr Kashiwagi Tadatoshi, Governor of Ashigara Prefecture, issued an official note with hygienic rules against smallpox in order to implement the Regulation for Practitioners Law adopted in October 1874.
