page_title: Rangaku
section_title: Notable scholars
hierarchical_section_title: Rangaku / Notable scholars
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 「平賀鳩渓肖像」（『戯作者考補遺』表紙絵）。木村黙老画。慶応義塾図書館収蔵。 English: A Portrait of Kyūkei Hiraga (1728–80) by Momuō Kimura (from the cover of Gisaku-sha Kō Hoi). A collection of Keiō University Library.
context_page_description: Rangaku is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641–1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate's policy of national isolation.
  Through Rangaku, some people in Japan learned many aspects of the scientific and technological revolution occurring in Europe at that time, helping the country build up the beginnings of a theoretical and technological scientific base, which helps to explain Japan's success in its radical and speedy modernization following the forced American opening of the country to foreign trade in 1854.
context_section_description: Arai Hakuseki (新井 白石, 1657–1725), author of Sairan Igen and Seiyō Kibun
  Aoki Kon'yō (青木 昆陽, 1698–1769)
  Maeno Ryōtaku (前野 良沢, 1723–1803)
  Yoshio Kōgyū (吉雄 耕牛, 1724–1800)
  Ono Ranzan (小野 蘭山, 1729–1810), author of Botanical Classification (本草綱目啓蒙, Honzō Kōmoku Keimō).
  Hiraga Gennai (平賀 源内, 1729–79) proponent of the "Elekiter"
  Gotō Gonzan (後藤 艮山)
  Kagawa Shūan (香川 修庵)
  Sugita Genpaku (杉田 玄白, 1733–1817) author of New Treatise on Anatomy (解体新書, Kaitai Shinsho).
  Asada Gōryū (麻田 剛立, 1734–99)
  Motoki Ryōei (本木 良永, 1735–94), author of Usage of Planetary and Heavenly Spheres (天地二球用法, Tenchi Nikyū Yōhō)
  Shiba Kōkan (司馬江漢, 1747–1818), painter.
  Shizuki Tadao (志筑 忠雄, 1760–1806), author of New Book on Calendar Phenomena (暦象新書, Rekishō Shinsho), 1798 and translator of Engelbert Kaempfer's Sakokuron.
  Hanaoka Seishū (華岡 青洲, 1760–1835), first physician who performed surgery using general anaesthesia.
  Takahashi Yoshitoki (高橋 至時, 1764–1804)
  Motoki Shōei (本木 正栄, 1767–1822)
  Udagawa Genshin (宇田川 玄真, 1769–1834), author of New Volume on Public Welfare (厚生新編, Kōsei Shinpen).
  Aoji Rinsō (青地 林宗, 1775–1833), author of Study of the Atmosphere (気海観瀾, Kikai Kanran), 1825.
  Hoashi Banri (帆足 万里, 1778–1852), author of Physical Sciences (究理通, Kyūri Tsū).
  Takahashi Kageyasu (高橋 景保, 1785–1829)
  Matsuoka Joan (松岡 恕庵)
  Udagawa Yōan (宇田川 榕菴, 1798–1846), author of Botanica Sutra (菩多尼訶経, Botanika Kyō, using the Latin "botanica" in ateji) and Chemical Sciences (舎密開宗, Seimi Kaisō)
  Itō Keisuke (伊藤 圭介, 1803–1901), author of Western Plant Taxonomy (泰西本草名疏, Taisei Honzō Meiso)
  Takano Chōei (高野 長英, 1804–50), physician, dissident, co-translator of a book on the tactics of the Prussian Army, Tactics of the Three Combat Arms (三兵答古知幾, Sanpei Takuchiiki), 1850.
  Ōshima Takatō (大島 高任, 1810–71), engineer — established the first western style blast furnace and made the first Western-style cannon in Japan.
  Kawamoto Kōmin (川本 幸民, 1810–71), author of Strange Machines of the Far West (遠西奇器述, Ensei Kikijutsu), completed in 1845, published in 1854.
  Ogata Kōan (緒方 洪庵, 1810–63), founder of the Tekijuku, and author of Introduction to Pathology (病学通論, Byōgaku Tsūron), Japan's first treatise on the subject.
  Sakuma Shōzan (佐久間 象山, 1811–64)
  Hashimoto Sōkichi (橋本 宗吉)
  Hazama Shigetomi (間 重富)
  Hirose Genkyō (広瀬 元恭), author of Science Compendium (理学提要, Rigaku Teiyō).
  Takeda Ayasaburō (武田 斐三郎, 1827–80), architect of the fortress of Goryōkaku
  Ōkuma Shigenobu (大隈 重信, 1838–1922)
  Yoshio Kōgyū (吉雄 耕牛, 1724–1800), translator, collector and scholar
caption: Hiraga Gennai (平賀源内, 1729–79)
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