Hisashige Tanaka (田中 久重, October 16, 1799 – November 7, 1881) was a Japanese businessman, inventor, mechanical engineer, and rangaku scholar who was prominent during the Bakumatsu and early Meiji period in Japan.

He invented a pneumatic fire pump, and in 1851, he built a myriad year clock which is now designated as an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government.

With the development of the Sonnō jōi movement, the atmosphere in Kyoto became increasingly dangerous towards foreign influences and technology, and Tanaka was invited by Sano Tsunetami to Saga Domain in Kyūshū, where he was welcomed by Nabeshima Naomasa.

Although he had no previous experience in the field, he had access to a Dutch reference book and had watched the demonstration of a steam engine by the Russian diplomat Yevfimy Putyatin during his visit to Nagasaki in 1853.

He rented the second floor of a temple in what is now Roppongi as a workshop that evolved into his first company—Tanaka Seisakusho (Tanaka Engineering Works), the first manufacturer of telegraph equipment in Japan.