Geographer, surveyor and historian. He is credited for creating the first map of Japan using modern surveying techniques. After studying with astronomer Yoshitoki Takahashi, he researched European astronomical theories and mathematics, revised the calendar on the order of the shogunate, and made a detailed survey of the island of Hokkaido in 1800. He subsequently traveled the length and width of the island of Honshu and drew an accurate map of its coasts. To accomplish this task, he invented several instruments for measuring terrestrial distances from the positions of the stars, and set the zero meridian at Kyoto. Some of his maps were copied by Franz von Siebold, who published them in Europe. A museum in his honor has been established at Sawara, Chiba Prefecture.
Geographer, surveyor and historian. He is credited for creating the first map of Japan using modern surveying techniques. After studying with astronomer Yoshitoki Takahashi, he researched European astronomical theories and mathematics, revised the calendar on the order of the shogunate, and made a detailed survey of the island of Hokkaido in 1800. He subsequently traveled the length and width of the island of Honshu and drew an accurate map of its coasts. To accomplish this task, he invented several instruments for measuring terrestrial distances from the positions of the stars, and set the zero meridian at Kyoto. Some of his maps were copied by Franz von Siebold, who published them in Europe. A museum in his honor has been established at Sawara, Chiba Prefecture.
Bio by: Warrick L. Barrett
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