Born in Edo, son of a Fukuoka domain samurai. Orphaned young, he was raised by an uncle who was a doctor.
Around this time he was adopted into the Maeno family, doctors to the Nakatsu domain in Buzen, and became a domain physician.
Past forty, he began learning Dutch under Aoki Kon'yō.
He went to Nagasaki to study Dutch and obtained the Dutch anatomy book Ontleedkundige Tafelen.
After watching a dissection at Kozukappara with Sugita Genpaku and others, he led the translation; knowing Dutch best, Ryōtaku guided his colleagues.
When the Kaitai Shinsho was published, he reportedly kept his name off it, judging the translation still imperfect.
So devoted was he to Dutch studies that his lord Okudaira Masaka dubbed him Ranka, "Dutch monster".
He wrote works on Dutch grammar and trained pupils such as Ōtsuki Gentaku.
He died in Edo, remembered as a man who sought no fame and devoted himself wholly to learning.
Sugita GenpakuŌtsuki GentakuAoki Kon'yō
Aoki Kon'yōYosa BusonItō JakuchūTanuma OkitsuguIke no TaigaSuzuki HarunobuHiraga GennaiMotoori Norinaga
People of the Edo period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.