• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2015

The National Foundation Day of Korea (개천절, 開天節) is currently celebrated on October 3 in Gregorian calendar. We review the history of dating the National Foundation Day of Korea and make a suggestion that it be celebrated on October 3 in the lunar calendar. We present numerous historical records on heaven-worship rites supporting the date October 3 in the lunar calendar. It is pointed out that October 3 in the solar calendar has been adopted in 1949 by the National Assembly with the thought that the lunar calendar is inferior and behind the times. The thought originates from misunderstanding on the value of the lunar calendar and from the ignorance of importance of history and tradition. Since there are now many national holidays that follow the lunar calendar, the logic of the National Assembly in 1949 also makes no sense. We emphasize that the lunar calendar should be followed for the National Foundation Day of Korea for its historical and symbolic characteristics restoration. We also investigate the year of the foundation of the first country of Korea, Dangun Joseon. It is found that even though the majority of the literature before late 15th century recorded the beginning year of Dangun Joseon dynasty to be equal to that of Liao Dynasty (堯), it was accidentally changed to the 25th year of Liao Dynasty in 1484 through a misinterpretation of the previous records. We claim that the beginning year of Dangun Joseon should be set to that of Liao Dynasty as recorded in the original literature in the earlier days. According to the two main opinions accepted by Korea, the beginning year of Liao Dynasty was 2357 B.C. or 2333 B.C., which correspond to the year of Gap-Jin (the 41st year of the sexagenary cycle) or Mu-Jin (the 4th year of the sexagenary cycle), respectively.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.138.2-138.2
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• 2011

Astronomical data such as calendar day and time of rising/setting of the sun and onset of twilight are essential in our daily lives. Knowing the calendar day of the past is particularly crucial for studying the history of a clan or a nation. To verify previous studies on the calendar day of the Joseon dynasty (1392 - 1910), we also investigated the sexagenary cycle of the new moon day (i.e., the first day in a lunar month) using different sources: results of the calculation by the Datong calendar (a Chinese Calendar of the Ming Dynasty) and data of Baekjungryeok (a Perpetual Calendar - literally, a one hundred-year almanac). Compared with the study of Ahn et al., we have found that as many as 17 sexagenary cycles show discrepancies. In the case of nine discrepancies, we found that the sexagenary cycles of this study are identical to those of the almanacs at that time. In addition, we study six sexagenary cycles by using the historical accounts of Joseon Wangjo Sillok (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), Seungjeongwon Ilgi (Daily Records of Royal Secretariat), Chungung Ilgi (Logs of Crown Prince), and so forth. We present historical materials supporting the results of this study for the remainder. In conclusion, we think that this study will greatly contribute to the comparison between luni-solar calendar days during the Joseon dynasty and those in the modern (i.e., Gregorian) calendar.