Motoyasu ODAKA (大高 元恭) (大高元恭)
Motoyasu ODAKA (November 16, 1758 - 1830) was a Japanese doctor and Rangakusha or a Dutch scholar (a person who studied Western sciences by means of the Dutch language) in the period that the Western sciences were introduced. Scholar of herbalism. He also called himself Motoyasu HASHIO, but came to call his surname as Odaka, because he was from the Takashina clan. His name is sometimes written as 元喬 instead of 元恭. He was originally called Wasaburo, then Soon, later Seifukuan Soshuku. His azana (name taken by scholars and artists after a Chinese custom) was Chido.
Brief Personal History
He was born as a son of his father Yotetsu ODAKA (Moroaki HASHIO) and mother Shu or Amane (from the Shibata clan). He was known as a herbal naturalist, and highly valued in a list of doctors in Osaka from Kansei to Bunka and Bunsei era. His name appears as a doctor and naturalist in "Naniwa Kyoyuroku" (Directory of Osaka), published in Kansei era, and also in other publications. He was familiar with Western sciences as well as herbalism, and reviewed "Seiyo Iji Shusei Hokan" (Treasure Chest of Collected Western Medical Facts), a representative work of Sokichi HASHIMOTO. He was known as one of the five best doctors in Osaka at that time. His name appears in "Seiyo Gakka Yakujutsu Mokuroku" (Bibliography of Translations of Western Writings) completed in 1852 and published in 1854, as the author of ten-volume "Iho Shuyo" (Essential Collection of Medical Science) that was translated from Western medical books.
He associated himself very closely with Kenkado KIMURA, a great naturalist and painter in the late Edo period, and was one of Kenkado's closest doctors together with Setsuan KIMURA, Toan KITAMURA and Kohei FUJII. "Kenkado Nikki" (Diary of Kenkado) indicates that Motoyasu often visited Kenkado, not failing to meet and talk with him several times per month, from Anei to Kyowa era throughout. As a scholar of herbalism, he was the closest person of Kenkado.
His younger sister Tosa OTAKA married Yuen NAKAI, who was the director of Suisaikan school and whose father was Riken NAKAI, director of Kaitokudo school ("Kinsei Gakugei Ronko - Hagura Keisho Ronbunshu" [Discussion on the Studies in the Early Modern Times - Collected Articles of Keisho HAGURA] edited by Jun SUZUKI and published by Meiji Shoin), but she died at such a young age of 25. Motoyasu had a son-in-law called Zennosuke, who was the second son of the Iwaki clan, wealthy family of merchants and literature, and Zennosuke's son Motoichi HASHIO was a member of a branch family of the Konoike family ("Zenkiteki Shihon no Henshitsu Katei: Konoike Kenkyu no Issetsu" [The Process of Changes of Pre-modern Capital - a Study on the Konoike Family] written by Shigeaki YASUOKA, included in page 480, Volume 4 of "Osaka no Kenkyu" [Studies on Osaka] edited by Mataji MIYAMOTO and published by Seibundo in 1970).
His great-grandson includes Toranosuke HASHIO, who was the author of the first complete Japanese-English dictionary, and also known for his studies of Qing-era Chinese music and pictorialism and wrote "Shashinjutsu Hyakka Daijiten" (Encyclopedia of Photography).
Public Estimation
Despite his image as a scholar of Western sciences for his involvement in the revision of "Seiyo Iji Shusei Hokan" (Treasure Chest of Collected Western Medical Facts), he was originally an expert of traditional medicine and ranked far higher than Sokichi HASHIMOTO in the list of good doctors published every year at that time. He was often invited to serve various lords, but continued working as a town doctor throughout his life except for a contract medical officer of the Kaga clan. He also often appeared as a herbalist in the list of doctors. He was a dilettante (one who studies at ease as a amateur, rather than a scholar or expert) who researched natural historic herbalism and Western sciences backed by the economically-prosperous culture of Osaka. He was a person of wide and deep knowledge of that time.
literary work
"Kokin Isho Mokuroku" (Bibliography of Medical Books of Past and Present) - Four volumes, published in 1804