A study in cross-cultural transmission of natural philosophy : the Kenkon Bensetsu / José Miguel Duarte Leite Pinto dos Santos.
Text in English, with sections in Japanese-English and Portuguese.
Abstract in English and Portuguese.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dissertação de Doutoramento em História dos Descobrimentos, 2011. Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
Includes bibliographical references.

KEYWORDS: Natural Philosophy, Aristotelianism, neo-Confucianism, Christianity in Japan, Heavens and Earth, Four Elements, Astronomy, Translation, 乾坤弁説

This work shows that the transmission of European natural philosophy by Christian missionaries in Japan during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was made in a systematic way, even if at an elementary level. The Kenkon Bensetsu is used as main evidence of this. This text was introduced into Japan by Antonio Rubino, on the orders of Inoue Masashige it was translated by Sawano Chuan, at the request of Kainosho Masanobu it was transliterated by Nishi Kichibei and Mukai Gensho, and this last one also wrote a commentary on its theories from a neo-Confucian perspective. The historical setting and the process that led to the production of the Kenkon Bensetsu are described. From this it is established that the Japanese of all walks of life were curious about the causes of natural phenomena; that the missionaries had the ability to provide those explanations, drawing from the pool of theories provided by sixteenth century Aristotelian natural philosophy, adjusted to the interests and talents of their audience; and that the Japanese authorities considered that these theories were important in some way and thus took the necessary steps to ensure that that they would not be consigned into oblivion as a consequence of their efforts to stamp out Christianity. The text is integrally translated following explicit criteria, therefore opening the way to further exploration by many researchers. Some of its most striking characteristics concerning content and style are analysed.

Local access dig.pdf. [Santos-Kenkon bensetsu.pdf]

Compendium catholicae veritatis / kanshū henshū Jōchi Daigaku Kirishitan Bunko 監修編集上智大学キリシタン文庫.
Colophon title.
"Compendium catholicae veritatis, in gratiam Iapponicorum fratrum Societatis Iesu, confectum per rdum. Patrem Petrum Gomezium Vice-Provincialem Societatis Iesu in provincia Iapponica"--Vol. 1, t.p.
Vol. 1: Reproduction of ms. copy of Compendia, a textbook for Jesuit College of Japan, prepared by P. Gómez in 1593-1594, presently in the Vatican Apostolic Library (Reg. Lat. 426)
Vol. 2: Reproduction of ms. copies of Japanese translation of Compendia, consists of three parts (pt. 1 separately translated in the late 17th century by Kobayashi Kentei 小林議貞 has title: Nigi ryakusetsu [二儀略說], handwritten copy in Kokuritsu Kōbunshokan collection ; pts. 2-3, handwritten translation finished in 1595 (now in the Magdalen College, University of Oxford).
Vol. 3: Commentaries in English and Japanese: Jesuit humanistic education in sixteenth-century Japan / M. Antoni Üçerler -- Compendia of the Jesuit College of Japan (in Japanese) ; A comparative table of contents for the Latin and Japanese MSS. / Satoru Obara 尾原悟.
Includes bibliographical references. Errata slip inserted in v. 3 (p. 54a).
1. Compendia -- 2. Iezusukai Nihon Korejiyo no Konpendiumu -- 3. Kaisetsu 解說 (Commentaries)

First vol. consists of facsim. of the original Latin ms., composed in 1593-4; second vol. consists of facsim. of the ms. of the original contemporary Japanese translation supervised by Pedro Ramon in 1595; third volume consists of "commentaries" (i.e. a critical introduction) in English and Japanese.

"The general title was taken from the first three words of the title of De theologia (the third part of the original in Latin), Compendium catholicae veritatis .... The original in Latin lacks a title page for the whole."--[Vol. 1], Introductory remarks.
"The present facsimile edition comprises three ... manuscripts, each reproduced in full in high quality photographs .... The works in question form a tripartite compendium of: (i) Western astronomy, cosmology, and meteorology; (ii) Aristotelian philosophy; and (iii) Post-Tridentine Roman Catholic theology. Sources show that the trilogy was specifically written in textbook form for the benefit of Japanese and European students preparing for the priesthood and was first used at the Jesuit College in Kawachinoura (in Amakusa, Western Kyushu)."--V. 3, p. 11.

