Ōkura Nagatsune (1768- ?) - daikonandbeyond

Born 1768 into a farmer’s household in Hita, Bungo Province (present-day Oita Prefecture)

ca 1788, he left his home and travelled through Kyūshū
ca 1797 he arrives in Osaka, and travels extensively to different parts of the Kansai region to further expand his knowledge about and the transmission of agricultural techniques

1802 sees the publication of his first manual Nōkaeki (“For the farmer’s benefit”), an account of his experiences in the cultivation of wax trees and making of candles.
ca 1826 he departs for Edo, where his publishing activities continued. By the end of his life, he will have published more than thirty manuals, all of them about farming, handicrafts, commercial agriculture, and techniques to improve the productivity of the goods and products.

ca 1834 he departs for for Suruga Province (present-day central part of Shizuoka Prefecture), where he teaches how to make sugar.
ca 1835 he is employed at southern Mikawa Province (modern-day southeastern Aichi Prefecture), where he started to reform the cultivation techniques of wax trees, (hybrid) mulberry trees, and sugar cane.
1841 he left for Okazaki domain, (present-day city of Okazaki, Aichi prefecture)
in 1844, he was summoned to Hamamatsu domain (present-day western Shizuoka prefecture) to serve the influential feudal lord Mizuno Tadakuni, who played a key role during the (failed) Tenpō reforms

1847 he retired from his services on grounds of age to Hamamatsu domain; returned first to Edo and then later to Osaka, where he continued with his writings.
1859 he published his last work Kōeki kokusankō (“Reflections on benefits and domestic production), which was presumably not published until after his death.

It is unclear when he passed away; Japanese scholars suppose that he died between the years of 1859 and 1861.