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"Wasan" geometry
or traditional Japanese mathematics
flourished under the Tokugawa
shogunate around the Edo period
and expressed itself in a unique
way through mathematical votive
pictures called San Gaku, written
in formal Sino-Japanese language
and displayed in temples and
public places.
Beautiful wooden tablets of many
sizes and shapes would outline
in pleasant and colorful way mathematical
problems mostly left for the viewer
to solve. This tradition slowly
disappeared and today less than
a thousand Sangaku have survived
abandon or destruction.
In Dr. Fukagawa and D. Pedoe own words:
During
the greater part of the Edo
period (1603-1867) Japan was
almost completely cut off from
the western world. Books on
mathematics, if they entered
Japan at all, must have been
scarce, and yet, during this
long period of isolation people
of all social classes, from
farmers to samurai, produced
theorems in Euclidean geometry
which are remarkably different
from those produced in the
west during the centuries of
schism, and sometimes anticipated
these theorems by many years..
These theorems were not published in
books, but appeared as beautifully coloured drawings on
wooden tablets which were hung under the roof in the precincts
of a shrine or temple.
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The following is an extended series of variations on Sangaku problems - a tribute to mathematicians and artists alike who graced the walls of many temples in eighteenth century Japan. This work would not have been made possible without the interest and dedication of mathematicians Dr. Fukagawa, Pedoe, Rothman, Kotera and the many other who provided inspiration, guidance and support throughout this adventure.
Jean Constant
Santa Fe, 6-2007
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