Tenmon Bunya no Zu by Shibukawa Shunkai in 1677

born as Yasui Santetsu (), later called Motoi Santetsu (), was a Japanese scholar, go player and the first official

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

appointed of the

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

period. He revised the Chinese

lunisolar calendar A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, that combines monthly lunar cycles with the solar year. As with all calendars which divide the year into months, there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of mont ...

at the shogunate request, drawing up the

Jōkyō calendar The was a Japanese lunisolar calendar, in use from 1684 to 1753.Nussbaum"''Jōkyō-reki''"at p. 431"''Teikyō-reki''"at p. 431 It was officially adopted in 1685.Orchiston, Wayne ''et al.'' (2011)''Highlighting the History of Astronomy in the Asi ...

which was issued in 1684 during the

Jōkyō was a after ''Tenna'' and before ''Genroku.'' This period spanned the years from February 1684 through September 1688. The reigning emperors were and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'' p. 415./ref> Change of era * ...

era. In 1702, he changed his name to ''Shibukawa Sukezaemon Shunkai'' and retired by 1711. As a go player, he was affiliated with the Yasui house, calling himself initially (after his father) Yasui Santetsu II. He is mentioned as a Tengen player in Yamashita Keigo's book: ''Challenging Tengen''. Shibukawa Shunkai (as Yasui Santetsu) is the central character in the 2012 film '' Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer'' by

Yōjirō Takita Yōjirō Takita (滝田洋二郎 ''Takita Yōjirō'', born December 4, 1955) is a Japanese filmmaker. Takita received an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for his 2008 drama '' Departures''. It marked the first time a Japanese film won the aw ...

Notes

1639 births 1715 deaths 18th-century Japanese astronomers Science and technology during the Edo period 17th-century Japanese astronomers Japanese Go players 17th-century Go players Globe makers {{japan-astronomer-stub