Ino Tadataka, 1745–1818, was a Japanese cartographer and an energetic field observer. A major astronomical and geodetic problem of the time in Japan was finding the length of a meridian by Japanese measure. Since Sino‐Jesuit works had set zero longitude at Beijing, that of Japan had to be accurately measured so that, in predicting a solar eclipse, the Sino‐Jesuit method could be employed for the Japanese longitude. After making over 2,000 measurements of latitude, Ino calculated the length of a meridian which agreed (within several tenths of a second of a degree) with the figure given in the Dutch translation of Lalande's Astronomie which had been imported into Japan.
He did not excel in devising new methods or new theories in either astronomy or geodesy. While he was active, knowledge of Western astronomy was available through Dutch translations and Sino‐Jesuit works and after, through the works of Lalande. But Ino had no knowledge of Dutch or dynamics and little understanding of...
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Most of Ino's works, consisting mainly of maps, observations, records of his surveys, field notes, and diaries are preserved in the Ino Memorial Hall in Sahara City.
Otani, Ryokichi. Ino Tadataka. Tokyo: Iwanami, 1932.
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Shigeru, N. (2008). Ino Tadataka. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8654
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