Part 2: View by Topics 4. Receiving Knowledge from Overseas (1) Learning about Foreign Countries (1)

Dutch studies budded out during the first half of the 18th century under the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, and interest in the Netherlands and other countries increased, which eventually led to the publication of books for the general public. This book is one of the early ones and covers Dutch customs, geography, fauna and flora, etc. It is also known as the first book to introduce the Elekiter (a static electricity generator). The author, Goto Mitsuo (Rishun, 1696-1771), was a herbalist.

The author, Morishima Churyo (1754-1810), was the younger brother of Katsuragawa Hoshu, a physician who served the Shogunate, and was involved in a wide range of activities including being a physician, play writer, and writer of comic poems. This book introduces new knowledge obtained from Hoshu's meeting with Dutchmen in a way that was easy for the general public to understand. The draak (dragon) picture drawn by Churyo is of a lizard given to him by C. P. Thunberg. There is also a picture of a badminton shuttlecock and racket. The illustrations of things seen through a microscope (illustrated by Shiba Kokan) included not only things that he actually saw, such as rice and poppy seeds, but also those copied from a book by J. Swammerdam. The picture of a mosquito was used in illustrations in picture books and nishiki-e prints. The 'Jinbutsu katsudo no shiki' used Gerard de Lairesse's Het groot schilderboek (Daigahosho) as a reference.

The title on the title slip of this book is Meisho zue Oranda kibun. The picture of a Dutch ship and the contents 'Magnifying Glass, Flying Boats, Water Machines, and Electricity' (using what would be called catch-copy today) attract readers.

This is a record of the answers given by Otsuki Gentaku to the questions asked by his pupils. As noted in the postscript, "There have been many mistakes made in the transmission and reception of information," this was the popular version of the Ran'en tekiho and was an attempt to correct some of the errors that accompanied the spread of Dutch studies, such as that the Dutch were short-lived.

The first world map published in Japan was one in 1645. This map is a popular version of that first one and has the pronunciations written over the Chinese characters in the preface and on the map. As the next entry shows, these types of world maps and ethnic groups were often included in Japanese dictionaries for the general public. These maps are thought to be based on the older maps of the West obtained during the age of trade with Portugal and from the world map by Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) obtained by way of China, rather than a Bleau's map that the Dutch brought.

Shiba Kokan (1747-1818) was the first in Japan to use copperplate etching to print a world map, and the shape of the map clearly shows that the earth is spherical. Shiba Kokan was a painter, but was interested in Dutch studies due to the influence of Hiraga Gennai, and he was the first to make the copperplate etchung prints in Japan and he also focused on introducing Western scientific knowledge.