from Dutch travellers began to spread within scholarly communities, Japanese physicians already have a belief in nature as the foundation for truth and the body as an extension of nature. Tokugawa physicians expanded their regard for the body to a responsibility to protect the wellness of the body as a shared logic of nature. The introduction of Western medicine in Japan occurred without colonization efforts, which allowed the Tokugawa physicians to use Western medicine for performing humanitarian medical acts without the spread of western religions that usually comes with it. Translating Ontleekundige Tafelen On March 4, 1771 Genpaku and colleagues Maeno Ryōtaku, Hoshū Katsuragawa, and Junan Nakagawa witnessed a dissection of a female criminal, Aocha-Baba ("Green Tea Hag"), who was executed by beheading. According to court records, the woman was executed for killing her adopted children. Genpaku and Ryōtaku watched the dissection while referencing Ontleekundige Tafelen and were struck by the anatomical accuracy of the text, which different greatly from the Chinese texts and understanding of anatomy they previously held. On their walk home from the execution grounds where they witnessed the dissection, Genpaku and Ryōtaku decided to dedicate themselves to making a Japanese translation of Ontleekundige Tafelen. Translating Ontleekundige Tafelen took Genpaku and Ryōtaku three full years and at least eleven manuscripts before the final product, Kaitai Shinsho, was published in 1774. With only Maeno's 600 word Dutch vocabulary to complete the translation, the first edition of Kaitai Shinsho was crude and contained errors and omissions. However, the text is still regarded as a turning point in the introduction of Western medicine in Japan. Teaching Rangaku Genpaku took on many students in the emerging field of Rangaku, including Gentaku Otsuki (1757-1827). Considered one of his most fastidious students in the study of Dutch, after six years of study under Genpaku, Otsuki went on to study Dutch more closely in Nagasaki. This education enabled him to become a proficient Dutch translator. Otsuki went on to rewrite the translation of Kaitai Shinsho, published in 1788, and publish an original text Yōi Shinsho (New book on surgery) in 1790. Otsuki is most recognized for his work Rangaku Kaitai (Ladder to Dutch study) published in 1788, which was a text credited with fostered Dutch and Western learning in Japan. Later life and legacy Genpaku continued to collect Dutch texts and build a robust medical library. After mentoring many students in Rangaku—including Gentaku Otsuki,