Rangaku

Rangaku (Japanese: 蘭学, literally "Dutch Learning", and by extension "Western learning") is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through her contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed her to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641–1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate's policy of national isolation (sakoku).

Through Rangaku Japan learnt many aspects of the scientific and technological revolution occurring in Europe at that time, helping the country build up the beginnings of a theoretical and technological scientific base, which help explain Japan's success in her radical and speedy modernization following the opening of the country to foreign trade in 1854.

History

The Dutch traders at Dejima in Nagasaki were the only European foreigners tolerated in Japan after 1640, and their movements were carefully watched and strictly controlled, being limited initially to one yearly trip to give their homage to the Shogun in Edo. They became instrumental however in transmitting to Japan some knowledge of the industrial and scientific revolution that was occurring in the West: the Japanese purchased and translated numerous scientific books from the Dutch, obtained from them Western curiosities and manufactures (such as clocks), and received demonstrations of various Western innovations (such as the demonstrations of electric phenomena, and the flight of a hot air balloon in the early 19th century). In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch were arguably the most economically wealthy and scientifically advanced of all European nations, which put them in a privileged position to transfer Western knowledge to Japan.

Altogether thousands such books were published and printed, and were widely circulated among the population, where the literacy rate was between 70 and 80%. Japan already had at that time one of the largest urban populations in the world, with more than one million inhabitants in Edo, and many other vast cities such as Osaka and Kyoto, offering a vast, literate market to such novelties. In the large cities, some shops open to the general public were specializing in foreign curiosities.

Beginnings (1640-1720)

The first phase of Rangaku was quite limited and highly controlled. Western books were strictly prohibited since the full repression of Christianity in Japan in 1640. Initially, a little group of hereditary Japanese-Dutch translators labored in Nagasaki to smooth communication with the foreigners and transmit bits of Western novelties.

Also, the Dutch were requested to give updates of the world situation and supply novelties to the Shogun every year when they travelled to Edo. Finally, the Dutch factors in Nagasaki, besides their official trade in silk and deer hides, were allowed to engage in some level of "private trade". A small lucrative market for Western curiosities thus developed, focused on the Nagasaki area. In the ensuing period, numerous Rangaku scholars actually emerged from the ranks of the Nagasaki translator guilds.

Liberalization of Western knowledge (1720-)

Although foreign books were strictly forbidden from 1640, rules were relaxed under the Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune in 1720, starting an influx of foreign books and their translations into Japan. One example is the publication by Morishima Chūryō in 1787 of a book titled "Sayings of the Dutch" (紅毛雑話, lit. "Sayings of the Red Hair") which records numerous pieces of knowledge received from the Dutch, such as descriptions of microscopes and hot air balloons, descriptions of Western hospitals and current illnesses, techniques for painting and printing with copper plates, description of static electricity generators, large ships, and various geographical knowledge.

Between 1804-1829, schools were opened throughout the country by the Bakufu (幕校) and temples (寺子屋) helping further spread new knowledge.

By that time, Dutch emissaries and scientist were also allowed much freer access to the Japanese society. The German physician attached to the Dutch delegation Von Siebold established numerous exchanges with Japanese students. He invited Japanese scientists to show them the marvels of western science, learning in return through them much about the Japanese and their customs. In 1824 Von Siebold began a medical school with the 50 students, appointed by the Shogun. They helped the botanical and naturalistic studies of von Siebold. His school, the Narutaki-juku (鳴滝塾), grew into a meeting place for around 50 Rangakusha.

Expansion and politicization (1839-)

The Rangaku movement became increasing involved in the political question of further opening the country to foreign influences or not. Most of them would strongly advocate further absorbing Western knowledge and liberalizing foreign trade in order to modernize and strengthen the nation. Rangaku learning became increasingly sophisticated by that time, disseminating recent Western innovations in most areas of knowledge.

In 1839, scholars of Western Studies (called "rangakusha") briefly suffered repression by the Edo Shogunate in the Bansha no goku (蛮社の獄, literally "Indictment of the society for barbarian studies") incident, due to their opposition to the introduction of the death penalty against foreigners (other than Dutch) coming ashore, recently enacted by the Bakufu. The incident was provoked by actions such as the Morrison Incident, in which an unarmed American merchant ship was fired upon under the Edict to Repel Foreign Ships. The edict was eventually repelled in 1842.

Rangaku ultimately became obsolete when Japan opened up in the Bakumatsu period, 1853–1867. Students were sent abroad, and foreign employees (o-yatoi gaikokujin) came to Japan to teach and advise in large numbers, leading to an unprecedentedly rapid modernization of the country.

