Tekijuku

A private academy run for 24 years, from Tenpo 9 (1838) to Bunkyu 2 (1862), around Ogata Koan, a physician, scholar of Dutch learning and teacher. It began as a school of medicine, but the students, full of ambition, took an interest in the latest knowledge arriving by way of the Netherlands and read every kind of book, so it grew into a school of rangaku, Dutch studies. The lamp in the room that held the Doeff dictionary, used for translating Dutch, is said never to have gone out. The present building was designated an Important Cultural Property by the state in Showa 39 (1964), the ground around it is laid out as a historic park, and the interior has been restored to how it was when Koan lived there. The building itself is valuable as an example of a Kitahama townhouse, and it is open to the public. In the green park on the west side there is a bronze statue of Koan, seated and absorbed in his reading.

Translated from the Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City tourist listings (観光施設一覧, CC BY 4.0).