A Fundamental Study of the Representation of Disease （Disability） from the 10th to the 12th Century: Focusing on diseases of the extremities, blindness, and skin diseases

This paper discusses the historical mapping of expressions related to severe physical diseases （disabilities） and skin diseases from the 10th to the 12th centuries and shows that this period was a watershed in the recognition of diseases （disabilities） in the history of disabilities in Japan. In doing so, we will compare such expressions in the 10th-century medical text “Ishinbo”（『医心方』） and the ancient dictionary “Wamyo Ruiju Shou” （『倭名類聚抄』） with those in essays, stories, chronicles and Buddhist collections of discourses, and attempts to situate them in historical terms. In Chapter 1, I examine the expressions of diseases （disabilities） of the extremities and note that while a variety of expressions are found in the “Ishinbo” and “Wamyo Ruiju Shou,” “katawa”（「かたは」） is used as an expression related to diseases （disabilities） , and that it was related to changes in the view of the body in that period, and the recognition of “gotai fugu kegare” (「五体不具穢」 ) and ways to respond to it was established. In Chapter 2, I examine the expressions of blindness, etc., and consider the general recognition of the blind, mainly from ancient records, the article on Emperor Sanjo’s eye disease. Then, from the expressions in Buddhist sermon collections, I point out their relationships between cause and effect and the belief in the Lotus Sutra, and from the arrangement of the sermons, I attempt to examine their social positioning. In Chapter 3, I will examine the expression of skin diseases, and consider the position of leprosy in the 12th century and its historical background, mainly from the issue of the places where lepers were isolated around Heian-kyo and Empress Komyo’s bathing discourses. Through the above discussion, I would like to show that the 10th to the 12th centuries were a time of change in the view of disease （disability） and the view of the body, and the epoch in which the social distinction between the sick （disabled） and the healthy was formed.