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Analysis of Manchuria Astronomical Almanacs of 1933–1945

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Analysis of Manchuria Astronomical Almanacs of 1933–1945 J. Astrophys. Astr. (2019) 40:45 © Indian Academy of Sciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s12036-019-9612-3 Analysis of Manchuria astronomical almanacs of 1933–1945 G.-E. CHOI1, K.-W. LEE2,∗ , B.-H. MIHN1,3 and Y. S. AHN1 1Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 34055, South Korea. 2Daegu Catholic University, Gyeongsan 38430, South Korea. 3Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34113, South Korea. ∗Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] MS received 11 May 2019; accepted 2 October 2019 Abstract. We investigate the astronomical almanacs of the Manchukuo state, which lasted for 14 years, from 1932 to 1945. We examine their contents and analyze the accuracy of the time data by using the almanacs for the years from 1933 to 1945. We find that the calendar of the Qing dynasty in China, Shixianshu, provided the name of the almanac. In addition, the reference location of the time data was Xinjing (now known as Changchun) and the standard meridian was changed from 120◦E to 135◦E, starting with the almanac of 1937. We also find that sunrise and sunset times were recorded only on days of the 24 solar terms, for several cities, whereas moonrise and moonset times were recorded daily, but only for Xinjing. Moreover, only days were recorded (i.e., the hours are not recorded) in the almanacs of 1933 and 1934 for the 24 solar terms. To estimate the accuracy, we first extract 19 kinds of time data and classify them into four groups: rising and setting, solar term, phases of the Moon and eclipses. Then, we determine the mean absolute difference (MAD) of the time data between the almanacs and modern calculations performed using the DE405 ephemeris. Even though most of the time data are recorded in minutes, we compute the data in seconds. We find that the MAD values are 0.44, 0.42, 0.27 and 0.44 min for the time data of the four respective groups. We believe that our findings will contribute to the study of the astronomical almanacs of Korea, Japan and Taiwan, which were published during this period. Keywords. History of astronomy—almanac—ephemeris—Manchukuo. 1. Introduction astronomical almanacs of East Asia were noticed early. Maurice Courant, a French bibliographer introduced the The astronomical almanac of a nation contains not Korean astronomical almanac of 1892 in his book, Bib- only astronomical data, such as sunrise times, but liographie Coréenne, published in 1894 (see Lee et al. also its cultural data, such as national holidays (Yang 2008). Although there have been some studies of the et al. 2008). To prevent social confusions by incon- East Asian astronomical almanacs since then (e.g., Lee sistent data, calendar data are produced and compiled 1976; Hurukawa 1988; Wang 1993), many studies have by government institutes. This situation was also true focused on the calendar rather than the almanac (Need- in the dynasties of East Asia such as China, Korea ham 1959; Nakayama 1969; Sivin 2008; Mihn et al. and Japan. One of the exclusive powers and impor- 2014; Martzloff 2016; Choi et al. 2018). tant duties of a king was to calculate calendar data Manchukuo was a Japanese puppet state for 14 years, and to inform them to the people through the dis- from 1932 to 1945, in China. Therefore, the astronom- tribution of an almanac. Today, all nations use the ical almanacs might have been compiled by Japanese Gregorian calendar days but calculate the astronom- scholars, as in Korea, which was occupied by Japan ical data of the almanac using modern astrophysical from 1910 to 1945 (Lee et al. 2011b). Because it is calculations (i.e., using the newest ephemeris and astro- known that Japan adopted Western culture from the nomical knowledge). The calendar of East Asia was Meiji restoration of 1896, the Japanese might also have the astronomical system or mathematical astronomy established the methods of calendrical calculation by reckoning both calendar days and some astronomical the end of the nineteenth century. In the Manchuria events, including the data recorded in the almanac. The almanac, however, what kind of ephemeris was used, 0123456789().: V,-vol 45 Page 2 of 10 J. Astrophys. Astr. (2019) 40:45 Table 1. Summary of Manchuria astronomical almanacs used in this study. No. Year Title Remark 1 1933 Shixianshu for the 2nd year of Datong NDL 2a 1934 Shixianshu for the 1st year of Kangde NLK, NDL 2b 1934 Shixianshu for the 3rd year of Datong NLK, NDL 3 1935 Shixianshu for the 2nd year of Kangde NLK, NDL 4 1936 Shixianshu for the 3rd year of Kangde NLK, NDL 5 1937 Shixianshu for the 4th year of Kangde NLK, NDL 