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35-414: The phenomenon occurs several kilometers out from the shore in open water. First, one or two flames (called "oyabi" (親火, lit. "parent-fire")) will appear. These will split off to the left and right and multiply, eventually producing anywhere from several hundred to several thousand flames in a row. They are said to span four to eight kilometers. It is believed that the greatest number of shiranui can be seen at

70-663: A mudflat and sudden radiative cooling , and overlapping with the land formation at the Yatsushiro Sea and the Ariake Sea , the lights of the boats that would depart to get the fish of the tidelands would get refracted. This theory is seen as having merit even in the modern era, and Miyanishi Machika, of the high industries of Kumoto and a professor from the Hiroshima Higher Technical School, researched this as his specialty. According to him,

105-572: A fictitious figure of Empress Jingū to replace her. Many records in the Nihon Shoki show clear signs of taking records from other sources but shifting the dates. An example is the records of events during Jingū and Ōjin's reigns, where most seem to have a calendrical shift of exactly two cycles of the sexagenary cycle, or 120 years. Not all records in the Nihon Shoki are consistently shifted according to this pattern, making it difficult to know which dates are accurate. For example, according to

140-512: Is a synthesis of older documents, specifically on the records that had been continuously kept in the Yamato court since the sixth century. It also includes documents and folklore submitted by clans serving the court. Prior to Nihon Shoki , there were Tennōki and Kokki compiled by Prince Shōtoku and Soga no Umako , but as they were stored in Soga's residence, they were burned at the time of

175-429: Is a very complex distribution of heated air lumps and cold air lumps which constantly change. Light from distant sources repeatedly fluctuates, and either increases or decreases or disappears. In some cases, light is split. These changes appear to the observer changing greatly and irregularly. Under the same conditions, Shiranui may appear in other seasons. Nowadays, the tidal flats are all filled up, lightbulbs illuminate

210-438: Is believed to record accurately the latter reigns of Emperor Tenji , Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō . The Nihon Shoki focuses on the merits of the virtuous rulers as well as the errors of the bad rulers. It describes episodes from mythological eras and diplomatic contacts with other countries. The Nihon Shoki was written in classical Chinese , as was common for official documents at that time. The Kojiki , on

245-615: The Hizen no Kuni Fudoki , and the "Higo no Kuni Fudoki", when Emperor Keiko conquered Kumamoto in southern Kyushu, they advanced using the shiranui as a landmark. In his journey to expand the Yamato Ōken , he saw inexplicable spots of moving fire, shiranui, in the Ariake Sea and the Yatsushiro Sea (also called the Shiranui Sea). When he told local gozoku about these sightings, the gozoku replied that they did not know of this fire. It

280-690: The Isshi Incident . The work's contributors refer to various sources which do not exist today. Among those sources, three Baekje documents ( Kudara-ki , etc.) are cited mainly for the purpose of recording diplomatic affairs. Textual criticism shows that scholars fleeing the destruction of the Baekje to Yamato wrote these histories and the authors of the Nihon Shoki heavily relied upon those sources. This must be taken into account in relation to statements referring to old historic rivalries between

315-779: The Iwanami Shoten Publishing company. He joined the Central Meteorological Observatory (current Japan Meteorological Agency ) in 1909 after completing undergraduate studies in theoretical physics at Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo ). Fujiwhara earned his doctorate in 1915 through his research work on the abnormal propagation of sound waves, and earned the Japan Academy Prize in 1920 in recognition of his research. He traveled to Norway in

350-569: The Song Shu, the Wa paid tribute to Liu Song dynasty in 421, and until 502 (Liu Song ended in 479), five monarchs sought to be recognized as Kings of Wa . However, the Nihon Shoki only shows three successive emperors in this time period; Emperor Ingyō , Ankō , and Yūryaku . Nihon Shoki 's records of events regarding Baekje after Emperor Yūryaku start matching with Baekje records, however. The lifetimes of those monarchs themselves, especially for

385-576: The Buddhist monk Gwalleuk of Baekje . For the eight emperors of Chapter 4, only the years of birth and reign, year of naming as Crown Prince, names of consorts, and locations of tomb are recorded. They are called the Kesshi Hachidai (" 欠史八代 , "eight generations lacking history") because no legends (or a few, as quoted in Nihon Ōdai Ichiran ) are associated with them. Some studies support

