Saturn, and Kaku-sei (殻星, Uranus). Between Mars and Jupiter are four small
planets, which according to Kawamoto were the remnants of an ancient explosion
of a large planet moving in this orbit.
Kawamoto also wrote that stars were distant suns distributed far beyond our Solar
System. The distance to nearby stars from the Sun may be around five million years
by the velocity of bullets. On the origin of stars’ variability, he suspected a combination of the rotation period and the variation in the size and position of star spots, by
analogy with sunspot phenomena. In this way, he presented the contemporary state
of modern physics and astronomy to Japan.
In 1859, Kawamoto was appointed professor of Dutch at Bansho Shirabe Dokoro
(蛮書調所, Institute of Foreign Book Study) of the Tokugawa government. During
Fig. 1.4 Portrait of
Kawamoto Komin
(ca. 1861). (Japan Academy
of Sciences, Library)
Fig. 1.5 Solar System in Kawamoto’s Kikai Kanran Kogi, Volume 4 (Kawamoto 1856)
1.3 Acceptance of Western Cosmology
11
planets, which according to Kawamoto were the remnants of an ancient explosion
of a large planet moving in this orbit.
Kawamoto also wrote that stars were distant suns distributed far beyond our Solar
System. The distance to nearby stars from the Sun may be around five million years
by the velocity of bullets. On the origin of stars’ variability, he suspected a combination of the rotation period and the variation in the size and position of star spots, by
analogy with sunspot phenomena. In this way, he presented the contemporary state
of modern physics and astronomy to Japan.
In 1859, Kawamoto was appointed professor of Dutch at Bansho Shirabe Dokoro
(蛮書調所, Institute of Foreign Book Study) of the Tokugawa government. During
Fig. 1.4 Portrait of
Kawamoto Komin
(ca. 1861). (Japan Academy
of Sciences, Library)
Fig. 1.5 Solar System in Kawamoto’s Kikai Kanran Kogi, Volume 4 (Kawamoto 1856)
1.3 Acceptance of Western Cosmology
11