• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.131-142
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• 2020

This article explored how the introduction of the Gregorian calendar transformed the Buddhist traditional practices of a noble class family who lost power in the royal court during the emergence of the British in Upper Myanmar. It examined in micro-level, the said changes by way of Wekmasuk Wundauk U Latt's diary, which recorded the social and economic conditions of Mandalay, then the capital of the Myanmar kingdom, from 1886 to 1898. When Burmese kings reigned in Mandalay, the court closed on Sabbath day, when the Buddhist Burmese went to monasteries to fulfill religious obligations. The introduction of the Gregorian calendar turned Sunday into a regular day off, which left Sabbath day to be used for more work. This prevented the then noblemen to attend to monastic duties as they had to use the day, for example to go to the bank to draw their pension. This research reveals that the Gregorian calendar has transformed the day off from "holy day" to "holiday."

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.85-91
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• 2012

Astronomical data making such as forming a calendar, period of day, determining the time of rising/setting of the sun and the onset of twilight are essential in our daily lives. Knowing the calendar day of the past is particularly crucial for studying the history of a clan or a nation. To verify previous studies in the calendar day of the Joseon dynasty (1392 - 1910), we investigate the sexagenary cycle of the new moon day (i.e., the first day in a lunar month) by using sources such as results of the calculations using the Datong calendar (a Chinese Calendar of the Ming Dynasty) and the data of Baekjungryeok (a Perpetual Calendar; literally, a one hundred-year almanac). Compared with the study of Ahn et al., we find that as many as 17 sexagenary cycles show discrepancies. In the cases of nine discrepancies, we find that the sexagenary cycles of this study are identical to those of the almanacs at that time. In addition, we study five sexagenary cycles by using the historical accounts of Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), Seungjeongwon Ilgi (Daily Reports of Royal Secretariat), Chungung Ilgi (Logs of Crown Prince), and so forth. For the remaining discrepancies, we present historical literature supporting the results of this study. This study will greatly contribute to the identification of the lunisolar calendar days during the Joseon dynasty as the dates of the modern (i.e., Gregorian) calendar.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.407-420
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• 2017

We study the operation of a lunisolar calendar in Korea and its time data calculation method. The dates based on the lunisolar calendar have been conventionally used in Korea after the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1896. With the Astronomy Act enacted in 2010, the lunisolar calendar is presently being used as an official calendar along with the Gregorian calendar. However, no institutionalized regulations have been provided on the time data calculation method by the lunisolar calendar. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute very recently established the regulations on the lunisolar calendar operation in Korea. We introduce the regulations together with historical substances and analyze the time data calculated according to the regulations for 600 years from 1901 to 2500. From our study, we find that the value of ${\Delta}T$ (i.e., the difference between the terrestrial time and the universal time) is the most critical parameter causing uncertainty on the data. We also find that all new Moon days in the almanacs agree with our calculations since 1912. Meanwhile, we find that new Moon and winter solstice times are found to be very close to midnight in 38 and five cases, respectively. For instance, the new Moon time on January 14, 2097 is 0 h 0 min 8 s. In this case, deciding the first day (i.e., new moon day) in a lunar month is difficult because of the large uncertainty in the value of ${\Delta}T$. Regarding with a lunar leap month, we find that the rules of inserting the leap month do not apply for 17 years. In conclusion, we believe that our findings are helpful in determining calendar days by using the lunisolar calendar.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.138.2-138.2
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• 2011