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420-489: The Emperors Jingū , Ōjin , and Nintoku , have been exaggerated. Their lengths of reign are likely to have been extended or synthesized with others' reigns, in order to make the origins of the imperial family sufficiently ancient to satisfy numerological expectations. It is widely believed that the epoch of 660 BCE was chosen because it is a "xīn-yǒu" year in the sexagenary cycle , which according to Taoist beliefs

455-482: The Gulf of Shimabara , (near Ariake Sea ), Japan, has been famed for Shiranui, the unknown fire, which appears from time to time. The phenomenon occurs twice a year, about 30 September and 24 February, from some time after midnight until the approach of dawn. Sometime the light is a large ball of fire rising from the surface of the sea to a height of 60 feet; sometimes it is a line of pale red, fiery globes drifting and down

490-628: The Sinicized court wanted written history that could be compared with the annals of the Chinese. The Nihon Shoki begins with the Japanese creation myth , explaining the origin of the world and the first seven generations of divine beings (starting with Kuninotokotachi ), and goes on with a number of myths as does the Kojiki , but continues its account through to events of the 8th century. It

525-411: The ancient Korean kingdoms of Silla , Goguryeo , and Baekje . Some other sources are cited anonymously as aru fumi ( 一書 ; "some document"), in order to keep alternative records for specific incidents. Most emperors reigning between the 1st and 4th century have reigns longer than 70 years, and aged 100. This could be due to the writers' attempt to overwrite the history of Himiko , and fabricate

560-440: The compilation of the Nihon Shoki is that Emperor Tenmu ordered 12 people, including Prince Kawashima, to edit the old history of the empire. Shoku Nihongi notes that " 先是一品舍人親王奉勅修日本紀。至是功成奏上。紀卅卷系圖一卷 " in the part of May 720. It means "Up to that time, Prince Toneri had been compiling Nihongi on the orders of the emperor; he completed it, submitting 30 volumes of history and one volume of genealogy". The Nihon Shoki

595-462: The darkness of the night, and the seawater has become polluted making it difficult to see these shiranui. Nihon Shoki The Nihon Shoki ( 日本書紀 ) , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan , is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history . The book is also called the Nihongi ( 日本紀 , "Japanese Chronicles") . It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki ,

630-545: The development of the fire balloon during the Pacific War , and was purged from his position after the conclusion of the war. He retreated to the countryside afterwards to concentrate on his writing, and devoted his efforts to educating the future generation of meteorologists and researching meteorological phenomena such as vortices, clouds and atmospheric optics. He also spearheaded the study of gliders in Japan, and became

665-592: The famous anecdote of "Luck of the Sea and Luck of the Mountains" ( Hoderi and Hoori ) found in Nihon Shoki . The later developed Urashima tale contains the Rip Van Winkle motif, so some may consider it an early example of fictional time travel . Sakuhei Fujiwhara Sakuhei Fujiwhara ( 藤原 咲平 , Fujiwara Sakuhei , October 29, 1884 – September 22, 1950) was a Japanese meteorologist who became

700-403: The light source of Shiranui was that of fishing boats. Large tideland forms lumps of air of different temperatures on special days, and by the voltex movement of air lumps, the light appears as deformed fluctuation in images of light. Tairi Yamashita, Professor at Kumamoto University, made extensive studies of Shiranui using modern instruments with the assistance of students. He concluded that there

735-461: The lowest tide, within two hours of 3:00AM. They are said to be invisible from the water's surface and visible up to ten meters above the surface. If one attempts to approach them, they will appear to get farther away. They were formerly believed to be the lamps of the Dragon God, and nearby fishing villages would prohibit fishing on days when shiranui were seen. According to the Nihon Shoki ,

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770-503: The namesake for the Fujiwhara effect . Novelist Jirō Nitta is his nephew and mathematician Masahiko Fujiwara is his grandnephew. Born in the city of Suwa , Nagano Prefecture , Fujiwhara received his primary education at Takashima Common Elementary School and Suwa Higher Elementary School, where he was in the same class as future army general, Tetsuzan Nagata . He was also close friends with Shigeo Iwanami , who would go on to found

805-421: The oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical record of ancient Japan . The Nihon Shoki was finished in 720 under the editorial supervision of Prince Toneri with the assistance of Ō no Yasumaro and presented to Empress Genshō . The book is also a reflection of Chinese influence on Japanese civilization. In Japan,

840-608: The other hand, is written in a combination of Chinese and phonetic transcription of Japanese (primarily for names and songs). The Nihon Shoki also contains numerous transliteration notes telling the reader how words were pronounced in Japanese. Collectively, the stories in this book and the Kojiki are referred to as the Kiki stories. The first translation was completed by William George Aston in 1896 (English). The background of