It is often argued that Rangaku allowed Japan not to be totally cut from the critical phase of Western scientific advancement during the 18th and 19th century, allowing her to build up the beginnings of a theoretical and technological scientific base, which might explain Japan's success in her radical and speedy modernization following the opening of the country to foreign trade in 1854.

Types of Rangaku

Medical sciences

From around 1720, numerous books on medical sciences were obtained from the Dutch, and analysed and translated into Japanese. Great debates occurred between the proponents of traditional Chinese medicine and those of the new Western learning, leading to waves of experiments and dissections. The accuracy of Western learning made a sensation among the population, and new publications such as "Anatomy" (蔵志, 1759) and the "New treatise on anatomy" (解体新書, 1774) became references. The "New treatise on anatomy was a compilation made by several Japanese scholars led by Sugita Genpaku, from the Dutch book "Ontleedekundige Tafelen"(1734), itself a translation of "Anatomische Tabellen"(1732) by the German author Johann Adam Kulmus.

In 1804, Hanaoka Seishū performed the world's first general anaesthesia for the operation of a breast cancer (mastectomy), by combining Chinese herbal medicine know-how and Western surgery techniques "The first use of general anaesthesia probably dates to early nineteenth century Japan. On 13th October 1804, Japanese doctor Seishu Hanaoka (1760-1835) surgically removed a breast tumour under general anaesthesia. His patient was a 60-year-old woman called Kan Aiya." Source, 40 years before the better-known Western innovations of Long, Wells and Morton, with the introduction of diethyl ether (1846) and chloroform (1847) as general anaesthetics.

In 1838, the doctor Koan Ogata established the Rangaku school named Tekijuku (適塾). Famous alumni of the Tekijuku include Fukuzawa Yukichi and Otori Keisuke, who would become key actors in Japan's modernization. He was the author of "Byogakutsūron" (病学通論), which was the first book on pathology to be published in Japan in 1849.

Physical sciences

Some of the first scholars of Rangaku were involved with the assimilation of 17th century theories in physical sciences. This is the case of Shizuki Tadao (志筑忠雄, 1760-1806), 8th generation of the Shizuki house of Nagasaki Dutch translators, who after having completed for the first time a systematic analysis of Dutch grammar, went on to translate the Dutch edition of "Introductio ad Veram Physicam"　of the British author John Keil (1671-1721) on the theories of Newton (Japanese title: 暦象新書, 1798). Shizuki coined several key scientific terms which are still in use today: 重力 (gravity), 引力 (pull), 遠心力 (centrifugal force), 集点 (center of mass). A second Rangaku scholar, Hoashi Banri (帆足万里, 1778-1852), published in 1810 a manual of physical sciences (Japanese title: 窮理通) based on a combination of thirteen Dutch books, after learning Dutch from just one Dutch-Japanese dictionnary.

Electrical phenomena

Electrical experiments were widely popular from around 1770. Following the invention of the Leyden jar in 1745, similar electrostatic generators were first obtained from the Dutch around 1770 by Hiraga Gennai. Static electricity was produced through the friction of a glass tube with a gold-plated stick were used to create various electrical effects. The jars were reproduced and adapted by the Japanese, who called it Elekiter. Just as in Europe, these generators were used as curiosities, such as making sparks fly from the head of a subject, or for supposed medical advantages. In his book "Sayings of the Dutch", Hiraoka explains the Elekiter as "A machine that allows to take sparks out of the human body, in order to treat sick parts." Elekiter were sold widely to the public in curiosity shops. Many electric machines derived from the Elekiter were then invented, particularly by Sakuma Shozan.

Japan's first electricity manual "Principles of the Elekiter mastered by the Dutch" ("阿蘭陀始制エレキテル究理原", by Hashimoto Muneyoshi), published in 1811, describes numerous electrical phenomena, such as experiments with electric generators, conductivity through the human body, or the 1750 experiments of Benjamin Franklin with lightning.

Chemistry

In 1840, Utagawa Yoan published his "Science of Chemistry" (舎密開宗, Seimikaisō), a compilation of various scientific books in Dutch, which describes a wide range of scientific knowledge from the West. Most of the Dutch original material appears to be derived from William Henry's 1799 "Elements of Experimental Chemistry". In particular, the book contains a very detailed description of the electric battery invented by Volta forty years earlier in 1800. The battery itself was constructed by Utagawa in 1831, and used in various experiments, including medical ones, based on a belief that electricity could help cure illnesses.

