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Article ID: CBB624680133

[Discovery of an Octagonal Tube Telescope Designed by Zenbei Iwahashi] 岩橋善兵衛の八稜筒形望遠鏡の発見 (2018)

Kunihisa 訓久 Kubamoto 株本 (Author)

科学史研究 Kagakusi Kenkyu (History of Science)
Volume: 57
Issue: 285
Pages: 20-36
Publication date: 2018
Language: Japanese

DOI: 10.34336/jhsj.57.285_20

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the octagonal tube telescope designed by Zenbei Iwahashi (1756–1811) that was discovered by the author, and to evaluate it from a historical perspective. Z. Iwahashi was one of the most famous Japanese telescope makers in the Edo period. In 1793, he completed the first octagonal tube telescope, and organized a stargazing party at Nankei Tachibana’s house. Z. Iwahashi made many high-performance telescopes after this event, and provided some of them to Tadataka Inou, the well-known land surveyor and cartographer. The octagonal tube telescope investigated in this study was printed with Iwahashi’s original pattern “Iwahashi kuruma gata moyo ( 岩橋車形模様 )”； this was thought of as evidence that the telescope had been designed by his family. Moreover, Iwahashi’s name was engraved on the eyepiece and branded on the diaphragm of the telescope. Given this evidence, the author concluded that this telescope was produced by Iwahashi’s family, and compared its features with their “Ikkanbari ( 一閑張 )” telescopes. It was found that the features of this telescope were similar to those of the telescopes collected by Imizu City Shinminato Museum and by Kaizuka City Zenbei Land. The author also concludes that this octagonal tube telescope was designed by Z. Iwahashi between the Kansei ( 寛政 ) 12 (1800) to Bunka ( 文化 ) 5 (1808) eras, and that the manufacturing technique of this telescope occupies quite an important position in the development of telescope making by Z. Iwahashi.

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