Tani Jinzan and A Leonid Conflagration;
A Two-Fold Tragedy of Observation and "Theory" in Edo Era Japan
Following the earth's passage through the tail of parent Comet Tempel-Tuttle, 1998 holds high expectations for brilliant displays of Leonid Meteors. Leonids may have been observed as early as the 10th century A.D., and though somewhat unpredictable, have provided views of "meteor storms" to people of many cultures (Roggemans, 1989). There have been several reports of this periodic stream causing great awe and fear. However, a dazzling display of Leonids seen in the rather remote Japanese city of Tosa (now Kochi, Japan) in the late 17th century confirmed for many citizens, and one rather brilliant but somewhat luckless calendar scholar in particular, the idea that events in heaven are inextricably related to events on earth.
In the early stages of the Edo era (1603-1867) [1], Confucian pragmatism and the fact that the Japanese lunar calendar was some two days in error had begun to persuade Tokugawa Shogunates to value mathematical aspects of astronomy somewhat more than celestial divination in the development of a calendar [2]. However, lasting much longer than in Europe, Japanese "astronomy" continued to be a rough mix of empirical observation and astrology for some time. A good example of this mix is found in the work of Tosa calendar scholar Tani Jinzan.
Tani (1663-1717) later became a symbol of national pride in the post Meiji Era for what was seen as his renaissance attitude and independent thought. He is also well remembered for his work with Shibukawa Harumi in which he used precise observation to further confirm adoption of a new lunar calendar in 1684. However, as a child of Confucian classics and archaic Chinese astrology, he also continued to play with a "system" which was often termed the "Theory of Areas" (Okamura, 1988). While based on Chinese mathematics, this was not a Keplerian concept or theory in any modern definition of science, but rather the proposition that areas on earth correspond to areas in the sky. Somewhat similar to Western astrology, domains on earth had complementary "areas" in the heavens. Events such as wars, conflagrations, and territorial change that occurred in "earthly" domains were associated with complementary events in the sky, and vice versa. Sometimes earthly events were indeed "real" and associated with some unusual event such as a comet or eclipse. At other times, imagination or political expediency could produce all the "evidence" needed for confirmation of associations [3]. We need only remember the tragic events that occurred with the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp to realize that "imaginary" associations with astronomical phenomena are neither historically nor culturally bound.
Following the "Theory of Areas", the Edo era found most prefectures in Japan with "sister" constellations or asterisms in the sky. The constellation which includes the stars called "Neko no Me" (cat's eyes) in Japan (Castor and Pollux in the West) marked the celestial domain corresponding to the earthly domain of Tosa. In Chinese based star charts, this constellation was also called Ishuku, meaning "well" (probably because of its similarity to the Chinese Kanji for a water "well" which looks a bit like the pound sign on a telephone).
[...]The association of the fire, meteors, and Tosa's celestial domain gave Tani "evidence" to confirm in his mind the "Theory of Areas". As the remainder of his collected works indicates, he continued to hold this theory as a primary "axiom" for the rest of his life. In a way, the conflagration produced both a tragedy in loss of human life and a tragedy in scientific development.
Tani's experience with the Leonids in many ways represents the "two steps forward, one step backward" development of astronomy in Japan which seems to have troubled thinkers in this country for many years prior to the Meiji Reformation [5]. Plagued by various ailments throughout his life, he lived in virtual poverty, his family having lost the wars that ushered in the Edo era. Even so, he gained the acclaim of fellow "calendar scholars" such as Shibukawa Harumi who with help from Tani's observations, was primarily responsible for reforming a calendar that had not seen change in some 800 years. There can be little doubt that Tani did indeed have a sense of the importance of evidence and precise observation. However, despite this sense of empiricism and a grounded base in Chinese mathematics, he like so many other Japanese scholars of the time, was unable to avoid fitting his "theory" to the facts rather than allowing the facts to lead to more well defined propositions.
There are indications that Tani knew the tragedy of his limitations. Deprived of information from the West, he often expressed that his greatest frustration was his inability to juxtapose his observations and calculations with the then held view of the "heavens". Tragedy also followed Tani in other ways. He spent the last twelve years of his life under "house" arrest. There is no record of the exact nature of his "crime". Though he tried to continue observing and developing more congruent systems of fact and "theory", he was never really able to break away from the mysticism and political barriers of his time and place. Broken, he died of a fit of apoplexy in 1717 (Okamura, 1988).
