Twenty-Eight Mansions

The twenty-eight mansions of the Chinese astronomy (east is on the left, north at the top)

The Twenty-Eight Mansions (Chinese: 二十八宿; pinyin: Èrshíbā Xiù), also called xiu[1] or hsiu, are part of the Chinese constellations system. They can be considered as the equivalent to the zodiacal constellations in Western astronomy, though the Twenty-eight Mansions reflect the movement of the Moon through a sidereal month rather than the Sun in a tropical year.

The lunar mansion system was in use in other parts of East Asia, such as ancient Japan; the Bansenshūkai, written by Fujibayashi Yasutake, mentions the system several times and includes an image of the twenty-eight mansions.[2]

A similar system, called nakshatra, is used in traditional Indian astronomy.[3]

  1. ^ Gary D. Thompson chapter 11-24 Archived 2011-01-26 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Bansenshukai 8". Archived from the original on 2010-06-01. Retrieved 2014-12-12.
  3. ^ CBETA T21 No. 1299《文殊師利菩薩及諸仙所說吉凶時日善惡宿曜經》卷1 Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine