"Art is the expression of feeling without reason, science [...] the expression of reason without feeling. Mine is the task of depicting scientific facts, so that they shall have both human and artistic interest.” - Hashime Murayama

Hashime Murayama was born in Japan in 1879 and attended the Kyoto Imperial Art Industry College, graduating in 1905. Moving to the United States in 1906, he landed at Cornell University Medical College painting images of cells and preparing anatomical specimens. Known for his incredible attention to detail,  Murayama once ordered 5,000 live mosquitos shipped by mail as “artist’s supplies.”

From Cornell, he went on to become National Geographic’s first in-house illustrator. He and his family, wife Sutemi, and sons Nao and Ken, moved to Washington, D.C. in 1921 where they would stay for his 20 year career with the prestigious publication. It’s rumored by his colleagues that Murayama’s drawings were so meticulous that he would count every scale on a fish, to make sure he got it exactly right.

In January of 1941, a former colleague and friend of Murayama's at Cornell reached out with a unique request. Dr. George Papanicolaou, himself a Greek immigrant,  had been studying the female reproductive cycle and discovered that he could detect uterine cancer cells using vaginal smears, also known as the Pap smear. But he was having difficulty convincing the medical community at large that his new diagnostic test was better than traditional biopsies.

The first presentation of Dr. Papanicolaou’s research and findings failed to capture the groundbreaking nature of the discovery. More than anything, he needed the skill and artistry Murayama brought to his work to help communicate the nuances and power of the test.

Soon after he started his work with Dr. Papanicolaou, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and Hashime Murayama was arrested and detained on Ellis Island. The Alien Enemy Hearing Board recommended internment but Papanicolaou, friends, and colleagues wrote to the Attorney General on his behalf. In response Attorney General Francis Biddle granted him release. One of the investigators on the case shared that his work making "microscopic sketches in colors of uterine cancer cells, it is said that he is the only person in the United States who can do that kind of work."

Murayama’s talent for infusing life into the ultra realistic illustrations were critical to the success of Dr. Papanicolaou's book Diagnosis of Uterine Cancer by the Vaginal Smear, and its wide acceptance in the medical community. Featuring 11 pages of color plates, the illustrations made it easier for technicians to identify the small differences in the cells. They were so helpful, in fact, that labs started hanging them on their walls to assist with diagnosis.