Cholera Epidemics and Religion in Modern Japan

Abstract

This paper focuses on the cholera epidemics of the 1870s, which had a major impact on modern sanitation policy in Japan. First, I review the epidemics since the end of the Tokugawa era and popular religious responses to them, and then I explain why I dealt with the cholera epidemic of 1879 and beyond. It is noteworthy that the Ministry of the Interior mobilized official instructors (kyōdōshoku) to raise awareness of cholera prevention. I examine several texts of the time on this topic. In so doing, I confirmed the characteristics of discourses that promoted self-help efforts for hygiene in accordance with the government's policy, yet without denying the protection by Shinto and Buddhist deities.