2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Transmission of Chinese-Western Scientific Books into Early Modern Japan and Its Influence in Wasan
| Project/Area Number |
12680003
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
科学技術史(含科学社会学・科学技術基礎論)
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| Research Institution | Maebashi Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
KOBAYASHI Tatsuhiko Maebashi Institute of Technology, Civil engineering, Professor, 工学部, 教授 (10269300)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2002
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| Keywords | Western-Chinese Scientific Book / Wasan / Mei Wending / Li suan quan shu / Li xiang kao cheng / Li xiang kao cheng hou bian / Trigonometry / Trigonometric function table |
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| Research Abstract |
The mathematics developed in Japan during the Edo Period (1603-1867) is called "Wasan"<和算> (Japanese mathematics). Wasan, however, has its roots in Chinese mathematics.
In the 18th century, Western science and mathematics were transmitted to Tokugawa Japan via Quing China. Mainly because of the necessity of reforming calendars, in 1720 the Tokugawa government began to permit the importation of Western scientific books written in Chinese by the Jesuits missionaries as an exception to the Shogunate's seclusion policy. This partial relaxation policy led to the introduction of Western astronomy and mathematics, particularly trigonometry and logarithms. Japanese mathematicians and astronomers learned them through Chinese Western scientific books, <Li suan quan shu> (published by Mei Juecheng in 1723), <Li xiang kao cheng>( compiled by Mei Juecheng in 1723) <Shu li jing yun> (compiled by order of Chinese empire in 1723) and <Li xiang kao cheng hou bian>(compiled by I. Kogler in 1742). Trigono
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metric function table came from these books. Japanese astronomers and mathematicians used trigonometric tables not only for reforming their calendar but also for land surveying and navigation.
Western scientific knowledge was also introduced into Japan from the Netherlands through the port of Nagasaki. The Dutch interpreter Shiduki Tadao translated into Japanese the seminal scientific work, Inleidinge tot de ware Natuuren Sterrekunde of de Natuuren Sterrekundige Lessen, was published in Leiden in 1741, from which he learned plane and spherical trigonometry. Because of the difficulty of translating Dutch terminology into Japanese, he referred to Chinese astronomical and mathematical textbooks for translating mathematical terms into Japanese. One of notable Japanese Dutch researcher Toshiaki Honda referred Chinese Western scientific books too.
We think that next research subject will be study of relation with Japanese-Dutch research and Wasan-ka. We also have to study the transmission of the Western Integral and differential calculus via Quing China in the latter of 19-century. Less
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