 He ran the family business, expanding its sake brewing and rice-trading concerns, until he retired at the age of 49.At this time he moved to Edo and became a pupil of astronomer Takahashi Yoshitoki, from whom he learned Western astronomy, geography, and mathematics.In 1800, after nearly five years of study, the Tokugawa shogunate permitted Inō to perform a survey of the country using his own money.