He was sent to Nagasaki in 1857 to study rangaku, during which time he studied both western medicine and photography under the Dutch physician J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort, though he was somewhat unimpressed with his instructor's skills, once describing the result of one of Pompe van Meerdervoort's photographic experiments as "a meagre black shadow".
He was sent to Nagasaki in 1857 for rangaku studies, which involved learning western medicine and photography from Dutch physician J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort. He found the instructor's skills lacking, once criticizing one of his photographic experiments as a "meagre black shadow".