Maeno Ryōtaku

Maeno Ryōtaku was a physician of the Nakatsu Domain and one of the most accomplished early Japanese students of the Dutch language. After studying with Aoki Kon’yō and learning from interpreters in Nagasaki, he led the difficult translation of a Dutch anatomical text that became Kaitai Shinsho in 1774. His linguistic work was fundamental even though his name was not placed prominently on the published edition.

Maeno Ryōtaku led much of the Dutch translation work that produced Kaitai Shinsho, a landmark in the development of Western medical studies in Japan. Maeno Ryōtaku also worked as Dutch studies scholar and Translator. Maeno Ryōtaku was born in Edo.

David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet introduces Dr Maeno within the Japanese world of Dutch learning that surrounds Dejima and the study of Western medicine. His pioneering work in translating Dutch anatomy gives historical depth to the novel’s physicians and interpreters, whose access to European scientific knowledge depends upon the linguistic experiments begun by scholars such as Maeno.