Short Abstract

In prewar Japan, blood donation functioned within a medical, commercial, and moral economy. After the first transfusion in 1919, commercial blood agencies emerged, commodifying blood by the 1930s. This paper explores the tensions between medical practice, commerce, and morality in wartime Japan.

Long Abstract

Donating blood in prewar Japan was not simply an act of altruism; it was embedded in a broader medical, economic, and social framework that saw the emergence of blood selling (baiketsu 売血) as a profession. Following the first blood transfusion in Japan in 1919, Japanese doctors came to recognize the effectiveness of this new, albeit risky, procedure in saving lives. The need to facilitate the transfer of blood from donors to medical institutions created business opportunities for intermediaries to profit from the transaction of the most vital bodily fluid: blood.

By the 1930s, commercial blood agencies had emerged nationwide, operating alongside hospitals. These agencies became essential in meeting growing demand from urban hospitals and military medicine. As the Japanese empire moved toward total war, securing a steady blood supply became a strategic concern for the state. Nevertheless, the sale of blood remained tolerated until Japan’s defeat in September 1945.

This paper traces the commodification of blood in modern Japan by examining interactions among medical institutions, commercial blood agencies, and the state. Drawing on contemporary print media and medical publications, it shows that the expansion of blood markets provoked sustained public anxiety. Professional blood sellers (shokugyō kyūketsu-sha 職業的給血者) were frequently depicted as morally suspect and socially marginal figures, a view reinforced by media coverage of medical accidents, particularly cases involving the transmission of stigmatized diseases such as syphilis through contaminated transfusions.

These portrayals were shaped by a moral economy of blood that contrasted altruistic donation with profit-driven exchange. Paid donors were cast as threats to public health and social order, while voluntary donors were idealized as selfless and patriotic. Limited state intervention and the absence of standardized medical regulation failed to mitigate these perceptions. When the wartime government attempted to mobilize the home front for blood donation campaigns, entrenched prejudices toward blood sellers posed significant challenges.

Ultimately, the imbalance between high demand and insufficient voluntary supply compelled continued reliance on commercial blood agencies as a core component of wartime blood infrastructure. The commodification of blood in modern Japan thus reveals the enduring entanglement of medicine, commerce, and morality.