[Drugs in Kamigata Rakugo (a traditional style of Japanese story-telling in Osaka)]

Rakugo, traditional Japanese story-telling, has a history of over 300 years. The stories consist of jokes, anecdotes, and funny messages. The content often includes critical points of view from the perspective of normal people. Some of the targets of criticism are physicians and druggists. This study looked at the number of medical and medicinal items mentioned in kamigata rakugo (rakugo in Osaka). There were ten occasions in which medical/medicinal items were used for practical purposes in scenarios and 27 occasions in which they were simply mentioned. Some of the uses show us the medical and pharmaceutical situation in the 18-19th century in a humorous way. For example, mentions of kyu:moxibustion, biwayoutou:loquat herb tea, and ninjin:ginseng.