Japanese
The constellations changing seasonally have been used for fortune-telling in both the East and the West, especially in China, where people believed that the Lord of Heaven reigned over the universe and sent various astronomical phenomena as messages to the Emperor who reigned on the earth under the order of the Lord. 　　　Therefore, the Emperor was to read the messages from the Lord correctly and govern the country well based on them. 　　　Thus, the reading of messages was regarded as an important work in successive dynasties. Astronomical officers always monitored the sky, recorded every phenomenon to read fortunes, and reported them to the Emperor. 　　　Since the results of fortune-telling were immediately reflected in politics, the duty of astronomical officers was very important.
Ancient western people regarded the huge S-shaped constellation that twinkles in the south of the sky in summer the “Scorpion” which killed “Orion” in Greek myths. 　　　Ancient Chinese also took notice of a summer big constellation and a big bright star, called “Antares”. 　　　They named the four stars at the head of the Scorpion “the Room”, the three stars (Antares and its right and left stars) in the heart of the Scorpion “the Heart”, and the nine stars at its tail “the Tail”. They observed these constellations as follows.	Postage stamp of the Republic of Mldives 1974
房　The Chamber 　　　 　　　When the four stars of the Chamber are bright, a ruler of virtue will appear and politics will be corrected. 　　　When the fleet stars are bright and big, people will be modest. The fleet stars are to the right and to the left of the Chamber. 心　The Heart 　　　The middle star in the Heart represents the son of heaven. When it is bright, the country will become prosperous. 　　　The star in front represents the dauphin. When this star is dark, the dauphin will not be able to succeed to the throne. 　　　The star at the back represents an illegitimate prince. When this star is bright, it is the sign that the prince will succeed. 尾　The Tail 　　　 　　　When the nine stars of the Tail are all bright, the country will become wealthy. 　　　When they move, worrisome matters and a disastrous flood will occur in the country.
In 35-45° north latitude (to the North of the Kanto Region), the polar star and the Septentrions twinkle at the vertex throughout the year. On the other hand, the northern constellations do not appear at night during off-season, because they rotate in the daytime. 　　　This constellation map shows the view of the sky around 8 p.m. in mid-August. In the map, the polar star is located at the center. After sunset, Hydra (the Stretched Net, the Heart, and the Chamber) and Leo appear near the horizon. Constellations appear in the east of the sky, rise up to around the polar star, rotating clockwise, and disappear at dawn. 　　　They move counterclockwise through the year. The scorpion (the Tail, the Heart, and the Chamber) appears in the southern part of the sky in summer near the horizon. In winter, Orion twinkles as a typical constellation. The following maps show the views of the sky around 8 p.m. in four seasons. The stars shown lower in the figure are those seen in the southern part of the sky.