Hiraga Gennai was a Japanese polymath and rōnin of the Edo period. Gennai was a pharmacologist, student of Rangaku, physician, author, painter and inventor well known for his Erekiteru, Kandankei (thermometer), and Kakanpu. Gennai also composed several works on (homosexual) life and desire in Japan, such as the Nenashigusa (1763), the Kiku no en (1764), the San no asa (1768), and the Nenashigusa kohen (1768). He also wrote a few satirical essays, including "On Farting" Rootless Grass, and A Lousy Journey of Love. His birth name was Shiraishi Kunitomo, but he later used numerous pen names, including Kyūkei (鳩渓), Fūrai Sanjin (風来山人), Tenjiku rōnin (天竺浪人) and Fukuchi Kigai (福内鬼外). He is best known by the name of Hiraga Gennai.
