• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.603-620
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• 2009

New Pochonka published in the eighteenth century of the Choson dynasty was composed of star-charts based on the new observations made by Jesuits in China and songs corrected a little bit from previous version of Pochonka. The asterisms in the previous Pochonka are listed in the same order to that in the Song dynasty's literature; while the asterisms in the new Pochonka are listed in accordance with Pu-tien-ko published in China after the Ming dynasty. The Chinese-style twelve-equatorial-section system is adopted in the new Pochonka, while in its song is adopted the zodiac system, which can be seen in the star-charts of previous version of Pochonka. The asterisms belonging to three or four neighboring lunar-mansions are drawn in one chart. Each chart covers asterisms not belonging to a certain range of right ascension, but to a certain lunar mansion. We estimate the forming era of the new Pochonka from the following facts; that the Ling-Tai-I-Hsiang-Chih was used to make charts and footnotes whose archetype can be found in the Chinese literature around A.D. 1700, that these Chinese books were imported into Choson in A.D. 1709, that the naming taboo to the emperor Khang-Hsi was used, that the order of Shen-Hsiu (參宿) was transposed with Tshui-Hsiu (자宿), and that the new Pochonka was substituted for the old version when the rules of Royal Astronomical Bureau was reformed in A.D. 1791. In conclusion, the parent sources of the charts and footnotes of the new Pochonka might be imported from the Ching dynasty around 1709 A.D. to form the new Pochonka between A.D. 1709 and A.D. 1791, and finally to be published in A.D. 1792. We discuss the possible future works to make a firm conclusion.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.65-76
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• 2016

We study a manuscript that includes 28 oriental constellations in the flags of barracks in Gangjin. According to the Joseon Chronicles, the constellation flags in the manuscript are thought to have originated from Seon-Pil Kim (金善弼) who first made 28 constellation flags for the barracks in 1878 during the Joseon Dynasty. Seon-Pil Kim was a commander and he used the 28 constellation flags for communications in a military camp. The flags also contain 28 animals and letter-like symbols with constellation maps. We examine the constellation maps in flags in terms of shapes and number of stars, and compare them with those of constellations in the Korean and Chinese star charts such as CheonSangYeolChaBunYaJiDo (天象列次分野之圖), Joseon-Butienge (朝鮮步天歌), Suzhou (蘇州) Star Chart, and Tang-Butiange (唐步天歌). Finally, we found that the shape of constellations in the flags might be similar to those in the Chinese Tang-Butienge. We also found several errors such as the shape, connecting pattern, and number of constellations drawn in the flags. It seems that the constellation flags were unofficially used in military camps in the late Joseon dynasty. Meanwhile, the 28 constellations are divided into four groups and each group has its own color and direction. We suppose that the constellation flags might represent the positions of military camps and each group of flags has their own color based on their cardinal points.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.61.1-61.1
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• 2019

We report about the constellations discovered in Ara-Gaya Malisan tomb 13 of late 5th century. In December 2018, constellation-shaped grooves were newly found on the ceiling of the tomb 13 of the Ara-Gaya (42-532 CE.) polity in Haman(咸安). The tomb 13 is located at the top/center of the Malisan and is one of the largest burial mounds. Grooves were found in one of the slabs of the grave cover-stone (160 ∗ 80~60cm). The total number of grooves are 134 and each groove has a diameter of 1.5~4.0 cm. The grooves were made by pecking or grinding. From the preliminary study, we identified these grooves with traditional constellations such as 房, 心, 尾, 箕, 斗, which correspond to Scorpius and Sagittarius of modern constellations near the Milky Way. It shows that advanced astronomy also existed in Ara-Gaya tomb while star charts were painted in Goguryeo tombs. This carries great importance in studying the development and exchange of astronomy in the Korean Peninsula.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.201-212
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• 2023

The inscription of Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido (天象列次分野之圖) has the sun's locations at the equinoxes, which must have been copied from the astronomical treatises in Chinese historical annals, Songshu (宋書) and Jinshu (晉書). According to the treatises, an astronomer Wang Fan (王蕃, 228-266 CE) referred those values from a calendrical system called Qianxiangli (乾象曆, 223 CE), from which it is confirmed that it adopted the sun's location at the winter solstice of the $(21{\frac{1}{4}})^{th}$ du of the 8th lunar lodge Dou (斗) as the reference direction for equatorial lodge angles. This indicates that the sun's locations at equinoxes and solstices in the calendrical system are the same as those in Jingchuli (景初曆, 237 CE). Hence, we propose that the sun's location at the autumnal equinox in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido should be corrected from 'wu du shao ruo' (五度少弱), meaning the $(5{\frac{1}{6}})^{th}$ du, to 'wu du ruo' (五度弱), meaning the $(4{\frac{11}{12}})^{th}$ du, of the first lunar lodge Jiao (角), as seen in Jingchuli. We reconstruct the polar coordinate system used in circular star charts, assuming that the mean motion rule was applied and its reference direction was the sun's location at the winter solstice. Considering the precession, we determined the observational epoch of the sun's location at the winter solstice to be t_o = -18.3 ± 43.0 adopting the observational error of the so-called archaic determinatives (古度). It is noteworthy that the sun's locations at equinoxes inscribed in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido originated from Houhan Sifenli (後漢 四分曆) of the Latter Han dynasty (85 CE), while the coordinate origin in the star chart is related to Taichuli (太初曆) of the Former Han dynasty (104 BCE).

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.621-634
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• 2009

We investigated the formation of Pochonka (Song of the Sky Pacers) and Chonmun yucho (Selected and classified writings on astrology) of the early Choson dynasty. We recognized that the songs in these books were deeply influenced by those in a Chinese book Tong-zhi published in 1161 A.D., based on the following facts; the contnts of both treatises are described in the same order; the first phrase of the song for Thai-wei-yuan has composed of five words rather than seven words; in particular, Choson's Pochonka has the song that describes the position of the Milky Way relative to asterisms, which was supplemented by the author Zheng Qiao. Since Tong-zhi were brought into Koryo in 1364 A.D., Choson's Pochonka must be formed after that time. In particular, compared with Chinese Pu-tien-ko, Choson's Pochonka stresses the colors of asterisms in order to represent the origin of each asterism with respect to the astronomers, Shih-shen, Kan-te, and Wu-Hsien. We also find that the star-charts in Pochonka and Chonsang-yolcha-punyajido (Chart of the asterisms and the regions they govern) published in the early Choson dynasty are significantly similar in names, number of stars, and shapes of asterisms in them. This fact means that the star-charts in Pochonka originated from either the parent chart of Chonsang-yolcha-punyajido or Chonsang-yolcha-punyajido itself. The parent rubbing was reappeared in 1392 A.D. and carved on stele in 1396 A.D., and so the publication of Pochonka can be dated back to A.D. 1392. Chonmun yucho is a book that was formed by footnoting Pochonka with astrological descriptions in Chinese treatises. The formation period of Chonmun yucho is estimated to be 1440-1450 A.D. from the facts such as the biographical survey of the author Yi Sunji. Furthermore, Pochonka was adopted as a textbook of the government service examination for the astronomy division in Soungwan or the Royal Bureau of Astronomy in 1430 A.D.. We inferred from these facts that Choson's Pochonka was formed between 1392 A.D. and 1430 A.D. as a part of establishment of the cultural and political foundation of the Choson dynasty by adopting the advanced system of the Song dynasty.