Disability in Early Modern Japan: A Survey of Concepts and Issues

Abstract

This article discusses current conceptual frameworks and new directions in disability studies, with a focus on certain disabilities and particular groups of people with disabilities in early modern Japan (or Tokugawa Japan, 1600–1868). Disability historians of non-Euro-American societies can benefit from asking the common questions that motivate disability history and, more generally, disability studies. Historical research on disability in early modern Japan contributes to the collective effort of explaining how disability is related to the understanding of medicine, disease, and illness, how people with disabilities embody their experiences, and how disability intersects with cultural knowledge, gender, and material conditions in society.