The Twenty-Eight Mansions ( Chinese : 二十八宿 ; pinyin : Èrshíbā Xiù ), also called xiu or hsiu , are part of the Chinese constellations system. They can be considered as the equivalent to the zodiacal constellations in Western astronomy , though the Twenty-eight Mansions reflect the movement of the Moon through a sidereal month rather than the Sun in a tropical year .
6-462: The lunar mansion system was in use in other parts of East Asia, such as ancient Japan; the Bansenshūkai , written by Fujibayashi Yasutake, mentions the system several times and includes an image of the twenty-eight mansions. A similar system, called nakshatra , is used in traditional Indian astronomy . Ancient Chinese astronomers divided the sky ecliptic into four regions, collectively known as
12-674: A long time. However, in June 2022, a manuscript of the second volume of Kanrinseiyō copied in 1748 was found. It was compiled by Fujibayashi Yasutake in 1676, in the early years of the Tokugawa shogunate , to preserve the knowledge that had been developed during the near-constant military conflict from the Ōnin War until the end of the Siege of Osaka almost 150 years later. As well as information on military strategy and weapons , it has sections on
18-515: The Four Symbols , each assigned a mysterious animal. They are Azure Dragon (青龍) on the east, Black Tortoise (玄武) on the north, White Tiger (白虎) on the west, and Vermilion Bird (朱雀) on the south. Each region contains seven mansions, making a total of 28 mansions. These mansions or xiù correspond to the longitudes along the ecliptic that the Moon crosses during its 27.32-day journey around
24-447: The Iga and Kōga regions that had been devoted to the training of ninja . Bansenshūkai summarizes the main points of the three volumes of the original Ninjutsu book Kanrinseiyō (間林清陽), and was written by selecting only those that fit the times. In the beginning of Bansenshūkai , the existence of the original text Kanrinseiyō was mentioned, but its existence had not been confirmed for
30-562: The astrological and philosophical beliefs of the times, and along with the Shōninki of 1681 and the Ninpiden of 1560 make up the three major sources of direct information about this shadowy profession. There is debate on whether it was written in Iga or Koga. Both regions used copies. But the consensus seems to be it was written in Iga based on the references to "a person in our region" being
36-460: The Earth and serve as a way to track the Moon's progress. In Taoism they are related to 28 Chinese generals. The names and determinative stars of the mansions are: ( Pinyin ) Bansensh%C5%ABkai Bansenshūkai ( 萬川集海 , Ten Thousand Rivers Flowing Together to form an Ocean ) (Also pronounced Mansenshukai) is a Japanese book containing a collection of knowledge from the clans in
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