Kanda Takahira

Kanda Takahira
神田 孝平
1st Governor of Hyōgo Prefecture
In office
November 20, 1871  September 3, 1879
Personal details
BornOctober 31, 1830
Fuwa District, Mino Province
DiedJuly 5, 1898(1898-07-05) (aged 67)

Kanda Takahira (神田 孝平, October 31, 1830 – July 5, 1898; pen name Kanda Kōhei) was a scholar and advisor on economics and governmental structure in Meiji period Japan. His translation of William Ellis's Outlines of Social Economy (1846), which he translated to Japanese from a Dutch edition in 1867, is regarded as Japan's earliest study of western economics.

His many other works include An Outline of Natural Law (Seihō ryaku), a volume published in 1871 which he edited based on Nishi Amane's lecture notes which in turn drew from Dutch economist Simon Vissering.