Udagawa Genshin (宇田川玄真)
Genshin UDAGAWA (January 24, 1770 - January 2, 1835) was a Ranpoi (a person who studied Western medicine by means of the Dutch language) who lived during the late Edo period. His real name was Rin YASUOKA. Genshin was his azana (name used after becoming an adult). He called himself Shinsai. Genzui UDAGAWA was his adoptive father and Yoan UDAGAWA was his adopted son.
He was the practical successor to Gentaku OTSUKI in the world of Western studies of the Edo period. His disciples included Choshuku YOSHIDA, Hotei FUJII, Shindo TSUBOI, Nobuhiro SATO, Koan OGATA, Komin KAWAMOTO, Genpo MITSUKURI, Yokusai IINUMA, and Rinso AOCHI.
Biography
Genshin was born to the Yasuoka family of Ise Province in 1769.
While yet at an early age, he studied at Tenshinro, the private school of Genpaku SUGITA, and then entered Shirando, the private school of Gentaku OTSUKI who was a pupil of Genpaku, and he was called the head of Shirando Big Four. He was adopted by Genpaku SUGITA by marrying his daughter, however soon got disowned (as for the reason, it is said that Genshin had indulged in dissipation probably because he had been still young).
In 1798, on the death of Genzui UDAGAWA, who was Shirando's most able disciple, he was adopted by the Udagawa family and took over as head of the family.
He was invited to take a post as translator of Western academic books on the astronomical observatory by the Edo Bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun), which was considering a revision of the calendar, and then, as a Dutch book translator, worked on the translation of an encyclopedia originally compiled by Noel Chomel, French scholar.
Besides Genshin's private school Fuundo laid the foundations not only of medical science but also of wide range of fields including chemistry, science, and natural philosophy, and he was praised as the titan of the middle period of Western studies.
He died on December 4, 1835. He was at the age of 67.
His Achievements
Genshin devoted himself to the development of Western studies as a Ranpoi and was also involved in the compilation of the Halma Wage (Dutch-Japanese Dictionary based on the dictionary by Halma), the first Dutch-Japanese dictionary in Japan. He is also known to have introduced honey liquor and its recipe in his translation corpus.
He also revised and enlarged the "Seisetsu Naika Senyo" (Selected Points of Western Theories on Internal Medicine) that had been translated by his adoptive father Genzui, and invented new characters for describing medical terms (he did not apply some Chinese characters which had already existed to new concepts, he practically made new characters [although those look like Chinese characters even to Chinese and Japanese]) including '腺' which refers to secretor and '膵' which refers to pancreas; this was one of Genshin's epoch-making achievements.
The Kaitai Shinsho (New Book of Anatomy) translated by Genpaku SUGITA, Ryotaku MAENO and others had laid the foundation of Western studies of the Edo period and of anatomy of Japan, and later, their disciple Gentaku OTSUKI had published the revised edition of Kaitai Shinsho with better translation and illustrations by copper-plate etchings, however, the development of anatomy had not much advanced since then. Genshin vigorously translated numerous up-to-date Dutch anatomy books, besides he commissioned a famous painter Denzen AODO to make illustrations and published an original translation of an anatomy text 'Waran Naikei Ihan Teimo' (Medical Examples in Outline) with Denzen's illustrations. The book became a bestseller, which exceeded the sales of the revised edition of Kaitai Shinsho, and, together with the Kaitai Shinsho and its revised edition, the book was highly acclaimed as a leading translation work in the early stage of anatomical history in Japan.
His Works
Ensei Ihan (Examples from Western Medicine): Translation of a Dutch anatomical book, and it counts 30 volumes
Waran Naikei Ihan Teimo (Medical Examples in Outline): Summary of the Ensei Ihan and an anatomy book which was acclaimed that it could rival the Kaitai Shinsho
Ihan Teimo Naizo Dohanzu; Illustrations of the Waran Naikei Ihan Teimo
Shintei Zoho Waran Yakkyo: Method of preparation of medicines
Ensei Iho Meibutsuko (Study on the Far Western Medicine): Co-written with his adopted son, Yoan UDAGAWA
Naigai Yoron (Summary of Internal and Surgical Medicine)
Eteru (Ether)