Honinbo Shusaku and Asiatic Cholera Pandemic of 1846–63

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In 1862, a cholera epidemic swept through Japan. Honinbo Shusaku tended the patients within the Honinbō house, and fell ill himself, dying of it on August 10 when he was only 33 years old. Cholera epidemic in Japan actually had two major, that the first outbreak of it occurred in 1854.

It is connected with the Asiatic Cholera Pandemic of 1846–63. This cholera epidemic swept through Japan causing widespread mortality. In 1862, Honinbo Shusaku, who is considered by many to be the greatest player of the golden age of Go in the mid-19th century - now Google has celebrated the 185th birthday of nineteenth century Go player Honinbo Shusaku - tended the patients within the Honinbō house. He fell ill himself, dying of it on August 10 when only 33 years old.

It is agreed that the first epidemic struck the Japanese port city of Nagasaki in June 1858, a few weeks after the signing of a treaty with Western powers that opened Japanese ports to foreign trade.

The infection was apparently brought into town by a cholera patient on board the United States warship Mississippi, which had arrived from China. Not surprisingly, many Japanese associated the disease with the Western invasion.

Far more severe than the Japanese Cholera Epidemic of 1822, it spread rapidly toward the northeast and reached the capital of Edo (Tokyo), then Japan's largest city, by the end of July. During September–October 1858, cholera raged in the city, causing unusually high mortality. With the onset of cooler winter weather, it declined in Edo.

The epidemic spread across all of Japan by land and sea. In the Sendai region, for instance, Edo, Osaka, and Ishinomaki were infected by sea. The latter port was the first to be invaded. From here the epidemic traveled along the coast and later inland along the Kitakami River.

Cholera was fairly widespread in the Sendai region in 1858 and 1859 and apparently more virulent in the second year. Known in Japan as the cholera epidemic of Ansei 5 and 6, it was neither mentioned in Ogenji's death records nor indirectly reflected in a noticeably higher death rate in 1858–59 in the Hida region.

Some scholars said the epidemic of 1859 struck more districts and caused higher mortality. An estimated 3 million people (adults and children) died of cholera in 1858–59. Between July and September 1860, nearly 250,000 cholera victims were cremated in Edo alone. Clearly, it was a major disaster, and the government responded by introducing relief measures to help those who were left without support.

In 1861, cholera virtually disappeared from the country. However, in 1862, it erupted again. It's considered the 1862 outbreak as a continuation of the 1858–59 epidemic. Like its predecessor, the epidemic of Bunkyu 2 also began in Nagasaki. It was apparently more severe and widespread than that of 1858–59.

Mortality statistics for 1862 are somewhat misleading because Japan was also ravaged in that year by a severe outbreak of measles, during which many died of diarrhea and related complications.