Astronomy And Japanese Myths Essay Research Paper free essay sample

Astronomy And Nipponese Myths Essay, Research Paper Throughout history different civilizations have let astronomy determine their beliefs and imposts. One such civilization that has traditions rich in uranology is the Nipponese civilization. Since I am half Nipponese, I thought I would discourse some of the traditions found in Nipponese civilization. Further, I will explicate how these aincient traditions and beliefs are still present in modern twenty-four hours society in Japan. I found some truly great web sites which I will utilize to compose my essay. The first web site focuses chiefly on Nipponese festivals/traditions and how astronomy plays a portion in Nipponese festivals/traditions. The # 8220 ; Astrologers Union of Japan # 8221 ; home page is great, but the whole web site is written in Japanese. Astroarts has a great Nipponese uranology page which offers a horn of plenty of astronomical info # 8230 ; .the links are great excessively! Please bear with me as I am larning new things excessively. I. Orihime, Kengyuu, and Tanabata Orihime, Kengyuu, and Tanabata Tanabata is a Nipponese festival based on the fable of Orihime and Kengyuu. This narrative uses the stars of Vega and Altair for it # 8217 ; s chief characters. The Nipponese refer to Vega as Orihime Boshii which means weaving princess star. Kengyuu Boshii means puller of cattles star and refers to Altair. The other characters are Orihime Boshii # 8217 ; s beget the emperor which is the star centered at the north pole ( polaris? ) , the boater which refers to the Moon, and Kasasagi which are a group of magpies. The writer of the fable begins by stating his readers that Orihime Boshii ( Vega ) would see the # 8220 ; river of Eden # 8221 ; ( milky manner ) everyday and weave beautiful cloths. Her male parent the emperor loved these cloths and grew really fond of them. One twenty-four hours, Orihime Boshii became really sad because she had spent wholly her life up until that twenty-four hours weaving cloths and had non found the clip to fall in love and acquire married. The emperor loved his girl and felt sorry for her # 8230 ; he arranged ( where the thought of ordered matrimony in Japan comes from? ) for her to get married Kengyuu ( Altair ) , a prince who lived across the # 8220 ; river of Eden # 8221 ; . As the matrimony of Orihime Boshii and Kengyuu blossomed, Orihime Boshii neglected her weaving and this disquieted and worried her male parent. The emperor eventually decided to divide the twosome by agencies of the # 8220 ; river of Eden # 8221 ; , nevertheless, for one twenty-four hours out of the twelvemonth ( 7th twenty-four hours of the 7th month ) the twosome would be allowed to be together. On that twenty-four hours a boater ( the Moon ) would ferry Orihime Boshii across the river to see her hubby Kengyuu # 8230 ; the boater would merely come to ferry Orihime Boshii across the # 8220 ; river of Eden # 8221 ; if she had finished her weaving # 8230 ; id she had non finished her weaving it would rain and the river would be excessively flooded to traverse by boat. The Gods took compassion on Orihime Boshii and allowed for a group of Kasasagi ( magpies ) to wing into the milklike manner and do a magpie span for Orihime Boshii to traverse over to the other side and see Kengyuu. Tanabata, the festival based on this fable is celebrated every twelvemonth on the seventh twenty-four hours of the seventh month of the Nipponese lunar calendar. During this festival people write wants to the Gods on strips of paper, tie these strips of paper to newly cut bamboo, eat seasonal veggies, and decorate Equus caballus and cow figures made out of straw or H2O oats. Over the old ages H2O purification ceremonials, a matrimony between a weaving lady and a H2O God, and other such ceremonials were added to the tanabata festival jubilation. II. Setsubun Setsubun, Oni Out, Happiness In Setsubun is a Nipponese lunar new twelvemonth festival to free the approaching twelvemonth of bad liquors. In short, beans are thrown all over the house, on people, on concern, and whatever else people want guarded from the devastation of evil liquors. Peoples are so suppossed to eat the beans. Let # 8217 ; s expression at how astronomy plays a function in the Setsubun tradition: 1. Setsubun occurs on the twenty-four hours before Risshun ( spring ) . 2. # 8220 ; The setsu of Setsubun ( literally # 8220 ; sectional separation # 8221 ; ) originally referred to the Eve of any of the 24 divisions of the solar twelvemonth ( see The Lunar Calendar in Japan for an account of these divisions ) .