Utagawa's "Science of Chemistry" also reports for the first time in details the findings and theories of Lavoisier in Japan. Accordingly Utagawa also made numerous scientific experiments, and created new scientific terms from ideograms, which are still in current use in modern scientific Japanese (Oxidation/酸化, reduction/還元, saturation/飽和 or substance/元素).

Optical sciences

Telescopes

Japan's first telescope was offered by the English captain John Saris to Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1614, with the intermission of William Adams, during Saris's mission to open trade between England and Japan. This followed by only six years the invention of the telescope by Dutchman Hans Lippershey in 1608. Refracting telescopes were widely used by the populace during the Edo period, both for pleasure and for the observation of the stars.

After 1640, the Dutch continued to inform the Japanese about the evolution of telescope technology. In 1831, after having spent several months in Edo where he could get accustomed with Dutch ware, Kunitomo Ikkansai (国友一貫斎), a former gun manufacturer, built Japan's first reflective telescope, of the Gregorian type, a European innovation made in 1670. Kunitomo's telescope had a magnification of 60, and allowed him to make very detailed studies of sun spots and lunar topography. Four of them remain to this day.

Microscopes

Microscope were invented in Europe during the 17th century, but it is unclear when exactly they reached Japan. Clear descriptions of microscopes are made in the 1720 "Night stories of Nagasaki" (長崎夜話草) and in the 1787 book "Saying of the Dutch". Although Europeans mainly used microscopes to observe small cellular organism, the Japanese mainly used them for entomological purposes, creating numerous very detailed descriptions of insects.

Magic lanterns

Magic lanterns, first described in the West by Athanasius Kircher in 1671 became very popular attractions in multiple forms during 18th century Japan. The mechanism of a magic lantern, called "Glasses for shadow images" (影絵眼鏡) was described using technical drawings in the book titled Tengutsu (天狗通) in 1779.

Mechanical sciences

Automata

Karakuri are mechanized puppets or automata from Japan from the 18th century to 19th century. The word 'Karakuri' means a "mechanical device to tease, trick, or take a person by surprise". Japan adapted and transformed the Western automatons, which were fascinating Descartes' world, giving him the incentive for his mechanist theories of organisms, as well as Frederick the Great, who loved playing with automatons and miniature wargames.

Many were developed, mainly for entertainment, ranging from tea-serving to arrow-shooting mechanisms. These ingenious mechanical toys were to become prototypes for the engines of the industrial revolution. They were powered by spring mechanisms similar to those of clocks.

Clocks

Mechanical clocks were introduced into Japan by Jesuit missionaries or Dutch merchants in the sixteenth century. These clocks were of the lantern clock design, typically made of brass or iron, and used the relatively primitive verge and foliot escapement. These led to the development of a original Japanese clocks, called Wadokei.

Neither the pendulum nor the balance spring were in use among European clocks of the period, and as such they were not included among the technologies available to the Japanese clockmakers at the start of the isolationist period in Japanese history, which began in 1641. Later Japanese clock makers introduced more sophisticated clock technology through the Dutch, leading to spectacular developments such as the Universal Myriad year clock designed in 1850 by Hisashige Tanaka, the founder of what would become the Toshiba corporation.

Pumps

Air pump mechanisms became popular in Europe from around 1660 following the experiments of Boyle. In Japan, the first description of a vacuum pump appear in Aoji Rinso's 1825 "Study of the atmosphere" (気海観瀾), and slightly later both pressure pumps and void pumps in Utagawa Genshin's 1834 "Admirable things from the Far West" (遠西医方名物考補遺). These mechanism were used to demonstrate the necessity of air for animal and life combustion, typically by putting a lamp or a small pump in a void pump, and were also used to make calculations of pressure and air density.

Many practical applications were found as well, as in the manufacture of air guns by Kunitomo Ikkansai, after he repaired and analysed the mechanism of some Dutch air guns which had been offered to the Shogun in Edo. A rather vast industry of perpetual oil lamps (無尽灯) also developed, also derived by Kunitomo from the mechanism of air guns, in which oil was constinuously supplied through a compressed air mechanism "Edo Technology", p25. Kunitomo also developed agricultural applications of these technologies, such as a giant pump powered by an ox, to lift irrigation water.

Aerial knowledge and experiments

The first flight of a hot air balloon by the brothers Montgolfier in France in 1783, was reported less than four years later by the Dutch in Dejima, and published in the 1787 edition of the "Sayings of the Dutch" (紅毛雑話).

