Takano Chôei was a western scholar during the Sakoku of the Edo Period. He studied Western medicine under a Dutchman by the name of von Siebold at Nagasaki, and was interested in politics and economics as well.
In 1839, Chôei was rounded up with many other western scholars and sentenced to life in prison. While in prison he wrote a treatise on Western learning in Japan called Bansha Sôyaku Shôki (A Short Record of a Meeting with Misfortune). The book examines the history of Western knowledge entering Japan from the Sengoku Period to the 1830's. He eventually escaped prison, but committed suicide rather than live the rest of his life as a fugitive.
References
- Kosaka, Masaaki. (David Abosch, Trans.) Japanese Thought in the Meiji Era, Pan-Pacific Press, Tokyo, 1958