† 3. Lunar Calendar in Japan 4. # 8220 ; Setsubun achieved the position of an imperial event and farther took on symbolic and ritual significance relation to its association with chances for a # 8220 ; returning Sun # 8221 ; , associated climatic alteration, reclamation of organic structure and head, ejection of immorality, symbolic metempsychosis, and readying for the coming planting season. # 8221 ; 5. # 8220 ; Setsubun by and large ever precedes the lunar New Year, and in the ancient ideal was frequently really referred to as New Years # 8217 ; Eve. In 2000, solar and lunar rhythms coincided plenty to do the ideal about existent in that February 4th marked Risshun ( Spring Begins ) , and February 5th was the existent lunar New Year in both China and Japan. # 8221 ; III. Happy New Year New Year in Japan [ ] This is the Jappanese symbol for the term # 8220 ; happy new twelvemonth # 8221 ; . It is a combination of the chatacters for Sun and Moon. Harmonizing to the Japanese # 8230 ; Sun+Moon= new morning and alteration # 8230 ; therefore happy new twelvemonth. 1. This character sometimes refers to the planet Venus # 8230 ; Venus is either # 8220 ; Kinsei # 8221 ; ( gilded star ) or # 8220 ; Myou Jyou # 8221 ; ( bright clicking star ) . 2. # 8220 ; Akema*censored*e Omedetou Gozaimasu # 8221 ; is the term for happy new twelvemonth but it literally means: # 8220 ; The twelvemonth is altering # 8230 ; darkness gives manner to visible radiation # 8230 ; new life begins # 8230 ; Congratulations! # 8221 ; Why? # 8220 ; In antediluvian traditional knowledge ( under the lunar calendar ) , the New Year was seen in relation to alter in both the Sun and Moon every bit good as the symbolism of their luminosity # 8221 ; 3. The Chinese and Nipponese calendars are based on a 12 twelvemonth rhythm # 8230 ; this 12 twelvemonth rhythm is # 8220 ; based on places of Jupiter with its 12 twelvemonth orbit ( and attendant place about the ecliptic # 8221 ; . IV. Yowatashi Boshii # 8230 ; Nipponese Lore Associated with Orion Japanese Lore Associated with Orion 1. Orion is a Yowatashi Boshii star # 8230 ; one of the # 8220 ; go throughing the dark stars # 8221 ; # 8220 ; This phrase was applied to outstanding star groups which would look in the East at sundown and set with the clicking Sun ( Uchida, 1973 ) . # 8221 ; 2. The first refers to kabuki play in which a membranophone ( tsuzumi ) with caputs on both sides is beaten with the fingertips # 8230 ; the membranophone is in an hourglass form and is tied with strings # 8230 ; this membranophone comes from the constellarion Orion. # 8220 ; The stars Betelgeuse and Gamma Ori organize one terminal of the membranophone while the stars Rigel and Kappa Ori form the other. The three belt stars represent the cord that is used to bind the strings snugly in the middle # 8221 ; 3. The Nipponese usage wooden blocks as portion of amusement and spiritual ceremonials. Wooden blocks are said to cite assorted Gods. # 8220 ; Nipponese have found the # 8220 ; play # 8221 ; of this simple instrument and its # 8220 ; sound # 8221 ; in Orion as Kanatsuki no Ryowaki Boshi ( literally striking both sides stars ; Uchida, 1973 ) . # 8221 ; [ ] This subdivision of the web site on Orion contains many more fables and things based on the stars of Orion, but for deficiency of infinite, I will stop it here. Please see the website # 8230 ; I am larning most of these things for the first clip. I was amazed to larn that the Nipponese position Orion as many different things whereas in western civilization Orion is viewed as a remarkable thing. I am running out of room so I will stop it here. As you can see Japan has an copiousness of fables and folklore based upon the stars and uranology. This web site that I found is amazing # 8230 ; it discuses all of the major Japanese beliefs, traditions, civilizations, and folklore as it relates to astronomy. In this paper I have tried to sum up some of the Nipponese fables, festivals, traditions, and folklore based on uranology, and what I found out is that I will necessitate much more infinite than this text window offers in order to discourse this subject. I learned a great trade and hope to analyze this out farther and larn a batch more Bibliography 1. Renshaw, Steve and Ihara, Saori. # 8220 ; Astronomy in Japan # 8221 ; . 10 October 2000-14 October 2000. Other sites that I found but did non utilize ( non inbibliographical signifier ) . 1.http: //www.astroarts.co.jp/index.html 2. hypertext transfer protocol: //jin.jcic.or.jp/kidsweb/japan/d/q9.html 3. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nao.ac.jp/