Background
Gentaku Ôtsuki was born on 9 November 1757. Also known as Shigetaka or Bansui, he was the son of a physician of the domain of Ichinoseki in the province of Mutsu.
Gentaku Ôtsuki was born on 9 November 1757. Also known as Shigetaka or Bansui, he was the son of a physician of the domain of Ichinoseki in the province of Mutsu.
He began his studies under Tatebe Seian, a physician of the same domain, and at the age of twenty-one went to Edo to study medicine and Dutch learning under Sugita Gempaku and Maeno Ryotaku. Later he went to Nagasaki to continue his studies
In 1786 he became a physician in the service of the Sendai clan, taking up residence at Kyobashi in Edo and opening a private school called the Shirando, where he gave instruction in Dutch learning. It was here that, in 1794, he held a gathering to celebrate Oranda shogatsu, Dutch New Year, the first time that the solar calendar New Year’s Day was observed among the Japanese.
Among his students at this time were Hashimoto Sokichi, Inamura Sam- paku, and Udagawa Genshin.
In 1806 he and his son Genkan were appointed to the office of the shogunate that had charge of the translation of foreign books; he also undertook to produce a revised and enlarged version of the Kaitai shinsho, a work on anatomy and dissection by his teacher Sugita Gempaku, completing the task after some twenty years of labor and publishing a new edition in fourteen chapters entitled Jutei kaitai shinsho. In addition he compiled an atlas of the world entitled Kankai ibun in fifteen chapters, which he presented to the shogunate.
He produced more than three hundred chapters of translations and original works, and his miscellaneous writings have been collected in a two volume work entitled Bansui sonkyo.
In 1782 wrote a guide to Dutch learning entitled Rangaku kaitei, which proved to be very helpful to persons interested in familiarizing themselves with the subject.
