Kurushima Kinai

Kurushima Kinai (久留島 喜内, died January 9, 1757),^[1] also known as Kurushima Yoshita^[2] and Kurushima Yoshihiro (久留島 義太),^[3] was a Japanese mathematician in the Edo period.^[4]

The Japanese board game of shogi attracted Kurushima's interest; and he was recognized in his own time as a master player.^[5] Among shogi players, he continues today to be well known for seven "puzzle ring" gambits with subsequent sequenced maneuvers—including the "silver puzzle ring."^[6]

In his lifetime, he was recognized among the most prominent intellectuals. His mathematical gift was highly esteemed.^[7] Kurushima, like most of his contemporaries, was very interested in the mathematical problems involved in "magic squares."^[8]

Selected works

Kurushima's published writings are few.^[3]

• Kurushima kyokusū (久留島極数) OCLC 033747221
• Kyūshi ikō. 1 (久氏遺稿. 天之卷) OCLC 033745707
• Kyūshi ikō. 2 (久氏遺稿. 地之卷) OCLC 033746085
• Heihō reiyaku no jutsu (平方零約之術) OCLC 033745451

See also

• Sangaku, the custom of presenting mathematical problems, carved in wood tablets, to the public in shinto shrines
• Soroban, a Japanese abacus
• Japanese mathematics (wasan)

Notes

1. 久留島喜内 -- Chiba University, Dept. of Mathematics and Infomatics
2. List of Japanese mathematicians -- Clark University, Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science
3. WorldCat Identities: 久留島義太 -1757
4. Smith, David. (1914). A History of Japanese Mathematics, p. 176. , p. 176, at Google Books
5. Shogi, "Famous Mate Problems" -- #62, #63, #68, #69, #79
6. La Revue de l'Association Française de Shogi, Juillet 1998, Numéro 19, p. 4.
7. Smith, p. 166. , p. 166, at Google Books
8. Michiwaka, Yoshimasa. (1997). "Magic Squares in Japanese Mathematics," Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, p. 539. , p. 539, at Google Books

References

• Endō Toshisada (1896). History of mathematics in Japan (日本數學史史 Dai Nihon sūgakush). Tōkyō: _____. OCLC 122770600
• Selin, Helaine. (1997). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Dordrecht: Kluwer/Springer. ISBN 9780792340669; OCLC 186451909
• David Eugene Smith and Yoshio Mikami. (1914). A History of Japanese Mathematics. Chicago: Open Court Publishing. OCLC 1515528 -- note alternate online, full-text copy at archive.org

External links

• Shogi, Kuroshima's "Silver Puzzle Ring" gambit