Saisuke Yamamura was a geographer and student of Dutch learning in the late Edo period.
Background
Saisuke Yamamura was born in 1770. His personal name was Masanaga, Ins common name Saisuke, and he used the professional name Muyu Dojin. He was born in the Fukagawa area of Edo, in the official residence of the fief of Tsuchiura; his father’s name was Tsukasa, his mother s name Maki.
Education
At an early age he began studies under his uncle on his mother’s side, the renowned Confucian scholar Ichikawa Kansai.
In 1789 he entered the Shirando, a private school established by Otsuki Gentaku for the teaching of Dutch learning.
Career
After reading the Sair an igen, a work on the countries of the West written in 1713 by Arai Hakuseki, he determined to devote himself to the study of world geography.
Unfortunately, he died of illness at the age of thirty-seven.