元禄時代に於ける天文暦学伝授 : 澁川春海・谷泰山往復書簡の研究

抄録

Harumi Shibukawa accomplished in 1684 the first domestic calendar-reform, the Jyokyo Kaireki that enabled him to get the newly established post in the Tokugawa Shogunate, Tenmon-Kata, specializing in the calender making and astronomical observation. Though several studies have been made on the scientific achievement of Harumi in modern Japan, many of them lack the synthetic approach to the astronomical knowledge at that time, paying little attention to such points as Nee-Confucianism and the social values in Pre-modern Japan. Jinzan Tani, a Confucian scholar who resided in Tosa and had long been eager to take astronomical lecture from Harumi, began in 1694 to correspond with Harumi in Yedo. He mastered all course of Harumi's astronomy in eight years and classified the correspondence under such topics as the reckoning adopted in Jyokyo calendar, the motion of the seven planets, the measuring longitudinal difference between Kyoto and Kagoshima, the phenomena of solar and lunar eclipse and Shintoism. He also compiled some books or rolls. Analysis of these records leads us to understand how the astronomical knowledge was transmitted in the beginning of the 18th century in Japan. Harumi's lecture covered not only the scientific measurements of the time and space but also the metaphysical importance of the pursuit of universe. Also we can see Harumi was under the influence of the thought of Ansai Yamazaki, who had sterted as a Zhuzi Confucian and later formed the Suika-Shintoism that advocated perfect correlation of the Heaven and the Ground. Harumi's pupils transmitted both the astronomical technologies and the knowledge of the Suika-Shintoism to the people in their home country. They contributed much to the education of natural sciences and moralities in the provinces.