Japanese clock
The Japanese clock is a device made to tell the time according to Japanese tradition.[1]
These clocks were introduced to Japan via Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century.[1]
In 1612, the clockmaker of Philip II of Spain created a working timepiece which became a gift for Tokugawa Ieyasu.[1]
One of the major features of the Japanese clock is that it has a mechanism for measuring unequal temporal hours. Usual clock tells hours at same intervals, but in the Japanese traditional timekeeping practice, a day had six daytime units from sunrise to sunset and six night units from sunset to sunrise. Then the Japanese clock was designed to adapt to this practice.[2]
Japanese Clock Media
- Le Musée Paul Dupuy - Horloge japonaise à double foliot (Wadokei) - Période Edo.jpg
Two separate foliot balances allow this 18th-century Japanese clock to run at two different speeds to indicate unequal hours.
- Myriad-Year Clock, made by Hisashige Tanaka, 1851, with western and Japanese dials, weekly, monthly, and zodiac setting, plus sun and moon - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo - DSC07407.JPG
Tanaka Hisashige's man-nen dokei (万年時計). Completed in 1851.
- ClockMecanism.JPG
Drawing of the mechanism of a Japanese clock. Karakuri Zui, 1796.
- 1851Wadokei.JPG
Tanaka Hisashige's 1851 myriad year clock displays Japanese, equal hour, and calendar information.
- China 24 cardinal directions.svg
The traditional Chinese 12 Earthly Branches and 24 Cardinal Directions; the 12 Earthly Branches are the basis for the zodiacal assignments of the Japanese hours.
- Lanternclock.JPG
European lantern clocks such as this one were the starting point for the design of Japanese clocks.
- Japanese Lantern Clock.jpg
Nichō tenpu yagura-dokei (lantern clock with a double foliot mechanism)
- Japanese clocks National Museum of Nature and Science.jpg
Left: Makura-dokei (pillow clock) with music box. Right: Dai-dokei (pedestal clock) with circular balance.
- Tsurigane-Dokei.jpg
Tsurigane-dokei (hanging bell-shaped clock)
- Taiko-dokei.jpg
Taiko-dokei. Japanese clocks. Exhibition in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Clocks" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 132.
- ↑ Shibayama, Miyuki. "～和時計の暮らし～". Archived from the original on 2016-04-05. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
