Hiraga Gennai

1729; died 1779 or 1780}} was a Japanese polymath and ''rōnin'' of the Edo period. He was a pharmacologist, student of ''Rangaku'', physician, author, painter and inventor well known for his ''Erekiteru'' (electrostatic generator), ''Kandankei'' (thermometer) and ''Kakanpu'' (asbestos cloth). Gennai composed several works of literature, including the fictional satires ''Fūryū Shidōken den'' (1763), the ''Nenashigusa'' (1763), and the ''Nenashigusa kohen'' (1768), and the satirical essays ''On Farting'' and ''A Lousy Journey of Love''. He also authored two guidebooks on the male prostitutes of Japan, the ''Kiku no en'' (1764) and the ''San no asa'' (1768). His birth name was Shiraishi Kunitomo, but he later used numerous pen names, including , (his principal literary pen name), and . He is best known by the name Hiraga Gennai. Provided by Wikipedia