Kashihara - Blog Posts

Sean bienvenidos japonistasarqueologicos a una nueva entrega arqueológica recién salida del horno, se ha descubierto en la prefectura de Nara espejo de bronce en forma de escudo hallado en el túmulo funerario de Tomio Maruyama, dicho esto pónganse cómodos desde que comenzamos. - Características : Mide 64 cm de largo y 31 cm de ancho. Data de finales del siglo IV y tiene 109 m de diámetro. En un examen que se realizó mediante rayos X fluorescentes al espejo con forma de escudo y estaba compuesto de cobre detectó la presencia de estaño, cobre y plomo. La superficie del espejo tenía rastros de que había sido pulido de forma suave. Los patrones geométricos, como es el patrón 'dragón', es una representación simplificada de una bestia divina china posiblemente tuvieran influencia china y los patrones de, los dientes de sierra, que se asemejan a hojas de sierra, se le aplican en la parte posterior. - En el mismo yacimiento se han encontrado: -85 espadas serpentinas en Japón y 4 en Corea del Sur. -La espada serpentina tiene una longitud total de 237, es tres veces más grande que el túmulo funerario de Uda Kitahara que es de 84,6 centímetros localizados en la ciudad de Uda, prefectura de Nara.

Kosaku Okabayashi, subdirector del Instituto Arqueológico de Kashihara, dijo en una conferencia de prensa: "El espejo de cobre en forma de escudo muestra el pensamiento flexible y la creatividad de la gente de la época, así como el alto poder de diseño. Prueba que el nivel técnico de producción fue más alto de lo que había imaginado". - El Túmulo funerario de Tomio Maruyama fue construido en la segunda mitad del siglo IV, dicho túmulo funerario tiene forma circular y es el más grande de Japón. La medición tridimensional con un láser reveló una estructura de tres etapas con un diámetro de 109 metros. La parte principal de la parte superior del montículo fue robada durante el período Meiji, y la piedra kuwagata, que se cree que fue desenterrada en ese momento, ha sido designada como una importante propiedad cultural nacional. - Espero que os guste y pasen una buena semana y nos vemos en próximas publicaciones de Japón.

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日本の考古学者の皆さん、焼きたての新しい考古学的情報へようこそ。丸山富雄の古墳で見つかった盾の形をした青銅鏡が奈良県で発見されました。 - 特徴: サイズは長さ64cm、幅31cmです。 4 世紀末に造られた直径 109 m です。 銅製の盾型ミラーを蛍光X線で検査したところ、錫、銅、鉛の存在が検出されました。 鏡の表面には軽く磨いた跡があった。 「龍」文様などの幾何学模様は中国の影響を受けたと思われる中国の神獣を簡略化して表現したもので、背中にはノコギリの刃のような鋸歯文様が施されています。 - 同じサイトで次のものが見つかりました。 -蛇紋刀は日本に85本、韓国に4本。 蛇剣の全長は237で、奈良県宇陀市にある宇陀北原古墳の84.6センチメートルの3倍以上の大きさです。 橿原考古学研究所の岡林耕作副所長は記者会見で「盾形の銅鏡は、当時の人々の柔軟な思考と創造性、高いデザイン力を示している」と述べた。制作の技術レベルは想像以上でした。」 - 富雄丸山古墳は4世紀後半に築造された日本最大の円墳です。レーザーによる三次元計測により、直径109メートルの3段構造が判明した。明治時代に墳丘上部の主要部が盗まれ、その際に出土したとされる鍬形石は国の重要文化財に指定されている。 - 気に入っていただけて、良い一週間をお過ごしいただければ幸いです。今後の日本からの投稿でお会いしましょう。

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Welcome, japanesearchaeologists, to a new archaeological delivery fresh from the oven, a bronze mirror in the shape of a shield found in the burial mound of Tomio Maruyama has been discovered in the Nara prefecture. That said, make yourself comfortable as we begin.

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Characteristics : It measures 64 cm long and 31 cm wide. It dates from the end of the 4th century and is 109 m in diameter. In an examination that was carried out using fluorescent X-rays on the shield-shaped mirror and was composed of copper, the presence of tin, copper and lead was detected. The surface of the mirror had traces of being lightly polished. The geometric patterns, such as the 'dragon' pattern, is a simplified representation of a Chinese divine beast possibly having Chinese influence and the sawtooth patterns, which resemble saw blades, are applied to the back. . - In the same site they have been found:

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85 serpentine swords in Japan and 4 in South Korea. -The serpentine sword has a total length of 237, it is three times larger than the burial mound of Uda Kitahara which is 84.6 centimeters located in the city of Uda, Nara prefecture. Kosaku Okabayashi, deputy director of the Kashihara Archaeological Institute, said at a press conference: "The shield-shaped copper mirror shows the flexible thinking and creativity of the people of the time, as well as the high design power. It proves that "The technical level of production was higher than I had imagined."

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The Tomio Maruyama Burial Mound was built in the second half of the 4th century. This burial mound is circular in shape and is the largest in Japan. Three-dimensional measurement with a laser revealed a three-stage structure with a diameter of 109 meters. The main part of the upper part of the mound was stolen during the Meiji period, and the kuwagata stone, believed to have been unearthed at that time, has been designated as an important national cultural property.

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I hope you like it and have a good week and see you in future posts from Japan.

