Publication Title

Historia Mathematica

Document Type

Article

Department or Program

Mathematics

Publication Date

11-1-2022

Keywords

Sangaku, Wasan, Yamaguchi Kanzan

Abstract

In the preamble of the 1818 sangaku tablet of Sugino'o Shrine, the proposers acknowledged the help of an unnamed teacher/master in understanding and solving certain mathematical problems. Endō Tadashi argued that this unnamed teacher could be Saitō Naonaka (1773-1844). In this paper, we examine the famous travel diary of Yamaguchi Kanzan (?-1850) especially on his second trip to the Northeast. We compare the content of Yamaguchi's diary with the three problems of Sugino'o's tablet. Together with the timing of Yamaguchi's travel, we conclude that Yamaguchi Kanzan was likely the unnamed master mentioned in the preface of the Sugino'o Shrine sangaku.

Copyright Note

This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Bates College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.

Required Publisher's Statement

Original version is available from the publisher at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2022.01.007

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