[A consideration of the picture "Vaccination of Ainos" painted by Byozan Hirasawa, in the possession of the Omsk Museum of Fine Arts].

Abstract

In 1857, Norimasa Muragaki (1813-1880), a magistrate of Hakodate, proposed to the Tokugawa shougunate the compulsory vaccination of the Ainos. The shougunate accepted this and dispatched Ryusai Kuwata (1811-1868) and his colleagues to the Ezo area. They practiced the compulsory vaccination of the Ainos, with huge difficulty, from 1857 to 1858. A merchant Kashichi Sugiura of Hakodate presented to Muragaki a picture of the scene of Kuwata's vaccination practice to praise his excellent decision on vaccination, made in October, 1857. This was painted by Byozan Hirasawa (1822-1876). Another picture of vaccination, painted by Hirasawa, has been found in the possession of the Omsk Museum of Fine Arts. The detailed composition of this picture is somewhat different from those of known copies. This suggests us that there might have been several sketches of the scene of vaccination. However, Hirasawa is believed not to have witnessed the actual scene as depicted in the picture, because Kuwata and other physicians did not practice in front of Muragaki during Kuwata's stay in Hakodate, as Muragaki did not describe anything about the vaccination practice in his formal diary.