Inside the Kitora Burial Mound at Asuka, Nara prefecture, in Japan is a tomb that dates to ca. AD 700 and has a celestial map and murals of cosmological significance. Both the map and the murals bear evidence of scientific and artistic diffusion from China to Japan via the Korean peninsula, but the map has the added significance of being the oldest extant celestial map that is currently known to be scientific in spirit and, more or less, complete. Since research on the map and murals is still in progress and might yield changes in details, readers are directed to the asterisked websites in the references for photographs, taken from small cameras which were inserted into the tomb, and related illustrations.
The Mound and the Tomb
Kitora's date of ca. 700 makes it a rather late burial mound since most of those in Japan were constructed during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries AD. Although it had been replaced by nearby Fujiwara in 694 (until 710), Asuka had served as the capital...
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Notes
- 1.
The calculations in previous research have assumed that the ratio of the radii of the circle of constant visibility and the equator is correct. Another line of reasoning might be that the circle of constant invisibility is in correct proportion to one of the other circles, and the calculations for latitude would yield approximately 39°30′ if it were correct vis-à-vis the circle of constant visibility (meaning that the equator would be slightly too large) or approximately 44°30′ if it were correct vis-à-vis the equator. Although the latter calculation would put the latitude for the circles in the Gobi or in northernmost Koguryŏ, the former helps support the hypothesis of the P'yŏngyang area having been meant by the circles.
References
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Chon Ho Chon. Kitora Tomb Originates in Koguryo Murals (1997). http://210.145.168.243/pk/035th_issue/98032502.htm (accessed through the website for Lee Wha Rang).
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‐‐‐. Kitora Kofun Tenmonzu to Higashi Ajia no Tenmongaku (The Celestial Map in the Kitora Burial Mound and East Asian Astronomy). Higashi Ajia no Kodai Bunka (Ancient Culture(s) of East Asia) 97 (Autumn 1998): 58–69.
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‐‐‐. Kitora Kofun: Gakujutsu Chōsa Hōkokusho [The Kitora Burial Mound: A Written Report on the Scholarly Investigation]. Asuka‐Mura Kyōiku Iinkai [Board of Education of Asuka Village], publ. Asuka‐Mura Bunkazai Chōsa Hōkokusho [Written Reports on Scholarly Investigations of the Cultural Assets of Asuka Village], Series 3 (Mar. 1999): 51–63.
‐‐‐. Kitora Kofun Tenjō Tenmonzu: Kore made ni Wakatta Koto [The Celestial Map on the Ceiling of the Kitora Burial Mound: What Is Known up Until Now]. Asuka Hozon Zaidan [Asuka Preservation Foundation], publ. Asukafū [The Wind (Way, Style) of Asuka]. Vol. 80. Asuka: Asuka Hozon Zaidan, 2001.
‐‐‐. Kofun ni Hokkyoku Gosei wa Hitsuyō ka: Kitora Kofun no Tenmonzu ga Shimesu Mono [Are the Five Stars of the North Pole Necessary in Old Burial Mounds? What the Celestial Map Inside the Kitora Burial Mound Shows]. Nara Shinbun [Nara Newspaper] (May 2001).
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Potter, Simon R. Professor K. Miyajima's Research on the Celestial Diagram Inside the Tomb of the Kitora Burial Mound at Asuka, Nara Prefecture: From a Recent Japanese‐Language Monograph on Old Japanese Star Maps. Saitama Daigaku Kiyō: Kyōyōgakubu (Journal of Saitama University: Faculty of Liberal Arts) 37.1 (2001): 81–106.
‐‐‐. Addendum to the Annotated Translation About the Star Map Inside the Kitora Burial Mound. Saitama Daigaku Kiyō: Kyōyōgakubu [Journal of Saitama University: Faculty of Liberal Arts] 38.1 (2002): 177–203.
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‐‐‐. Astronomy in Japan. Astronomy Across Cultures. Ed. Helaine Selin. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.
* ‐‐‐. Kitora Kofun: A Detailed Astronomical Star Chart in an Ancient Japanese Tomb (2002). http://www2.gol.com/users/stever/kitora.htm.
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Takamatsuzuka, Hekiga Kan [Takamatsuzuka Mural Hall (=Museum)], Takamatsuzuka Hekiga Kan: Kaisetsu [The Takamatsuzuka Mural Hall (=Museum): An Explanation]. Asuka: Asuka Hozon Zaidan, 2000.
Tiger‐Man Image Found in Tomb. The Daily Yomiuri (Jan. 23, 2002): 3.
Tokai University Research Information and Center. Mural Paintings of Kitora Burial Mound (1998). http://www.tric.u‐tokai.ac.jp/news2/ekitora1.html.
* Tokai University Research and Information Center and Nippon Hoso Kyokai [Japan Broadcasting Corporation]. Video Image Analysis of Kitora Kofun, Nara (2002). http://www.tric.u‐tokai.ac.jp/isite/ewhatkitora.html.
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Potter, S. (2008). Kitora Burial Mound. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8684
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