Baka no Daimyōyaku (The Idiot's Great Wonder Drug)

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Baka no Daimyōyaku ["The Idiot's Great Wonder Drug"]

Hattori [Mantei], Ōga [text by]; Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by]. 

[Tōkyō]: Shōsetsusha Shorin, Yamazaki Seishichi ... [et al.], [Meiji 7 (1874)] - Meiji 12 [1879].

A complete set of three Kyōsai-Ōga zasshi on the story of a quack doctor who invents a wonder drug that makes idiots smart. He sets off in search of patients willing to test the medication, and on his journey encounters intelligent people pretending to be idiots and idiots pretending to be intelligent (Oikawa and Yamaguchi 1988). The work may satirise the influence of Western medicine and/or ridicule Japanese experts in Western knowledge who considered themselves particularly intelligent (while Ōga believed those with practical skills (like agricultural workers) were the 'true' intellectuals). If the latter is the case, the theme resembles that of Chie no Hakari (1874). No complete (physical) sets traced in OCLC. 

Three karitoji-bound volumes, complete, on double leaves, traditional East Asian binding style (fukurotoji). Original wrappers lightly creased and foxed. Small hole to upper wrapper of issue 1. Stains to upper wrapper and last text leaf verso of issue 2; pigments hand-applied to upper wrapper and one illustrated spread of same issue. Pigments hand-applied to most illustrations in issue 3. Occasional creases, light stains, and foxing internally. Previous binding holes present. 8; 8; 8 leaves. 22.2 x 15.1 cm.

❧ Oikawa, Shigeru and Seiichi Yamaguchi. Kawanabe Kyōsai Gigashū. Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, 1988.

Baka no Daimyōyaku (The Idiot's Great Wonder Drug)
Price: $2,500.00 (USD)