Astronomical data such as calendar day and time of rising/setting of the sun and onset of twilight are essential in our daily lives. Knowing the calendar day of the past is particularly crucial for studying the history of a clan or a nation. To verify previous studies on the calendar day of the Joseon dynasty (1392 - 1910), we also investigated the sexagenary cycle of the new moon day (i.e., the first day in a lunar month) using different sources: results of the calculation by the Datong calendar (a Chinese Calendar of the Ming Dynasty) and data of Baekjungryeok (a Perpetual Calendar - literally, a one hundred-year almanac). Compared with the study of Ahn et al., we have found that as many as 17 sexagenary cycles show discrepancies. In the case of nine discrepancies, we found that the sexagenary cycles of this study are identical to those of the almanacs at that time. In addition, we study six sexagenary cycles by using the historical accounts of Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), Seungjeongwon Ilgi (Daily Records of Royal Secretariat), Chungung Ilgi (Logs of Crown Prince), and so forth. We present historical materials supporting the results of this study for the remainder. In conclusion, we think that this study will greatly contribute to the comparison between luni-solar calendar days during the Joseon dynasty and those in the modern (i.e., Gregorian) calendar.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2015

The National Foundation Day of Korea (개천절, 開天節) is currently celebrated on October 3 in Gregorian calendar. We review the history of dating the National Foundation Day of Korea and make a suggestion that it be celebrated on October 3 in the lunar calendar. We present numerous historical records on heaven-worship rites supporting the date October 3 in the lunar calendar. It is pointed out that October 3 in the solar calendar has been adopted in 1949 by the National Assembly with the thought that the lunar calendar is inferior and behind the times. The thought originates from misunderstanding on the value of the lunar calendar and from the ignorance of importance of history and tradition. Since there are now many national holidays that follow the lunar calendar, the logic of the National Assembly in 1949 also makes no sense. We emphasize that the lunar calendar should be followed for the National Foundation Day of Korea for its historical and symbolic characteristics restoration. We also investigate the year of the foundation of the first country of Korea, Dangun Joseon. It is found that even though the majority of the literature before late 15th century recorded the beginning year of Dangun Joseon dynasty to be equal to that of Liao Dynasty (堯), it was accidentally changed to the 25th year of Liao Dynasty in 1484 through a misinterpretation of the previous records. We claim that the beginning year of Dangun Joseon should be set to that of Liao Dynasty as recorded in the original literature in the earlier days. According to the two main opinions accepted by Korea, the beginning year of Liao Dynasty was 2357 B.C. or 2333 B.C., which correspond to the year of Gap-Jin (the 41st year of the sexagenary cycle) or Mu-Jin (the 4th year of the sexagenary cycle), respectively.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.19.4-20
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• 2011

In this paper, we analyze time data (i.e., new moon time, sunrise and sunset times, twenty-four seasonal subdivision times, and so forth) in the Japanese astronomical almanacs between 1885 and 1943. During this period, two types of astronomical almanacs were published in Japan; Honreki (本曆; Formal Almanac) and its simplified version, Ryakuhonreki (略本曆). We use mainly the latter almanac for analyzing the time data. It is also known that Japan introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1873, adopted the standard meridian of $135^{\circ}E$ in 1888, and used Tokyo Observatory (東京天文臺; $139^{\circ}$ 44' 30" E and $35^{\circ}$ 39' 15" N) as the reference position of time data since 1891. We verify those facts and investigate the accuracy of time data in Japanese almanacs by comparing the data with the results of modern calculations. In this study, we present our findings.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.203-206
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• 2010

We examined five astronomical variables formulas of the two conventional harmonic prediction programs (IOS tidal package (IOS) and Task-2000 tidal package (Task2K)) in relation to hindcast of paleo-tides and -tidal currents on historical navel battlefields such as Myeongryang Naval Battle (September 16th, 1597 according to the lunar calendar). Through the comparison of the resultant values in a certain time (00:00 January 1) of each year (1801, 1800 and 1597) calculated from the two different formulas, we understood that the reason why Task2K is incapable of hindcating them in pre-19th century, Specifically, we found that the Task2K formulas directly using the Gregorian calendar date did not identify leap years in calculating astronomical variables beyond the period of 1801-2099. Therefore, the IOS's formulas, which use the day number referenced on midnight 1/1/0000, are recommended for use in hindcasting paleo-tides and -tidal currents on historical navel battles in pre-19th century.