The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka (1967) is a film set in feudal Japan. Its two central characters are based on the wife and mother of Japanese physician Seishu Hanaoka (1760-1835). Hanaoka developed a herbal general anaesthetic, "Tsusensan", some forty years before the better-known innovations of his American counterparts Long, Wells and Morton.

Hanaoka performed the world's first mastectomy under general anaesthesia in October 1804. His disciples and trainees continued the surgical tradition he founded after his death.

In the wider world, the prospect of pain-free surgery seemed a utopian fantasy for years to come.

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Japan's Seishu Hanaoka
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