Disposal of the dead

In the second half of the nineteenth century, although germ theory had already sprouted, effective countermeasures against specific diseases were still lacking in Meiji Japan. Instead, more "discursive and long-term" approaches emerged that focused on the practice of sanitation. This picture shows a gendarme - a military officer in charge of policing sanitary habits - helping to remove a corpse packed firmly in a wooden tub for cremation.

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