19th-century pregnant dolls

19th-century obstetric training doll - Wada Museum

In the 18th and 19th centuries, sideshow carnivals known as misemono were a popular form of entertainment for the sophisticated residents of Edo (present-day Tokyo). The sideshows featured a myriad of educational and entertaining attractions designed to evoke a sense of wonder and satisfy a deep curiosity for the mysteries of life. One popular attraction was the pregnant doll.

“Light-skinned” pregnant doll - Edo-Tokyo Museum

Although it is commonly believed that these dolls were created primarily to teach midwives how to deliver babies, evidence suggests they were also used for entertainment purposes.

“Dark-skinned” pregnant doll - Edo-Tokyo Museum

For example, records from 1864 describe a popular show in Tokyo’s Asakusa entertainment district that educated audiences about the human body. The show featured a pregnant doll whose abdomen could be opened to reveal fetal models depicting the various stages of prenatal development.

Baby doll - Edo-Tokyo Museum

Similarly, records of Japan’s first national industrial exhibition in 1877 indicate a Yamagata prefecture hospital doctor named Motoyoshi Hasegawa showed off an elaborate set of fetus models illustrating seven different stages of growth, from embryo to birth.

Fetus model set (circa 1877) - Toyota Collection

Although it is unclear whether the fetus model set pictured here is the same one Hasegawa showed in 1877, records suggest his model was a hit at the exhibition.

Vintage Sketches Of Insects Under The Microscope

Kenbikyō Mushi No Zu (”Illustrations of Microscopic Insects”), a scroll published in 1860, depicts a lively parade of creepy-crawlies as viewed through a microscope. Although most of the insects pictured can actually be seen with the naked eye, the artist’s use of a microscope — still a relatively unusual instrument in Japan in those days — added a great level of detail to the drawings and made it a rather unique visual work.

Gnat

Mosquito larva

Louse

Flea

Striped mosquito

Silverfish

Aphid (left), Psocid (right)

Fish louse

The first microscope was brought to Japan in the mid-18th century (about 150 years after its invention in Europe) by Dutch traders at Nagasaki, and it was introduced to the public by pharmacologist Rishun Goto in a 1765 book entitled Oranda-banashi (”Story of Things Dutch”). Soon afterward, production of the first Japanese microscopes began in Osaka.

In 1787, Chūryō Morishima, a scholar of Western science, published Kōmō Zatsuwa (”Sayings of the Dutch”), which described the lifestyle and customs of the Dutch in Japan. The document included a section devoted to the microscope, complete with illustrations of insects as seen through the device.

As Japanese microscope technology developed, the device became a popular attraction at carnival sideshows. One notable sideshow in Nagoya in 1820 put an assortment fleas, lice, mosquitoes and other bugs on public display. According to written records of the event, many spectators shuddered with fear as they peered through the microscopes, which made the creatures look as large as a human hand. Others viewed the microscopes with excitement, as they offered a glimpse into a previously unknown world.

The Tohoku University Library houses the original copy of the Kenbikyō Mushi No Zu scroll.