The historical evolution of smallpox treatment in Japan visualised through Japanese artwork and woodblock prints

Abstract

Art reveals core human emotions during catastrophes like epidemics, allowing people to narrate their coping stories. This review examines smallpox’s historical evolution and treatment in Japan, integrating visual art with medical history. It provides chronological insights from smallpox’s arrival and traditional remedies to the era of vaccination and public health measures leading to eventual eradication. Art played a vital role in Japan’s smallpox eradication, helping to galvanise societal engagement and public trust. Efforts included utilising political and administrative systems for vaccination initiatives and effective public health methods for outbreak surveillance and containment. Japan’s smallpox eradication story, depicted in art, offers valuable lessons on the power of robust public health policy and societal cooperation, providing a framework for managing current and future infectious diseases and pandemics.