He was born as the second son of a doctor : Masatoshi HONJO of 本庄宿 and he studied in Edo under 保土田翠蘭 who was a doctor of the Numazu Domain aiming to become a doctor, after a while, he widely inquired into Japanese, Chinese and Dutch medicine and studied them further.
本庄宿の医師本庄正俊の次男として本町に生まれ、医師を志し、江戸で沼津藩医の保土田翠蘭に学び、その後、日本、中国、オランダの医学についても幅広く調べ、研究を重ねる。