About this book

A History of Japanese Astronomy: Chinese Background and Western Impact (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph) by Nakayama, Shigeru , 1928-2014 is a book available to read on EtoBox.

This first comprehensive history in a Western language of the development of Japanese astronomy has interest beyond its immediate subject area, for astronomy has often been the focus of the transmission of a wide range of scientific ideas from one culture to another, and, concomitantly, the focus of conflict between opposing modes of thought. In its earlier phases, Japanese astronomy was completely dominated by Chinese concepts. The author begins his study with a description of the three major aspects of Chinese astronomy--astrology, calendar-making, cosmology--and its influence in Japan from the sixth to the early sixteenth centuries. Up to now little has been known outside the East of the slow evolution of Chinese astronomy during this era. Mr. Nakayama goes on in Part II to examine the period between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries in which Western ideas challenged the Chinese tradition in Japan. In Part III, which covers the years between the mid-eighteenth and the late nineteenth centuries, the author traces the growing recognition in Japan of the supremacy of Western astronomy. Mr. Nakayama explains the historical background, with particular emphasis on the

Author

Nakayama, Shigeru , 1928-2014

Publisher

Harvard University, Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies

Published

1969

Language

EN

ISBN

9780674397255

Subjects

Science, Astronomy, Stem