Vol. 3 also in pdf [Compendium Catholicae Commentaries.pdf]

Qianxiang tushuo 乾象圖說 (Japanese mss. copy) / [Johann Adam Schall von Bell 湯若望]

See also:《明史·志第七十四　藝文三》：王應遴《乾象圖說》一卷，《中星圖》一卷

The Qianxiang tushuo 乾象圖說 (Illustrated Celestial Phenomena) is an undated manuscript by an anonymous Japanese copyist of a volume containing sections of the Chidao nanbei liang zongxing tu 赤道南北兩總星圖 (General Star Map of the Southern and Northern Hemispheres Divided by the Equator). The General Star Map is a rare star atlas made in Beijing by Fr. Johann Adam Schall von Bell, SJ under the overall direction of Paul Xu Guangqi in 1634. The star map is based on the Jesuit astronomer Christoph Grienberger's (1580-1636) work, Catalogus Veteres Affixarum Longitudines ac Latitudines Conferens cum Nouis (Rome, 1612). It is one of a collection of related works that became the Chongzhen lishu 崇禎曆書(Calendar Compendium of the Chongzhen Reign) presented from 1631-1635, near the end of the Ming dynasty.

The Chongzhen lishu 崇禎曆書 included works created before the Calendar Office existed, including the Yuanjing shuo 遠鏡說 (Explanation of the Telescope, 1626), a copy of which the Ricci Institute also has in Japanese manuscript copy.

The Qianxiang tushuo manuscript is a fanfold text (27 cm x 16.5 cm) in 24 folds displaying 48 pages, with illustrations covering two pages each, hence the use of fanfold binding to avoid bisecting the image at the fold. It is handwritten and drawn in ink, with punctuation and corrections in red. On the top cover in one corner is the character 水. The copyist carefully reproduces four instruments and ten celestial maps taken from panels on the full size Chidao nanbei liang zongxing tu in fine detail. The four instruments are:

1. Ecliptic Theodolite (Armillary) 黃道經緯儀
2. Equatorial Theodolite (Armillary) 赤道經緯儀
3. Azimuth instrument (Armillary) 地平經緯儀
4. Sextant 紀限儀

Following each instrument is an explanation of its function by Schall (no.1 & 3) or Wu Mingzhu 鄔明著 (no. 2 & 4)*

*Chinese term jingweiyi 經緯儀: D’Elia uses the modern name theodolite but the same three characters were used during the Ming-Qing dynasties for what Europeans would call an armillary or armillary sphere, after the Latin armilla, or “bracelet” which well-describes their appearance. 

The ten celestial maps (in order of appearance in the manuscript, not on the actual chart):

1. Map of the oppositions and conjunctions of Venus in [five] revolutions of the planet around the Sun 太白行天一周遲留伏逆諸行經圖
2. Map of [the variations] in latitude of Venus 太白緯圖
3. Map of the oppositions and conjunctions of Jupiter in one revolution of the planet around the Sun 歲星行天一周遲留伏逆諸行經圖
4. Map of [the variations] in latitude of Jupiter 歲星緯圖
5. Map of the oppositions and conjunctions of Mercury in [three] revolutions of the planet around the Sun 歲星行天一周遲留伏逆諸行經圖
6. Map [of the variations] in latitude of Mercury辰星緯圖
7. Map of the oppositions and conjunctions of Mars in [seven] revolutions of the planet around the Sun 榮惑行天一周遲留伏逆諸行經圖
8. Map of [the variations] in latitude of Mars 榮惑緯圖
9. Map of the oppositions and conjunctions of Saturn in one revolution of the planet around the Sun 填星行天一周遲留伏逆諸行經圖
10. Map of [the variations] in latitude of Saturn 填星緯圖

These ten circular diagrams trace the orbit of the five known planets: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn, and their variations in latitude over time. They reflect the use of the Tychonic geo-heliocentric system of the universe based on that of the 16th-century Danish scientist Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), a compromise between Ptolemaic geocentricism and the heliocentrism of Nicolaus Copernicus. In 1674 the Jesuit Astronomer Royal of the Qintianjian (Imperial Astronomical Bureau), Fr. Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J., also relied on Tycho’s designs when he was tasked with recasting and modifying the instruments that still exist today at the ancient observatory in Beijing.

The Qianxiang tushuo manuscript (under this title) is thus far not found elsewhere. The manuscript is meticulously crafted from a rare source, possibly produced in the 17^th century during a period of when Japanese astronomers needed to update their own calendar and astronomical tools, despite the prohibited source from which it was derived. This manuscript could only have been made by someone who had access to the original, or to an extremely detailed copy of it. The General Star Map itself is very large and rare and only a few copies are known to exist.

Sources:

Standaert, N. Handbook of Christianity in China, volume 1, 635-1800. Leiden, Brill, 2001.

D’Elia, Pasquale M. “The double stellar hemisphere of Johann Schall von Bell S.J. : (Peking 1634)” in Monumenta Serica, v. XVIII, 1959., p.328-359  

Hara, Mari Yoko. “The Double Hemisphere Star Atlas (1634): Empiricism, Technical Images, and Cross-Cultural Trust” (2019. Draft, Academia.edu)

Hashimoto Keizō 橋本敬造'Chidao nanbei liang zong xing du' to 'heng xing ping zhang'《赤道南北兩縂星圖》と《恆星屏障》in 新発現中国科学史資料の研究 vol. 2: 論考編, pp. 581-604.