Rangaku

The Chinese characters (kanji) for "Rangaku". The first character "ran" is an abbreviation of the ateji for "Holland" (阿蘭陀, or with 2 Kanji 和蘭), o-ran-da, abbreviated to "ran" – because it is the emphasized syllable; cf. List of foreign place names in Japanese). The second character "gaku" means "study" and "learning".

Rangaku (Kyūjitai: 蘭學,[a] English: Dutch learning), and by extension Yōgaku (Japanese: 洋学, "Western learning"), is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners from 1641 to 1853 because of the Tokugawa shogunate's policy of national isolation (sakoku).

A meeting of Japan, China, and the West, Shiba Kōkan, late 18th century

Through Rangaku, some people in Japan learned 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 helps to explain Japan's success in its radical and speedy modernization following the forced American opening of the country to foreign trade in 1854.[1]


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