19th Century Japanese Woodblock Prints Depict Body as Village of Workers

Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865) and his students created ukiyo-e woodblock prints illustrating human anatomy with miniature workers inside the body. The prints, such as "Inshoku Yojo Kagami" (Mirror of the Physiology of Drinking and Eating) and "Boji Yojo Kagami" (Rules of Sexual Life), were instructional, promoting health and warning against excess. One print shows a man eating fish and drinking sake, with little men stoking a fire under the heart and guarding the "urine gate" and "feces gate." Another print depicts a pregnant woman with Buddhist "Ten Realms" inside her womb. Other prints feature children playing on a back and abdomen, or kabuki actors as organs. The works combine education with the ukiyo-e aesthetic popular from the 17th to 19th centuries.