In 1805, barely twenty years later, Johann Caspar Horner and Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff (a German scientist), members of the Kruzenshtern mission, which also brought the Russian ambassador Nikolai Rezanov to Japan, made a hot air balloon out of Japanese paper (washi), and made a demonstration of the new technology in front of about 30 Japanese delegates Ivan Federovich Kruzenshtern "Voyage round the world in the years 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806, on orders of his Imperial Majesty Alexander the First, on the vessels Nadezhda and Neva".

Hot air balloons would mainly remain curiosities, becoming the object of numerous experiments and popular depictions, until the development of military usages during the early Meiji era.

Steam engines

Knowledge of the steam engine started to spread in Japan during the first half of the 19th century, although the first recorded attempts at manufacturing one date to the efforts of Hisashige Tanaka in 1853, following the demonstration of a steam engine by the Russian embassy of Putyatin after his arrival in Nagasaki on August 12th, 1853.

The Rangaku scholar Kawamoto Komin (川本幸民) completed in 1845 a book named "Surprising machines of the West" (遠西奇器述), which was finally published in 1854 as the need to spread Western knowledge became even more obvious with Commodore Perry's opening of Japan. The book contains detailed descriptions of steam engines and steamships. Kawamoto had apparently postponed the book's publication due to the Bakufu's prohibition against the building of large ships.

Geography

Modern cartographical knowledge of the world was transmitted to Japan during the 17th century through the works of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci. This knowledge was regularly updated through information received from the Dutch, so that Japan had an understanding of the geographical world roughly equivalent to that of contemporary Western countries. Based on this knowledge, the first Japanese globe was made in 1690 by Shibukawa Harumi (渋川春海). Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries considerable efforts were made at measuring and mapping the country, usually with Western techniques and tools. Numerous maps of Japan were made which did not differ significantly in accuracy with modern ones.

Biology

The description of the natural world, influenced by the Encyclopedists, and promoted by Siebold, a German doctor in the service of the Dutch at Dejima, made considerable progress through Rangaku. Ito Keisuke created numerous book describing animal species of the Japanese islands, with drawings of a near photographic quality.

Entomology was also extremely popular, and details of insect, obtained through the use of microscopes, were widely publicized.

In a rather rare case of "reverse Rangaku", a 1803 treatise on the raising of silk worms and manufacture of silk "Secret treatise on the silk worm" (養蚕秘録) was even brought to Europe by Siebold and translated into French and Italian in 1848, contributing to the development of the silk industry in Europe.

Various new plants were also adopted from the Dutch, such as the cabbage and the tomato.

Various other publications:

Automatons: かかくりきんもう鑑草, 1730
Mathematics: "Method of Western calculation" (西洋算書)
Optics: "Method for manufacturing telescopes" (遠鏡製造)
Glass-making: "Manufacture of glass" (硝子製造)
Military: Tactics of the Prussian army（三兵答古知幾), by Takano Choei (高野長英), 1850
Description of the method of amalgam for gold plating in 装剣奇賞, by Inaba Tsuryu (稲葉通龍), 1781.

Aftermaths

Commodore Perry

When Commodore Perry obtained the signature of treaties in 1854, he also brought numerous technological gifts to the Japanese representatives. Among them was a small telegraph, and small steam train complete with tracks. These were promptly studied by the Japanese as well. Essentially considering the arrival as Western ships as a threat and a factor of destabilization, the Bakufu ordered several of its fiefs to build warships along Western designs. These ships, such as the Hou-Ou Maru, the Shouhei Maru or the Asahi Maru, were designed and built mainly based on Dutch books and plans, usually within a year or two of Perry's visit. Similarly, steam engines were immediately studied. Hisashige Tanaka, who had made the Myriad year clock, created Japan's first steam engine, based on Dutch drawings and the observation of a Russian steam ship in Nagasaki in 1853. These developments led to the Satsuma fief building Japan's first steam ship, the Unkoumaru (雲行丸) in 1855, barely two years after Japan's encounter with such ships in 1853 during Perry's visit. In 1858, the Dutch officer Kattendijke would comment:

"There are some imperfections in the details, but I take my hat off to the genius of the people who were able to build these without seeing an actual machine, but only relied on simple drawings". (Cattendike, 1858, "Technology of Edo", p37)

Last phase of "Dutch" learning

Following the forcible opening of Japan by Commodore Perry in 1854, the Netherlands continued for sometime to have a key role in transmitting Western know-how to Japan. The Bakufu relied heavily on Dutch expertise to learn about modern Western shipping methods. The Nagasaki Naval Training Center (Jp:長崎海軍伝習所), a naval training institute, was established in 1855 by the government of the Shogun right at the entrance of the Dutch trading post of Dejima, allowing maximum interaction with Dutch naval know-how. From 1855 to 1859, education was directed by Dutch naval officers, before the transfer of the school to Tsukiji in Tokyo, where English educators became prominent.

