Introduction to Stars of Asia
for Readers
Let us look up into the clear night sky. Countless stars shine for everyone, in every place on Earth. We human beings have held feelings of awe, gratitude, and wonder for the stars that move in the sky in order, for the luminous moon that waxes and wanes forever, and for the Mother Sun that radiates warm light for all beings. Where does the sun come from each morning and where does it go each evening? What is the faint pattern on the moon's surface? Why do the stars shine in the sky? How did this wonderful world come into being? Such human curiosity and imagination, which have been the driving force behind the construction of modern sciences, have also brought a variety of myths and legends about the stars and the universe into our culture. Regrettably, however, planetarium lectures and school textbooks on constellations and celestial bodies in most Asian countries are mostly based on Greek and Roman legends, regardless of the rich local culture of stars and the universe. For example, the "7th of July Legend", based on the ancient love story of Vega and Altair, is widely known in China, Korea, and Japan. However, this love story of two bright stars separated by the Milky Way is unknown in other parts of Asia. On the other hand, people in East and North Asia are unfamiliar with the attractive story of Rahu, a devil's head that eats the sun and the moon, which is very popular in the Hindu cultures of South Asia. Such stories reflect the rich local culture, tradition, and history of each area, but most of them remain local and unknown to nations in other areas of Asia. If we could collect them, edit them, and publish them widely as attractive books, the joy, and excitement of such star stories could be well shared with Asian and other nations through planetarium lectures, school textbooks, and even at home. Moreover, such a publication would be a good opportunity for Asian children and people to learn about different cultures and traditions in Asia, as well as different ideas and thoughts about the world in which we live.
We started the "Stars of Asia" project in 2008 as an East Asian cooperation activity of IYA2009 (International Year of Astronomy 2009), organized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), UNESCO, and the UN. The project plan was proposed by Prof. Norio Kaifu at the 10th APRIM (Asia-Pacific Regional IAU Meeting) held in Kunming, China in August 2008. Based on the mutual understanding gained through the open discussion at APRIM, we held the "Stars of Asia" workshop from 11 to 13 May 2009 at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo, to bring together their local myths/legends. There were about 60 participants from 14 Asian countries/regions: Bangladesh, China Beijing, China Hong Kong, China Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Pacific Islands. About 70 myths/legends related to the stars and the universe were reported. Based on the collected stories, we made the book "Stars of Asia" in the Japanese version (https://www.hanmoto.com/bd/isbn/9784860500726, no longer available). We tried to include as many drawings as possible to give readers a taste of culture and tradition. For this purpose, all the drawings in the book were done by painters from the countries/regions that provided the corresponding stories.
The Stars of Asia book has been prepared mainly for adults (parents, teachers, lecturers, and the general public), but it is also suitable for children. We would like to emphasize that through the stories in this book, we can see both the flow of cultures and the development of cultures in individual regions of Asia. Such a feeling could be a basis for a better understanding of the world, especially for children. We, the members of the Stars of Asia project, wish that as many people in Asia and the world as possible will enjoy this book.
We are deeply indebted to a number of ordinary citizens who donated to the IAY 2009 Committee of Japan to support the "Stars of Asia" project. We are grateful to the Japan Foundation for Promotion of Astronomy, the Society for Education of the Open University of Japan, and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan for their valuable financial support.
The members of the "Stars of Asia" Editorial Board and Secretariat in Japan, who worked hard to make this project a reality, are listed below. We are also grateful to Dr. Mayank N. Vahia, Jayant V. Narlikar, and Liu Chai-Pin for their personal support. We are grateful to Suzanne Frayser, Teresa Galvin, Noriko Kakita, and Mitsuko Kawamoto for their careful grammatical and syntactical checking of the English version. Finally, we would like to express our deep gratitude to so many people, too numerous to mention, without whom this project would not have come to this stage.
Editorial Board Members: Akira Goto (Polynesia), Norio Kaifu (Japan): Chair, Yong Bok Lee (Korea), Sze-leung Cheung (Hong Kong), Yi-nan Chin (Taiwan) Dulmaa Altangerel (Mongolia), Quynh Ngoc Loung (Vietnam), Noriah Mohamed (Malaysia), Widya Sawitar (Indonesia), Siramas Komonjinda (Thailand), F.R. Sarker (Bangledesh), Jayanta Acharya (Nepal), Leena Damle (India)
Stars of Asia Secretariat: Fumi Yoshida, Tsuguto Kazu, Kentaro Yaji
Stars of Asia Working group: Fumi Yoshida, Tsuguto Kazu, Kentaro Yaji, Koichi Kitao, Masami Furuya, Akira Goto, Takeshi Miyaji, Takao Ibaraki, Nobuhiko Kusakabe, Sio Kawagoe, Mitsuru Urushihata, Asami Takumi