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Studies in the History of Natural Sciences  2019, Vol. 38 Issue (3): 338-351    DOI:
ARTICLES     
Research on Meteorological Divination Records in Pre-modern Japan: A Case Study of Clouds
YANG Kai
Institute of History of Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
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Abstract  By the collection and research of pre-modern meteorological (cloud) records in Japan, 127 items were recorded covering a time span of 1182 years. Based on an analysis of the type, development, writing style and political attributions of this data, it can be seen that traditional Chinese cloud divination had long been used as a powerful tool by the Japanese. With the advent of the Shogunate era, these records exhibit two intensive cycles in the Heian era and the Shogunate. Clouds, as an integral part of celestial phenomena, were included in the observation procedures of the Japanese official astronomical institutions, but the scope in interpretation provided by their ambiguity and randomness and other defects strengthened the essential attributions of political concerns. The power of political discourse and control of the selection of historical materials directly determined the pattern of cloud records available to later generations. After the rise of other more favored divination techniques, the traditional meteorology of the Japanese aristocracy was doomed to fade gradually from the historical stage.

Key words： Japan      meteorological divination      cloud     
Received: 15 October 2018      Published: 21 June 2021
ZTFLH:  N09  
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YANG Kai. Research on Meteorological Divination Records in Pre-modern Japan: A Case Study of Clouds. Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2019, 38(3): 338-351.

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http://www.shns.ac.cn/     OR     http://www.shns.ac.cn/Y2019/V38/I3/338

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