Background
Seikei Sugita was born in 1817. He was the son of Ryukei.
清景 杉田
Seikei Sugita was born in 1817. He was the son of Ryukei.
He learned Confucian classics from Ryokuya Hagiwara and then studied medicine under Shindo Tsuboi afterward. He also learned the Dutch language.
Seikei Sugita was employed by the Shogunate Astronomical Observatory (1840). With Yoan Udagawa and Umejiro Shinagawa, he translated a message from the Dutch king to the Shogunate (1844), for which he was properly rewarded.
Upon his father's death succeeded him as Shogunate physician. He resigned as a translator (1854); then assumed a new pseudonym of Furai-Sanjin (Mr. Loafer) and translated a Dutch book on gunnery. He was appointed an instructor at the Shogunate's Bansho Torishirabe-dok-Oro (Western Book Research Office) (1856).