Sakuma Shōzan

Sakuma Shōzan (佐久間 象山, March 22, 1811 – August 12, 1864) sometimes called Sakuma Zōzan, was a Japanese politician and scholar of the Edo era.

Biography

Shozan was the son of a samurai, and a native of Shinshu (信州) in today's Nagano Prefecture. At the age of 23, he went to Edo and for 10 years studied Chinese learning (漢学).

He then started to study Western sciences ("rangaku") at the age of 33, with the help of the rangaku scholar Kurokawa Ryōan (黒川良安). In 1844, he obtained the "Huishoudelyk Woordboek", a Dutch translation of Nöel Chomel's encyclopedia, from which Sakuma learned how to make glass, and then magnets, thermometers, cameras and telescopes. The encyclopedia was later translated into Japanese by Utagawa Genshin (宇田川玄真) under the title 『厚生新編』.

In 1849, he learned about electricity, through the book of the Dutch scientist Van den Bergh, and created Japan's first telegraph, five years before the gift of such a telegraph by Commodore Perry in 1854. He also invented electric machines derived from the Elekiter.