Seki Takakazu was a brilliant Japanese mathematician from the Edo Period.  He is known as a master of Wasan, Japan's traditional mathematics.  He is often called “Japan's Newton.”  He discovered amazing things on his own without European math books.  He found new ways to solve difficult equations that involved many steps. He also figured out how to measure circles and calculated pi (π) very accurately.  He was born in a place now called Fujioka, Gunma.  Seki is a hero in the history of math in Japan.