Japanese woodblock prints

Japanese woodblock prints:

In the late 19^th century these woodblocks prints were produced in Japan to represent the battles with diseases like cholera and small pox. In 1854 Commodore Matthew Perry forced ports to open because a big part of Japan was closed to western trade. The woodblocks show how Japanese people’s conception of sickness, health and medicine changed through early contact with westerns. Some of these prints became advertisements for medicines and others were seen as topical entertainment and decoration. The first two images represent cholera. In these wood block prints we can see people fighting and cannons spraying a liquid. In the print we can see a tiger that represents cholera because it is a fast-moving lethal affliction. Here the tiger is crushing most of the people under its weight, emphasising its heavily-built anatomy.

References:

Japanese Woodblocks: Prints depict methods of fighting cholera, smallpox.. 2013. Japanese Woodblocks: Prints depict methods of fighting cholera, smallpox.. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/03/25/japanese_woodblocks_prints_depict_methods_of_fighting_cholera_smallpox.html. [Accessed 18 May 2013].