Hanawa Hokiichi
Japanese philosopher
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(Suggest an Edit or Addition)According to Wikipedia, Hanawa Hokiichi was a Japanese blind kokugaku scholar of the Edo period. Biography Hanawa was born in Hokino Village, Musashi Province to a farming family. His childhood name was Toranosuke. From an early age he had a weak constitution and at the age of five suffered from a sickness which caused great eye pain and his vision gradually diminished. He was advised that his eyes would not be cured unless he changed both his birth year and his name. Although changed his name to Tatsunosuke and subtracted two years, his vision never returned. A precocious child with a prodigious memory, he was later tonsured and took the Buddhist name of Tamonbo. He learned to read and write by tracing letters on the palm of his hand, and to distinguish the flowers by shape and smell. At the age of ten, he was to be sent to study in Edo, but this was opposed by his parents who had no money. He delayed his departure until after this mother's death in 1757. She had left him 23 copper mon as his inheritance, a trivial sum, but he was able to obtain a position as a reciter of war ballads in the household of a wealthy silk merchant, and moved to Edo in 1760 at the age of 15.
