Sugita Genpaku

Who was Sugita Genpaku?

Sugita Genpaku was a Japanese scholar known for his translation of Kaitai Shinsho.

Besides Kaitai Shinsho, he also authored Rangaku Kotohajime.

Sugita assembled a team of Japanese translators and doctors to translate a Dutch book of anatomy: Kulmus' "Ontleedkundige Tafelen". He did so because he found out, after observing the dissection of a human corpse, that the western drawings of human organs were much more accurate than the ones in his Chinese handbooks. They tried to make a Japanese translation. At a rate of one page a week/month, the work was published in 1774. As an example of how difficult this work was, the collaborators had to study and discuss for several days before they realised that "neus" in Dutch, being a bulb on the front, meant hana in Japanese.