In Japanese fairytales and legends we often encounter boxes. They are farewell presents the protagonist receives upon leaving another world. The protagonist must not open the box, yet this very prohibition forces him to do so. Boxes are full of secrets. And it is in human nature to want to reveal them. This type of secret started my discovery of this collection of medical photographs. One day the art collector Akimitsu Naruyama, a long-time friend of mine, called me from Tokyo. “I got a box with more than 300 incredible photographs,” he told me. “They are medical photographs from the Meiji era (1868-1911). You’ve never seen anything like it.”