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A is a mechanical clock that has been made to tell traditional Japanese time. Mechanical clocks were introduced into Japan by Jesuit missionaries or Dutch merchants in the 16th century. These clocks were of the lantern clock design, typically made of brass or iron, and used the relatively primitive verge and foliot escapement. Tokugawa Ieyasu owned a lantern clock of European manufacture. Neither the pendulum nor the balance spring were in use among European clocks of the period, and as such they were not included among the technologies available to the Japanese clockmakers at the start of the isolationist period in Japanese history, which began in 1641. The isolationist period meant that Japanese clockmakers would have to find their own way without significant further inputs from Western developments in clockmaking. Nevertheless, the Japanese clockmakers showed considerable ingenuity in adapting the European mechanical clock technology to the needs of traditional Japanese timekeeping. ==History== Clocks have existed in Japan since the mid-7th century in the form of water clocks.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 176.〕 Nihon Shoki states that Emperor Tenchi made a water clock, or rokoku, in 660 and 671 A.D.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 176.〕 These clocks were used for another 800 years until the arrival of Christianity in Japan in the 16th century. Christian missionaries were among the first to introduce Japan to Western-styled clocks. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Society of Jesus saint and missionary, gave Ouchi Yoshitaka, a daimyo of Sengoku, a mechanical clock in 1551 A.D.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 177.〕 Other missionaries and embassies soon followed, with a mechanized clock being given to Oda Nobunga in 1569 and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1571 by Papal envoys, and two clocks given to Tokugawa Ieyasu, one in 1606 by a missionary and one in 1611 by a Portuguese envoy.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 177.〕 The oldest surviving Western clock in Japan dates back to 1612; it was given to Shogun Ieyasu by the viceroy of Mexico (then New Spain).〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 177.〕 Near the turn of the 17th century, the first Western-styled, mechanical clocks were produced by Japanese natives. Tsuda Sukezaemon is reported to have made a mechanical clock in 1598 after he had examined and repaired many imported clocks on his own.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 177.〕 Japanese clock making was facilitated in the 17th century by missionaries living in Japan.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 177.〕 Christian missionaries were the first to instruct the Japanese on clock making on Amakusa Island around the turn of the 17th century.〔("History of the Japanese Horological Industry." ) History of the Japanese Horological Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. Section 1.〕 The Edo period (1603-1868) saw the adaptation of Western techniques to form a unique method of clock making in Japan. A double escapement was designed by Japanese clock makers in order to develop a clock that followed the uneven, traditional Japanese time schedule.〔Pacey, Arnold. Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-year History. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1990. Page 88.〕 These clocks, called wadokei, were built with different methods in order to follow the temporal hour system. The foliots of the clocks have several divisions allowing the user to set a relatively accurate rate.〔Fernandez, M. P., and P. C. Fernandez. 1996. "Precision Timekeepers of Tokugawa Japan and the Evolution of the Japanese Domestic Clock". TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE. 37 (2), 223.〕 Foliot-controlled clocks, despite being widely replaced in Europe by circular-balanced clocks, were utilized in Japan due to their adaptability to the temporal hour system.〔Fernandez, M. P., and P. C. Fernandez. 1996. "Precision Timekeepers of Tokugawa Japan and the Evolution of the Japanese Domestic Clock". TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE. 37 (2), 224.〕 Constant weight and dial adjustments led Japanese clock makers to develop the Nicho-temp tokei around 1780.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 179.〕 The weights in the Nicho-temp tokei were automatically set for the correct time of day or night with the use of two balances, called temp.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 179.〕 A key component of the development of Japanese clocks was the publication of Hosokawa Hanzo's "Karakuri Zui" in 1796, in which he explains production methods of clocks in the first volume, and karakuri ningyou in the second and third volumes.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 179.〕 The volume on clockmaking contained highly detailed instructions for the production of a weight-driven, striking clock with a verge escapement controlled by a foliot.〔Fernandez, M. P., and P. C. Fernandez. 1996. "Precision Timekeepers of Tokugawa Japan and the Evolution of the Japanese Domestic Clock". TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE. 37 (2), 225.〕 Relatively high literacy rates and an enthusiastic, book-lending society contributed greatly to the work's widespread readership.〔Yokota, Yasuhiro. "A Historical Overview of Japanese Clocks and Karakuri." International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (2008), 180.〕 The production and complexity of wadokei reached its peak with Hisashige Tanaka's Man-nen dokei, completed in 1851. The Man-nen dokei, or myriad year clock, has six faces that feature a western clock, a lunar phase indicator, the oriental zodiac, a Japanese temporal clock, the ancient Japanese 24-phase division indicator, and a day of the week indicator.〔("Toshiba : Press Releases 8 March, 2005." ) Toshiba : Press Releases 8 March 2005. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2013.〕 The clock was said to be able to run for a year on a single winding.〔("Toshiba : Press Releases 8 March, 2005." ) Toshiba : Press Releases 8 March 2005. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2013.〕 After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan eventually abolished the use of its temporal hour system. The Meiji Cabinet issued Ordinance No. 453 in 1872 which switched Japan from the lunar calendar to the western, solar calendar.〔("History of the Japanese Horological Industry." ) History of the Japanese Horological Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. Section 3.〕 The switch led to the decline of wadokei and the emergence of a western-styled clock industry in Japan. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Japanese clock」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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