To rebuild or not to rebuild? The case of Fujiwara-kyô

While travelling along the Rhine, we've covered a few castles which have been rebuilt and repurposed, unlike many forts in Alsace (links to some of those in that post). In Japan, the rebuilding of castle keeps to house museums was common after the Second World War, though some have remained ruin sites (further links in there). But what about a whole Imperial palace - scratch that, an entire capital?

Well, let's not get too excited: Kashihara, which was the Imperial capital for just 16 years between 694 and 710, has not rebuilt the old palace. By the time excavations began in the early 20th century, this area to the East of the town was farmland, and actually locating the lost palace and city was part of the problem.

It turns out Kashihara was the first city to be planned in the Chinese style: a grand palace at its heart, and a grid of parallel and perpendicular streets around it. In 710, the capital was dismantled and moved to Nara, before moving again to Kyôto in the late 8th century - and the grid street pattern can be found there, with numbered parallels going North to South (Nijô, Sanjô, Shijô...).

Today, the site of palace buildings are marked with these arrays of pillars (photo above with Miminashi-yama in the background), and a small museum sits on the side. There don't appear to be any plans to develop further, unlike what has been done at the palace site in Nara, which we can talk about next time.

Sangaku Sunday #6

We are about to solve our first sangaku problem, as seen on the tablet shown above from Miminashi-yamaguchi-jinja in Kashihara.

First, we should conclude our discussion: what are sangaku for? There's the religious function, as an offering, and this offering was put on display for all to see, though not all fully understood the problems and their solutions. But a few people would understand, and these would have been the mathematicians of the time. When they visited a new town, they would typically stop at a temple or shrine for some prayers, and they would see the sangaku, a sample of what the local mathematicians were capable of. Whether the problems were solved or open, the visitor could take up the challenges and find the authors to discuss.

And this is where everything lined up: the local school of mathematics would have someone new to talk to, possibly to impress or be impressed by, and maybe even recruit. With the Japanese-style mathematics of the time, called wasan, being considered something of an art form, there would be masters and apprentices, and the sangaku was therefore a means to perpetuate the art.

Now, what about that configuration of circles, second from right on the tablet?

Recall that we had a formula for the radii of three circles which are pairwise tangent and all tangent to the same line. Calling the radii p, q, r, s and t for the circles of centres A, B, C, D and E respectively, we have

for the circles with centres A, B and C (our previous problem), and adapting this formula to two other systems of three circles, we get

for the circles with centres A, C and D, and

for the circles with centres B, C and E. Add these together, and use the first relation on the right-hand side, we get a rather elegant relation between all five radii:

Of course, we can get formulas for s and t,

r having been calculated previously using just p and q, which were our starting radii.

For example, setting p=4 and q=3, we get, approximately, r=0.86, s=0.4 and t=0.37 (this is the configuration shown in the figure, not necessarily the one on the tablet - I will be able to make remarks about that on another example).

Golden Week has begun in Japan, and this quick succession of public holidays ends with Children's Day on 5 May. It's for this occasion that the koinobori, or carp streamers, are brought out. Here are some flying over Asuka-gawa in Kashihara during my visit in 2018, with Unebi-yama, at the base of which Kashihara-jingû is located, in the background below.

My part of France is also on school break. With my homework done, it's time to get out and about again for my own Golden Week!

The conference went well, as far as I can tell, so here are a couple of low-sun views of Kashihara's preserved Edo-period area, Imai-chô, as an outro. The first building seems to be operating as an art gallery (maybe?), while the other is a neat little temple. Both are on the same street, 大工町筋, which Google Translate says could be Daiku-chô suji or Daiku-machi suji... or it could be something else, I don't remember reading the name myself on site.

Different place next.

Here we are: Miminashi-yama

When I visited Kashihara, looking to explore some deep Japanese history in the former province of Yamato, I expected to move around a bit, but there was actually enough in Kashihara itself to make for a busy day.

First up was this curious green round space in the middle of a residential area on the town map I'd picked up. It just seemed conspicuous to me, I decided to check it out.

This is Miminashi-yama, one of the Yamato Sanzan, or Three Main Mountains of Yamato. Though it stood out on the map and it does stand out in the plain around it, it's not huge, and it's a short climb to the top where a shrine awaited.

In that shrine, a sangaku geometry tablet is displayed. By chance, based on a whim, I had found one! Nearly six years on, I've finally solved it - it's not very difficult mathematically, it's just taken me this long to get on with it, having said that, even today I'm still figuring out extra things on it! - and will be presenting it at a conference tomorrow. I wouldn't have thought it at the time... I guess curiosity didn't kill the cat that day!

It's time to go back to Kashihara, and let's start by meeting the local animals!

I'm getting real "fancy pants" vibes from the cat! But to be fair, it is a darn good looking cat.

That is all until I think of something more intricate to talk about.

C'est avec grand plaisir que je présenterai le mardi 16 avril à la Maison Universitaire France-Japon de Strasbourg une conférence sur la géométrie pendant la période d'Edo, avec en support le sangaku de Kashihara. Entre grande Histoire et petits calculs. Lien vers les détails 4月16日(火)、ストラスブール市の日仏大学会館に江戸時代の算額についてコンファレンスをします。楽しみにしています！ Looking forward to giving a conference on Edo-period geometry on 16 April at Strasbourg's French-Japanese Institute. Expect a few posts about Kashihara around then. Has it really been 6 years?...