875-521: The possibility that they are from noctiluca . Tairi Yamashita, Professor at Kumamoto University, made extensive studies of Shiranui using modern instruments with the assistance of students. He concluded that "Shiranui is an optical phenomenon resulting from light going through the complicated distributions of clumps of air with different temperatures and getting refracted. Therefore, the source of these lights are fires from private houses and fires used for luring fish, and so on. When these conditions are met,

910-696: The same kind of phenomenon can be seen in other places and days. For example, road mirages , mirages in general, and heat shimmer are the same type of phenomena. Also, Nobuyuki Marume, in the collection of essays, "Shiranui," published many photographs under the title "Changes of Shiranui with the Passage of Time from Shiranui Town towards the Direction of Amura." Machika Miyanishi, professor of Kumamoto Higher Technical School and Hiroshima Higher Technical School, made extensive scientific studies and wrote eight papers, including two English papers. His conclusion was:

945-639: The same year to study meteorology under Vilhelm Bjerknes . He joined the Central Institution for the Training of Meteorologists (current Meteorological College of Japan ) as general director after returning to Japan in 1922. He started his tenure as a professor at Tokyo Imperial University in 1924, and succeeded Takematsu Okada as the fifth director of the Japan Meteorological Agency in 1941. Fujiwhara participated in

980-540: The seashore, but it was not sure since it was very dark. At first, one or two spots of fire appear late at night. This is named oya-dama or father fire. Then, the distance between the fires becomes longer, and subsequently, spots of fires appear and disappear as time goes by, and late at night it may become continuous. The lights appear like stars . At dawn, they disappear. When rain and strong wind come, Shiranui does not appear. Many people watch Shiranui from mountains, and they enjoy drinking sake there. From time immemorial,

1015-410: The shiranui are fires for luring fish at night ( isaribi ), their flickering and their alliance and rupture, helped with optical illusions , results in it being seen as mysterious flames. The meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara wrote Atmospheric Light Phenomena in 1933, but in it, he wrote that he did not know the cause of shiranui, and due to some who profited from delighting sightseers, he pointed out

1050-450: The tide. In the Taishō era , Shiranui attracted the attention of many people, including scholars and newspapermen, who attempted to explain the phenomenon scientifically, and have been explained as a type of mirage . There was a large scale investigation with two ships and more than 50 people in the Ariake Sea in 1916. However, they reported conflicting data and no scientific clarification

1085-461: The traditional founding of the imperial dynasty in 660 BCE is a myth and that the first nine emperors are legendary. This does not necessarily imply that the persons referred to did not exist, merely that there is insufficient material available for further verification and study. Dates in the Nihon Shoki before the late 7th century were likely recorded using the Genka calendar system brought by

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1120-567: The view that these emperors were invented to push Jimmu's reign further back to the year 660 BCE. Nihon Shoki itself somewhat elevates the "tenth" emperor Sujin , recording that he was called the Hatsu-Kuni-Shirasu (" 御肇国 : first nation-ruling) emperor. The tale of Urashima Tarō is developed from the brief mention in Nihon Shoki ( Emperor Yūryaku Year 22) that a certain child of Urashima visited Horaisan and saw wonders. The later tale has plainly incorporated elements from

1155-434: Was an appropriate year for a revolution to take place. As Taoist theory also groups together 21 sexagenary cycles into one unit of time, it is assumed that the compilers of Nihon Shoki assigned the year 601 (a "xīn-yǒu" year in which Prince Shotoku's reformation took place) as a "modern revolution" year, and consequently recorded 660 BCE, 1260 years prior to that year, as the founding epoch. Most modern scholars agree that

1190-459: Was reached. According to one theory from the Shōwa era by Machika Miyanishi, professor of Kumamoto Higher Technical School and Hiroshima Higher Technical School, who made extensive scientific studies and wrote eight papers, including two English papers, the time when shiranui appear is the time when the temperature of the sea is the greatest in the year, and the tide would sink about 6 meters, resulting in

1225-518: Was thus named "shiranu hi" ("unknown fire," which eventually was slurred into "shiranui"), and the area was named Hi Province ( 火国 or 肥国 , Hi no kuni , "Land of Fire," or "Kingdom of Fire") , now known as Kumamoto Prefecture . In 1835, Nakashima Hiroashi wrote a book entitled On the Shiranui : Many people gather to witness Shiranui even from remote areas. I myself watched Shiranui many times. The Shiranui appears 8 to 12 kilometers distant from

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