Abstract
The author, Kogure Tomokazu, is a well-known researcher who specializes in stellar physics. This book overviews, with the perspective of a researcher, the history of Japanese astronomy from the Edo era to 2000. The history of Japanese astronomical research is a unique example in the history of science because it has played a role in world astronomy since the country’s isolation during the Edo period, through the modernization of the Meiji and Taisho periods, the defeat of Japan in World War II, and the subsequent reconstruction into the modern age. This book is a laborious work that shows this history mainly by introducing the research careers and achievements of the remarkable researcher in each period.
The compilation of four representative calendars during the Edo period (1603–1868) is described. This established calculation methods for adapting introduced ephemeris calendars from China to Japan for each era, and for correcting them from new observations. During this period, Japan was closed off to the outside world and access to information from overseas was severely restricted. Knowledge of physics and astronomy, which had developed dramatically in Europe, was obtained only from the Netherlands, the only country with which Japan had trade relations. Based on this, Kogure shows how six scientists of the Edo period understood the universe, including the Aristotelian and the Copernican cosmologies.
The book next describes the development of Japanese astronomy in the Meiji (1868–1912) and Taisho periods (1912–1926). After the Meiji Restoration, the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory was established for keeping ephemeris calendar and time independently at Tokyo University. At the same time, it had a department of astronomical research. Subsequently Kyoto University established a department of astrophysics, a new research field then emerging. Kogure introduces the world-class achievements of Japanese astronomers, such as the discovery of the Z-term by Kimura Hisashi and the discovery of asteroid families by Hirayama Kiyotsugu. The book also describes the attempts of Shinjo Shinzo to study stellar evolution and the design of a new telescope by Ichinohe Naozo.
As the Japanese university system was being developed, departments of astronomy were established at the three Imperial Universities in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Tohoku. The history of research conducted at these three universities from the early Showa period to the end of World War II (1926–1945) is described. Japanese astronomers were forced to adapt to discussion calling for Japan to withdraw from the International Astronomical Union, of which it was a member since its founding in 1919, due to the impact of the Sino-Japanese War and the Second World War.
This section also introduces the achievements of leading researchers (Hagiwara Yusuke, Hatanaka Takeo, Fujita Yoshio, Kaburaki Masaki, and Osawa Seiki) in Tokyo (Tokyo Astronomical Observatory and Tokyo Imperial University). These studies led to the construction in 1961 of the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory with an 1.88 m optical telescope, which became the driving force behind the revival of astronomy in post-war Japan. Research carried out at Kyoto Imperial University and other institutions during this period by Yamamoto Issei, Araki Toshima, Takeda Shin’ichiro, and Miyamoto Shotaro is described. It is very interesting to see how each researcher began his research, and how the research themes changed over time, influenced by personal interests and opportunities such as studying abroad. It also describes research on the history of Chinese astronomy, centered on Kyoto Imperial University. The research achievements at Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai by physicists Kusakabe Shirota and Ishiwara Jun, and astrophysicists Matukuma Takehiko and Hitotuyanagi Zyuiti are outlined, including pioneering work by Hitotuyanagi on the structure of the Milky Way galaxy.
Kogure then describes how Japan, having lost the Second World War, managed to revive its astronomical research and build new telescopes. Various optical and infrared telescopes were constructed after the war, including the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory. It is also interesting that Kogure, who represents the astronomy research community, describes the background to the construction of the Subaru Telescope, which was the first telescope to be installed outside Japan. The book reviews the results achieved from the coronagraph of the Norikura Solar Physics Observatory, the subsequent constructed dome-less telescope at the Hida Observatory, and the X-ray satellite Youkou. In the field of radio astronomy, the construction and results of the Nobeyama Radio Observatory launched world-class radio astronomy in Japan, as did the 4-m millimeter-wave telescope at Nagoya University and the VSOP for the world’s first space VLBI observations. In the field of space astronomy, the book introduces Oda Minoru, who is the founder of Japanese X-ray astronomy, and describes the achievements of X-ray satellites such as HAKUCHO, TENMA, GINGA, ASCA, and Youkou, as well as the world’s first observation of cosmic neutrinos using SN1987A by Kamiokande. The book also comprehensively describes the research results that Japanese astronomers have achieved in stellar physics, solar physics, celestial mechanics, galactic astronomy, cosmology, and theoretical astronomy, from both observational and theoretical perspectives. The book also describes the current situation of astronomy education in Japan and the leading research topics.
Kogure takes a biographical approach, asking how each researcher developed, how they set their research themes, and how they developed them. He presents the history of Japanese astronomy as the sum of the histories of individual researchers and the history of each telescope and satellite. The aim of the book is to offer a research review paper in each field, based on published papers. The result is a laborious work that exhaustively shows readers the circumstances in which Japan was able to participate in world astronomical research after the Edo period. Since then, Japanese astronomy research has greatly developed through the promotion of many international collaborative projects, moving beyond the previous focus on domestic research. In the future, I hope that books like this will show the next stage in the development of Japanese astronomy after the year 2000.
