Dutch learning in Japan

兰学（らんがく）指的是在江户时代时，荷兰传入日本的学术、文化、技术的总称。

Although foreign books were strictly forbidden from 1640, rules were relaxed under Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune in 1720, which started an influx of foreign books and their translations into Japan. One example is the publication by Morishima Chūryō of Sayings of the Dutch (红毛雑话, Kōmō Zatsuwa?, lit. “Red Hair Chitchat”) in 1787, which records numerous pieces of knowledge received from the Dutch. The book details a vast array of topics: it includes objects such as microscopes and hot air balloons; it discusses Western hospitals and the state of knowledge of illness and disease; it outlines techniques for painting and printing with copper plates; it describes the makeup of static electricity generators and large ships; and it relates updated geographical knowledge.

Between 1804 and 1829, schools opened throughout the country by the Bakufu as well as terakoya helped spread the new ideas further.

By that time, Dutch emiss