若狹國
was a Japanese doctor, botanist, and scholar of "rangaku" (Western learning). He was a junior colleague of Sugita Genpaku, with whom he studied and worked in Obama Domain, Wakasa Province, a center for Western medicine in Edo period Japan. Along with Sugita and Maeno Ryōtaku　(前野 良沢), Nakagawa prepared "Kaitai Shinsho", a translation of the Dutch "New Book of Anatomy." Nakagawa was very active in circles of "rangaku" scholars, and is said to have played an important role in the field's progression and advancement.