Forum for Shusaku

About the age difference. [#1567]

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fractic: About the age difference. (2008-10-07 02:45) [#5124]

In Shusaku's day ages where calculated differently then our modern way. A child starts at age one in that counting and ages a year at new-year rather then at eir birthday. It's hardly used in modern Japan allthough it's still common in Korea.

By this old count Shusaku would have been 34 when he died. But all the other ages on the page are in the modern style. I don't really care which is used on the page as long as it's consistent and clear.

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PeterHB: Okay, allow community to decide (2008-10-07 03:00) [#5126]

Okay.

I have no idea whether 33 or 34 is correct. I just didn't want an error creeping in as a minor edit. It could have been a subtle bit of vandalism, but I wasn't sure. Now that you've clarified your good intentions I'll leave it to you to change to 34 and the general community of Sensei's editors to decide what's right.

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fractic: Re: Okay, allow community to decide (2008-10-07 03:01) [#5127]

I didn't make the original change.

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PeterHB: Perhaps we could use 'Invincible' as a reference point (2008-10-07 03:28) [#5128]

My copy of Invincible, translated by John Power, is packed away in the attic at the moment, but perhaps we could use that as a reference? I think John Power could be treated as a respected authority and thus just quote which ever age he states in Invincible. Perhaps someone could look it up please?

As 33 is consistent with the modern dating style, the rest of the page, and was present on the page for 4 years without challenge, and matches simplistic arithmetic, I am inclined to think 33 is the right age to quote. Perhaps the person who made the change to 34, IP address 75.187.249.35 , could state their reasoning?

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158.152.128.93: Correct dates (2008-10-07 11:00) [#5129]

John F. Any argument about age can be settled most easily by giving dates, but the base page is wrong about Shusaku's death.

In lunar year terms, Shusaku's life was 1829-V-05 ~ 1862-VIII-10 (using the convention of Roman numerals for lunar months), In modern terms that is 1829-06-06 ~ 1862-9-07.

As regards the age in years, scholars in English usually make it plain which is meant by saying "34 by the Orientsl count" or similar.

 
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