Abstract
This paper discusses the content and characteristics of a hitherto unexamined manuscript Tenmongata kakitome (Astronomical Note), Isahaya City Library, Nagasaki. This anonymous and undated manuscript is a compilation of 83 short passages concerning mainly Western astronomy and geography. Although almost all the passages lack information about the sources from which they are taken, textual comparison clearly reveals that a half of them (41 passages) corresponds to the text of the Nigi ryakusetsu, a typical of Nanban astronomy books which originated from Jesuit missionary activities during the 'Christian century' in Japan (1549-1650). Moreover, the other passages contain much information relating to Rangaku (Dutch studies), such as Latin and Dutch texts with Japanese translations. Textual comparison reveals that some of them obviously correspond to those seen in the Nichigetsukei wage (Translation about the sundial and moondial) of Motoki Ryoei (1735 -1794), a famous Nagasaki interpreter of Dutch. These facts show that this compilation was completed later than the Tenmei era (1781-1788), probably around Nagasaki, by extracting and combining several texts of the two books as well as the other sources. In effect, the Tenmongata kakitome is not only a rare example which illuminates the transmission of these two books, but also provides the evidence that the two lines of circulation, i.e. those of Nanban and Rangaku astronomy, which were hitherto thought un-interrelated, certainly met each other at least later than the Tenmei era.