6 1938 Shixianshu for the 5th year of Kangde NLK, NDL 7 1939 Shixianshu for the 6th year of Kangde NLK, NDL 8 1940 Shixianshu for the 7th year of Kangde NLK, NDL 9 1941 Shixianshu for the 8th year of Kangde NDL 10 1942 Shixianshu for the 9th year of Kangde NLK, NDL 11 1943 Shixianshu for the 10th year of Kangde NLK, NDL 12 1944 Shixianshu for the 11th year of Kangde NLK, NDL 13a 1945 Shixianshu for the 12th year of Kangde (Chinese) NLK 13b 1945 Shixianshu for the 12th year of Kangde (Mongolian) NDL whether the atmospheric refraction was considered, and This paper is structured as follows. In Section 2,we so forth is not mentioned. Additionally, the contents of list the Manchuria astronomical almanacs used in this the astronomical almanac differ according to country study and examine their contents such as publisher, stan- due to political and cultural reasons. In this study, we dard meridian and reference location. In Section 3,we investigate the astronomical almanacs of Manchukuo in categorize 19 kinds of time data into four groups (i.e., terms of the contents and accuracies of time data, such rising and setting, solar term, phases of the Moon and as the sunrise, new moon and eclipse, as a series of stud- eclipses), and estimate their accuracies by comparing ies on the almanacs published by Japanese astronomers with the results of modern calculations including the in Korea, Manchukuo, Japan and Taiwan. Considering definition of each piece of time data used in the calcula- that the astronomical almanac for a particular year was tions. In both sections, we also discuss the differences published in the previous year (e.g., NAO 2017), the between Manchuria and Korean astronomical almanacs. astronomical almanacs of Manchukuo were published Finally, we summarize our findings in Section 4. for 13 years (from 1933 to 1945), which were then used in our study. Although there have been some studies on the astro- 2. Examination of the contents nomical almanacs of East Asian countries, such as Korea, China and Japan (e.g., Lee 2017), the almanacs In Table 1, we summarize the astronomical almanacs of Manchukuo have not been studied except for the of Manchukuo used in this study together with their work of Jeong (2008). That study was constrained to the geographical location. In the table, columns 1, 2 and almanacs of nine years (from 1934 to 1942) and mostly 3 are the sequential number, year and title, respec- focused on the political implications of the publication tively, of the almanacs expressed using the reign-style of the almanacs in Manchukuo. On the other hand, of Manchukuo. In the last column, we indicate where Choi (2010) studied the Korean almanacs of 1864– the collections are housed: NLK and NDL represent the 1945, which included the almanacs published during National Library of Korea and the National Diet Library the period of Japanese occupation of Korea, but mainly of Japan, respectively. As shown in Table 1, NDL pos- focused on the contents of the almanacs. Very recently, sesses all astronomical almanacs of Manchukuo, while Lee (2017) analyzed the Korean almanacs of 1913– the astronomical almanacs of the years 1933 and 1941 1945 in terms of the accuracy of their time data. For are missing in NLK. reference, it is known that Korean almanacs were com- From the examination of the contents, we first found piled by Japanese scholars starting from 1912 (i.e., from that the name of Shixianshu was used as the title the almanac of 1913) and not 1911. of the almanacs of Manchukuo. In the Qing dynasty J. Astrophys. Astr. (2019) 40:45 Page 3 of 10 45 Figure 1. The astronomical almanacs of Manchukuo for the year 1945, which were written in Chinese (left) and Mongolian (right). (1644–1912) of China, the Shixianli were first made by contents of the Korean almanacs were also significantly Adam Schall, a western missionary and his colleagues, changed with the almanac of 1937 (Lee et al. 2011a). which was used from the beginning of the dynasty, Second, the two versions of the almanacs were pub- and later renamed Shixianshu. In Korea, as well as in lished for the year 1934 (2a and 2b in Table 1), as the China, the name of the calendar was used as the title reign-style of Manchukuo was changed from Datong of the almanac and Shixianshu was used during the to Kangde. According to our examination, the almanac period from 1733 until 1894 as title of the almanac in 2b was a newly complied version, not simply a change Korea (Lee 1997). In that sense, the purpose of using of the cover page, because the editing, reign-style and Shixianshu as the title of the almanac of Manchukuo page number are different from each other. However, might be to claim the legitimacy of China, at least the time data are the same in both almanacs.
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