Abstract
Three Japanese sunspot drawings associated with Iwahashi Zenbei (1756 – 1811) are shown here from contemporary manuscripts and woodprint documents with the relevant texts. We reveal the observational date of one of the drawings to be 26 August 1793, and the overall observations lasted for over a year. Moreover, we identify the observational site for the dated drawing as Fushimi in Japan. We then compare Zenbei’s observations with the group sunspot number and the raw group count from the Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations (SILSO) to reveal the context of the data, and we conclude that these drawings fill gaps in our understanding that are due to the fragmental sunspot observations around 1793. These drawings are important as a clue to evaluate astronomical knowledge of contemporary Japan in the late eighteenth century and are valuable as a non-European observation, considering that most sunspot observations up to the middle of the nineteenth century are from Europe.
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Notes
http://base1.nijl.ac.jp/infolib/meta_pub/G0001401KTG (last accessed on 10 Oct. 2017).
BK-J (f.1b) reads “
(red)” instead of “
(also)”, although it seems a miscopying considering the context. The copyist of BK-J frequently miscopies this character in other places as well (e.g. BK-J, f.2a).
(red)” instead of “
(also)”, although it seems a miscopying considering the context. The copyist of BK-J frequently miscopies this character in other places as well (e.g. BK-J, f.2a).References
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Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the support of the “UCHUGAKU” project of the Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space, the Exploratory and Mission Research Projects of the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere (PI: H. Isobe), and SPIRITS 2017 (PI: Y. Kano) of Kyoto University. This work was also encouraged by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, Grant Number JP15H05816 (PI: S. Yoden), JP16H03955 (PI: K. Shibata), JP16K17671 (PI: S. Toriumi), and JP15H05814 (PI: K. Ichimoto), and Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Research Fellow JP17J06954 (PI: H. Hayakawa). We especially thank the National Institute for Japanese Literature, Tsu City Library, the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, and the Library of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan for granting permission for research and reproductions of the original manuscripts and woodprints. Note that the latter’s ongoing digitalization project is supported by the Project to Build an International Collaborative Research Network for Pre-modern Japanese Texts (NIJL-NW project), for which KI also thanks. We also thank the SIDC for providing data on the group sunspot number and raw group count of sunspots, H. Isobe for preliminary review on our manuscript, K. Tanikawa and T. Todoriki for providing advices on historical documents in NAOJ, and K. Wada for providing valuable advice on the identification of the observational sites of Iwahashi Zenbei.
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S. Toriumi is NAOJ Fellow.
Appendix 1: References to Historical Documents
Appendix 1: References to Historical Documents
BK-J: Tachibana Nankei (
), Bouenkyo Kanshoyoki (
), MS 463 in the Library of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies [a manuscript in Japanese].
BK-N: Tachibana Nankei (
), Bouenkyo Kanshoyoki (
), MS MB-51-Ta in the Library of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan [a manuscript in Japanese].
BK-T: Tachibana Nankei (
), Bouenkyo Kanshoyoki (
), MS Inada 44-210 in the Tsu City Library [a manuscript in Japanese].
KJ: Ban Koukei (
), Kanden Jihitsu (
), MS MY1491-2 in the National Institute for Japanese Literature [a woodprint in Japanese].
HZ: Iwahashi Zenbei (
), Heitengi Zukai (
), MS MY-1440-2 in the National Institute for Japanese Literature [a woodprint in Japanese].
SHN: Iwahashi Zenbei, Shiirekata Nedan Hikae (
), MS 8 in Zenbei Land Library [a manuscript in Japanese].
THN: Takayama Hikokurou, Takayama Hikokurou Nikki (
) (Cjijiwa, M., Hagiwara, S., eds.), Tokyo: Seihoku Shuppan, 1978 [a critical edition in Japanese].
Tokugawa Jikki: Narushima Motonao et al., Tokugawa Jikki (K. Kuroita, ed.), v.9 (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan), 1966.
S1894: Schröter, J.J. 1794: Philosophical Transactions R. Soc. Lond., 84, 262.
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Hayakawa, H., Iwahashi, K., Tamazawa, H. et al. Iwahashi Zenbei’s Sunspot Drawings in 1793 in Japan. Sol Phys 293, 8 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-017-1213-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-017-1213-1