The center was also equipped with Japan's first steamship, the Kankō Maru, given by the government of the Netherlands the same year, which may be one of the last great contributions of the Dutch to Japanese modernization, before Japan opened herself to multiple foreign influences. The future Admiral Enomoto Takeaki was one of the students of the Training Center. He also was sent to the Netherlands for five years (1862-1867) with several other students to develop his knowledge of Naval warfare, before coming back to become the Admiral of the Shogun's fleet.

Enduring influence of rangaku

Numerous scholars of rangaku continued playing a key role in the modernization of Japan, such as Fukuzawa Yukichi, Otori Keisuke, Yoshida Shoin, Katsu Kaishu or Sakamoto Ryoma, building on the knowledge acquired during Japan's isolation, and progressively shifting from Dutch to English as the main language of learning.

As these Rangaku scholars usually took a pro-Western stance, in line with the policy of the Bakufu, but against anti-foreign imperialistic movements, several were assassinated, such as Sakuma Shozan in 1864 or Sakamoto Ryoma in 1867.

Famous Rangaku scholars

Arai Hakuseki (新井白石, 1657-1725), author of Sairan Igen and Seiyō Kibun
Aoki Konyo (青木昆陽, 1698-1769)
Maeno Ryotaku (前野良沢, 1723-1803)
Yoshio Kogyu (吉雄耕牛, 1724-1800）
Ono Ranzan (小野蘭山, 1729-1810), author of "Botanical classification" (本草綱目啓蒙)
Hiraga Gennai (平賀源内, 1729-1779) proponent of the "Electer"
Goto Ryozan 後藤艮山
Kagawa 香川修庵
Sugita Genpaku (杉田玄白, 1733-1817) author of "New treatise of anatomy" (解体新書, Kaitai Shinsho)
Asada Goryu (麻田剛立, 1734-1799)
Motogi Ryoei (本木良永, 1735-1794), author of "Usage of planetary and heavenly globes" (天地二球用法)
Shizuki Tadao (志筑忠雄, 1760-1806), author of 暦象新書, 1798
Hanaoka Seishu (華岡青洲, 1760-1835), author of the first general anaesthesia.
Takahashi Yoshitoki (高橋至時, 1764-1804)
Motogi Shoei (本木正栄, 1767-1822）
Utagawa Genshin (宇田川玄真, 1769-1834), author of 『厚生新編』
Aoji Rinso (青地林宗, 1775-1833), author of "Study of the atmosphere" (気海観瀾, Kikai Kanran, 1825)
Hoashi Banri (帆足万里, 1778-1852), author of "Physical sciences" (究理通)
Takahashi Kageyasu (高橋景保, 1785-1829)
Matsuoka (松岡恕庵)
Utagawa Yoan (宇田川榕菴, 1798-1846), author of 『菩多尼訶経』 and "Chemical sciences" (舎密開宗 Seimi Kaisō)
Ito Keisuke (伊藤圭介, 1803-1901), author of 『泰西本草名疏』
Takano Choei (高野長英, 1804-1850)
Kawamoto Komin (川本幸民, 1810- ), author of "Suprising machines of the West" (遠西奇器述), completed in 1845, published in 1854.
Ogata Koan (緒方洪庵, 1810-1863), founder of the Tekijuku, and author of "Byogakutsūron" (病学通論), Japan's first treatise on pathology.
Sakuma Shozan (佐久間象山, 1811-1864)
Hashimoto Muneyoshi 橋本宗吉
Kan (間重富)
Hirose 広瀬元恭, author of "Scientific propositions" (理学提要, Rigaku Teiyō)
Takano Choei (高野長英), author of a book on the tactics of the Prussian army（三兵答古知幾), 1850
Takeda Ayasaburō (武田斐三郎, 1827-1880), architect of the fortress of Goryokaku

Notes

References

"The technology of Edo" (見て楽しむ江戸のテクノロジー), 2006, ISBN 4410138863 (Japanese)
"The intellectual world of Edo" (江戸の思想空間) Timon Screech, 1998, ISBN 4791756908 (Japanese)

External links

Edo period | Science and technology in Japan | Japanese historical terms

Rangaku | Rangaku | 蘭学

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