Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Moral lessons through pictures

These images, taken from a series called Moral lessons through pictures of good and evil, are meant to communicate morality in traditional Japanese society. Each lesson is made up of a pair of opposing images, one representing the ideal and the other the less than ideal. In one image shown here, a doctor is seen taking the pulse of his patient. The opposite image represents evil and is titled A doctor who destroys lives is driven from a household.

 

Illustration of a good doctor taking a woman's pulse A bad physician being driven from a house.
A Doctor who helps people with their lives taking a woman’s pulse from the series Moral lessons through pictures of good and evil by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. 1880. Published by Tsunashima Kamekichi, 14 banchi 2 chōme Bakuro-chō, Nihonbashi-ku, Tokyo. Philadelphia Museum of Art. A doctor who destroys lives driven from a household from the series Moral lessons through pictures of good and evil by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. 1880. Published by Tsunashima Kamekichi, 14 banchi 2 chōme Bakuro-chō, Nihonbashi-ku, Tokyo. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

 


 

Highlighted Vignette Volume 12, Issue 4 – Fall 2020

Fall 2019  |  Sections  |  Ethics

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