As the heir of a Hani (doctor working at a public clinic), he had learned the Analects of Confucius, The Book of Mencius, Dutch and so on from childhood, and repeatedly read shishogokyo (the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism, the Nine Chinese Classics) at Yoro College, a hanko (domain school).
藩医の嫡男として、幼い頃から論語や孟子やオランダ語などを学び、藩校の養老館では四書五経を復読。