＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
1. What is the Plague?
The plague (Black Death) is a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Yersinia pestis was discovered in Hong Kong in 1894, almost simultaneously by Shibasaburo Kitazato (1852-1931), known as the “father of Japanese bacteriology,” and French bacteriologist Ersant (1863-1943).
Originally a disease of rodents such as brown rats and rats, the plague can spread to humans via flea bites. It is a virulent disease that can cause high fever, lymphadenitis, pneumonia, and sepsis.
Symptoms include general fatigue and chills two to five days after the plague bacteria enter the body. There are three types of plague: bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, and septicemic plague.
Streptomycin and cyclin antibiotics are effective treatments.
2. History of Plague Epidemics
(1) Epidemics in Medieval Europe
In the mid-14th century, a plague known as the Black Death ravaged Europe, causing widespread fear. This disease became known as the plague. The word “plague” (German: Pest, English: plague) comes from the Latin word “pestis,” meaning “contagious disease.”
During the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), it is said that one-third of the population of Western Europe died. This population decline was one of the factors behind the transformation of feudal society (a sharp decline in the serf and peasant population and the movement to emancipate the serfs).
This was the largest global pandemic in human history, and subsequent global epidemics have occurred frequently.
The plague epidemic spread from Constantinople throughout the Mediterranean Sea between 1346 and 1347, landing in Marseille and Venice. In 1348, it spread throughout Western Europe, reaching Avignon, Florence, and London. It reached Northern Europe, Poland in 1349, and Russia in 1351.
Rat rats were not originally found in Europe, but it seems they migrated to Europe from Western Asia on Crusader ships.
The epidemic continued until around 1370, but people at the time did not know the cause of the epidemic. Some people spread rumors that the Jews had poisoned the wells, leading to massacres of Jews.
Medieval doctors believed that the plague was airborne, so they closed windows to block air circulation and prohibited bathing, which exposes the skin to the air. The crow-faced masks worn by plague doctors were also intended to prevent airborne transmission.
Infection control measures included the isolation of infected and suspected infected people. In 1374, the Republic of Venice implemented a policy of refusing to allow ships from plague-hit areas to enter port for 30 days, allowing them to enter if no infected people were found during that time. In 1377, the Republic of Ragusa (present-day Dubrovnik) took similar measures. Marseilles, which introduced a similar policy in 1383, imposed a 40-day port closure period.
Quarantines also began to control the movement of goods over land, and merchants began carrying “sanitary passes” issued by each city. These “sanitary passes” are said to be the origin of the passport. The “port” in “passport” refers not only to seaports, but also to documents required to pass through gates (porte) in city walls.
The Old Town of Dubrovnik in Croatia, now a World Heritage Site, was once home to the Republic of Ragusa.
This walled city, which prospered through trade, was surrounded by walls, and the introduction of infectious diseases would have caused great damage. Therefore, in 1590, a “lazaretto,” an isolation facility that also served as a quarantine station, was built outside the walls. This was during the time of the second plague. The quarantine period in the “lazarettos” was extended from the 30 days that had been in place since 1377 to 40 days, the same as in Marseilles.
The number “40” comes from “quaranta” in Italian, which was used in the Republic of Ragusa. “Quarantine” is “quarantena” in Italian and “quarantine” in English, and its etymology comes from the number of days of quarantine policy implemented by the Republic of Ragusa during the plague.
(2) Pandemics of the 17th Century
Following the great plagues of the 14th century, the plague continued to spread throughout Europe in the 17th century. The plague epidemic of 1665 was particularly severe in London, and the British author Defoe (1660-1731), famous for “Robinson Crusoe,” wrote a record of it in his “Narrative of the Plague Era.” Newton (1642-1727) also fled from London to his hometown in the countryside to avoid the epidemic after Cambridge University closed for an extended period of time. There, he contemplated and discovered the “law of universal gravitation.”
(3) The Last Great Plague of the Late 19th Century
The last great plague epidemic of the late 19th century began in China and spread rapidly throughout Asia, eventually reaching Japan. In 1894, Shibasaburo Kitazato, who was sent to Hong Kong, the epicenter of the epidemic, discovered the plague bacillus and discovered that fleas transmit the pathogen from rats to humans.
This epidemic subsided in the 1910s, and Camus’ (1913-1960) novel “The Plague” is based on the epidemic in Algeria, North Africa.
Between 1894 and 1926, 2,905 people were infected in Japan, and 2,420 died. Shibasaburo Kitazato worked to establish the Infectious Diseases Prevention Law in 1897 and the Port Opening and Quarantine Law in 1899, contributing to the prevention of major plague epidemics in Japan.
3. How was the plague eradicated? When was it completely eradicated?
While the great plague epidemic at the end of the 19th century was the “last great pandemic,” there is still a risk of contracting the plague today, and in 2017 an outbreak was confirmed in Madagascar, Africa (2,348 infected, 202 dead), so the disease has not yet completely “ended.”
Many people lost their lives during previous plague epidemics, but the reason it has now “contained” is partly due to the implementation of “isolation” measures such as confining infected patients deep in the mountains and suspending ship entry for 30 to 40 days, as well as the establishment of “quarantine stations” to prevent the introduction of infectious diseases.
At the time of the “last great pandemic at the end of the 19th century,” the advent of “antibiotics” made it possible to treat a disease that was once “almost fatal” to the point where the mortality rate dropped to less than 20%. This was the reason it “ended.”
4. Plague Doctor
A “plague doctor” is a physician who specialized in treating plague victims. Plague doctors’ standard treatments were primarily bloodletting, and applying leeches to swollen lymph nodes to “restore the balance of bodily fluids.”
A famous plague doctor is Nostradamus (1503-1566), author of “The Prophecies of Nostradamus.” He was hired by the city authorities to treat patients when a major plague broke out in Aix-en-Provence in 1546. He stated that bloodletting, tonics, and hymns were ineffective, but that his own pills, which were mixed with roses and calamus, were effective.
The typical attire of a plague doctor consisted of a “waxed heavy cloth or leather gown that covered the entire body to expose as little skin as possible,” a “wide-brimmed hat,” a “plague mask” (a beak-shaped cone-shaped tube filled with strongly scented herbs, spices, or straw), and a “wooden staff.”
This was a type of “protective clothing” invented by Charles de L’Orme in 1619. It was first used in Paris and then spread throughout Europe.