A Study on Shumisen (Sumer Cosmology) Controversy from later Tokugawa period to the early years of Meiji

1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 08610041
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of thought
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: YOSHIDA Tadashi Tohoku University, Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Professor, 東北アジア研究センター, 教授 (60004058)
• Project Period (FY): 1996 – 1997
• Keywords: Shumisen (Mt.Sumer) / Bonreki (Buddhist calender) / Entsu

Research Abstract

(1) I have made researches on relevant materials at various libraries, especially at Otani University Library, the Library of National Observatory, Yokohama Municipal University Library and have found and collected manuscripts by Entsu, Enki and other writers after Sada Kaiseki.
(2) According to Kamo Norikiyo, a bakumatsu shintoist who heard an episode from an eminent astronomer Hazama Shigetomi, Entsu was active in his campaign for Shumisen (Sumer cosmology) theory despite of his old age. A manuscript note of one of his lectures given at an temple in present Tsu, Mie in 1817 is extant, In this lecture, he identifies Buddhist calendar with "calendar by Confucius or other princes." Such expression must have appealed to general audience who had been told many times of the greatness of Confucius.
(3) Such lecture notes are also found in the case of Entsu's disciples like Shingyo (lectures given in 1837 and 1855), Kanchu (1854), and Enki. It should be noted that most of them, judging from extant manuscripts, gave lectures on the same cannon : Ryusei Abidon-ron Nachigetsu Kohon.
(4) Pro-Buddhism campaign from the end of Tokugawa period to early years of Meiji, were motivated by their precaution against Western theory of the idea of round earth and heliocentric system discussed in works by Protestant missionaries in China and criticized them from the viewpoint of Sumer cosmology. Campaings for Sumer cosmology by Sada Kaiseki et al. should be considered in such broader context of pro-Buddhism movement.
(5) The reason why campaigns for Sumer cosmology died out in the middle of Meiji despite of Kaiseki's efforts is due to the fact that scientific knowledge had prevailed thanks to the establishment of school system from 1872 on.