Yamamura Saisuke

• Born: 1770
• Died: 1807
• Japanese: 山村才助 (Yamamura Saisuke)

Yamamura Saisuke was a Rangaku scholar, known for his writings on India.

In 1804, he compiled an expanded and revised version of Arai Hakuseki's Sairan igen (1713), entitled Teisei zôyaku Sairan igen (訂正増訳采覧異言), which included descriptions of Indian geography, religion, and the caste system. This was one of the first major works published in Japan to not describe India as a Buddhist country.

In 1807, Saisuke wrote Indoshi ("Notes on India"), a translation of a Dutch version of a German geography by Johannes Hübner; this was the most detailed description of India ever yet written in Japan.

References

• Fabio Rambelli, "The Idea of India (Tenjiku) in Pre-Modern Japan: Issues of Signification and Representation in the Buddhist Translation of Cultures," (source unknown), 263.