17 Facts About Sugita Genpaku

Sugita Genpaku was a Japanese physician and scholar known for his translation of Kaitai Shinsho and a founder of Rangaku and Ranpo in Japan.

Sugita Genpaku was one of the first Japanese scholars in Edo to study the Dutch language and is credited with being one of the first Japanese physicians to study Western medical teachings in Japan.

Sugita Genpaku was inspired to translate the Dutch text after witnessing the dissection of a female criminal while viewing Ontleekundige Tafelen as an anatomical reference throughout the dissection.

Sugita Genpaku was inspired by the German drawings of human organs, which accurately depicted the organs and vasculature he saw during the dissection.

Around age 17, Sugita Genpaku began studying surgery under Gentetsu Nishi.

Sugita Genpaku moved away from his father's home at age 25 after being granted permission from his liege lord to begin working as a medical practitioner.

Sugita Genpaku was forced to relocate his medical practice from Nihonbashidori-dori to Hakoya-cho in 1759 and later to Horidome-cho in 1762, both due to losing his property from fires.

Sugita Genpaku later left Horidome-cho and moved to property owned by Feudal Lord Sakai around 1770.

Under the rule of the Tokogawa shoguns, Sugita Genpaku lived in a period Japanese isolation from the Western world and most of East Asia.

In mid eighteenth century, Dutch books became sought after as scholarly texts by the Japanese, and it was during this time that Sugita Genpaku came into the medical profession.

Sugita Genpaku attended one such demonstration in 1768 where a Dutch surgeon, Rudolf Bauer, cured a patient with gangrene of the tongue by drawing blood from the infected area.

Also in possession of a Western anatomical text, Ontleekundige Tafelen, Sugita Genpaku was interested by the opportunity to witness a dissection.

Sugita Genpaku took on many students in the emerging field of Rangaku, including Gentaku Otsuki.

Sugita Genpaku continued to collect Dutch texts and build a robust medical library.

Sugita Genpaku initially took Genshin in as a student and prospective son to inherit his estate.

Above all, Sugita Genpaku's legacy is that of a teacher and physician with the goal to better the health of Japanese citizens through the knowledge of foreign nations.

The path of learning Sugita Genpaku set his students on fostered a generation of scholars that would come to introduce Western medicine to Japan.