JAPANESE CLOCKS
Chinese and Japanese divisions of the day. -- Hours of varying
length. -- Setting clocks to length of daylight. -- Curved line
dials. -- Numbering hours backwards and strange reasons for
same. -- Daily names for sixty day period. -- Japanese clock
movements practically Dutch. -- Japanese astronomical clock. --
Decimal numbers very old Chinese. -- Original vertical dials
founded on "bamboo stick" of Chinese clepsydra. -- Mathematics
and superstition. -- Mysterious disappearance of hours 1, 2, 3.
-- Eastern mental attitude towards time. -- Japanese methods of
striking hours and half hours.
The ancient methods of dividing day and night in China and Japan
become more hazy as we go backwards and the complications grow. The
three circles in Fig. 1 (Chapter I) are all taken from Japanese
clocks, but the interpretation has been obtained from Chinese and
Japanese scholars. The Japanese obtained a great deal from the
Chinese, in fact nearly everything relating to the ancient methods of
time keeping and the compiling of calendars. I have not been able to
find any Chinese clocks constructed of wheels and pinions, but have a
number of Japanese. These have a distinct resemblance to the earlier
Dutch movements, and while made in Japan, they are practically Dutch,
so far as the "works" are concerned, but it is easy to see from the
illustrations that they are very Japanese in style and ornamentation.
The Dutch were the leaders in opening Japan to the European nations
and introduced modern mathematics and clocks from about 1590 A. D.
The ancient mathematics of Japan came largely from China through
Corea. In Fig. 11 are given the Japanese figures beside ours, for the
reader's use as a key. The complete day in Japan was divided into
twice six hours; that is, six for daylight and six for night, and
the clocks are set, as the days vary in length, so that six o'clock
is sunrise and sunset. The hour numerals on Fig. 12 are on little
plates which are movable, and are shown set for a long day and a
short night.
[Illustration: Fig. 11]
[Illustration: Fig. 12 Fig. 13.
Japanese Dials Set for Long and Short Days]
In Fig. 13 they are set for short days and long nights. The narrow
plates shown in solid black are the half-hour marks. In this type
the hand is stationary and always points straight upward. The dial
rotates, as per arrow, once in a full day. This style of dial is
shown on complete clocks, Fig. 14 being a weight clock and Fig. 15 a
spring clock with chain and fusee. The hours are 9 to 4 and the dials
rotate to make them read backwards. The six hours of daylight are 6,
5, 4, 9, 8, 7, 6 and the same for night, so these hours average twice
as long as ours. Note that nine is mid-day and mid-night, and as
these do not change by long and short days they are stationary on the
dial, as you can easily see by comparing Figs. 12 and 13, which are
the same dial set for different seasons. Between these extremes the
dial hours are set as often as the owner wishes; so if he happens to
correspond with our "time crank" he will set them often and dispute
with his neighbors about the time. Figure 16 shows a clock with the
hour numerals on a vertical series of movable plates and it is set
for uniform hours when day and night are equal at the equinox. The
ornamental pointer is fastened to the weight through the vertical
slit, plainly visible in illustration, and indicates the time as it
descends. This clock is wound up at sunset, so the six on the top of
the dial is sunset the same as the six on the bottom. Figure 17 shows
how this type of dial is set for long and short days and explains
itself, but will become plainer as we proceed. This dial is virtually
a continuation of the old method of marking time by the downward
motion of the water in the clepsydras and will be noticed later.
[Illustration: Fig. 14--Japanese Striking Clock with Weight and Short
Pendulum]
[Illustration: Fig. 15--Japanese Striking Clock with Spring, Fusee and
Balance]
Figure 18 represents a clock which is a work of art and shows great
refinement of design in providing for the varying lengths of days.
The bar lying across the dial is fastened to the weight through the
two slits running the whole length of the dial. On this cross bar
is a small pointer, which is movable by the fingers, and may be set
to any one of the thirteen vertical lines. The numerous characters
on the top space of dial indicate the dates on which the pointer is
to be set. This clock is wound up at sunset, and it is easy to see
that as the little pointer is set towards the right, the night hours
at the top of the dial become shorter and the day hours longer on
the lower part. The left edge of the dial gives the hours, reading
downwards, and as the pointer touches any one of the curved lines the
hour is read at the left-hand end. The curved lines formed of dots
are the half-hours. The right-hand edge of the dial has the "twelve
horary characters" which will be explained later. For dividing the
varying days into six hours' sunshine it would be difficult to
think of a more artistic and beautiful invention than this. It is
a fine example of great ingenuity and constant trouble to operate
a system which is fundamentally wrong according to our method of
uniform hours at all seasons. Clocks having these curved lines for
the varying lengths of days--and we shall find them on circular dials
as we go on--must be made for a certain latitude, since the days vary
more and more as you go farther from the equator. This will become
plain when you are reminded that a Japanese clock at the equator
would not need any adjustment of hour numerals, because the days and
nights are equal there all the year. So after such infinite pains in
forming these curved lines the clock is only good in the latitude
for which it was made and must not be carried north or south! Our
clocks are correct from pole to pole, but all clocks must be set to
local time if they are carried east or west. As this is a rather
fascinating phase of the subject it might be worth pointing out that
if you go north till you have the sun up for a month in the middle
of summer--and there are people living as far up as that--the Japanese
system would become absurd and break down; so there is no danger of
any of our polar expeditions carrying Japanese clocks.
[Illustration: Fig. 16--Japanese Clock with Vertical Dial, Weight and
Balance.]
[Illustration: Fig. 17--Japanese Vertical Dials]
[Illustration: Fig. 18--Japanese Clock with Vertical Dial Having
Curved Lines, Weight and Balance.]
Figure 19 shows a very fine clock in which the dial is stationary and
the hand moves just as on our dials. This hour hand corresponds to
the single hand of the old Dutch clocks. When the Japanese reached
the point of considering the application of minute and second hands
to their clocks they found that these refinements would not fit their
old method and they were compelled to lay aside their clocks and
take ours. On this dial, Fig. 19, nine is noon, as usual, and is on
top side of dial. Hand points to three quarters past _seven_, that
is, a quarter to _six_, near sunset. Between the bell and the top of
the clock body two horizontal balances, having small weights hung on
them, are plainly shown, and the clock has two verge escapements--one
connected with each balance, or "foliot." Let us suppose a long
day coming to a close at sunset, just as the hand indicates. The
upper balance, which is the slow one, has been swinging backwards
and forwards measuring the long hours of the day. When the clock
strikes six, at sunset, the top balance is thrown out of action and
the lower one, which is the fast one, is thrown into action and
measures the short night hours. At sunrise this is thrown out and
the top one in again to measure the next day's long hours. As the
days vary in length, the balances, or foliots, can be made to swing
faster or slower by moving the weights inwards or outwards a notch
or two. The balance with small weights for regulation is the oldest
known and was used in connection with the verge escapement, just
as in this clock, by the Dutch about 1364. All the evidence I can
find indicates that the Japanese clocks are later than this date. In
design, ornamentation and methods for marking varying days, however,
the Japanese have shown great artistic taste and inventiveness.
It is seen that this dial in addition to the usual six hours,
twice over, has on the outside circle of dial, the "twelve horary
branches" called by the Japanese the "twelve honorary branches," thus
indicating the whole day of twelve Japanese hours, six of them for
day and six for night. By this means they avoided repeating the same
hours for day and night. When it is pointed out that these "twelve
horary branches" are very old Chinese, we are not in a position to
boast about our twenty-four hour system, because these branches
indicate positively whether any given hour is day or night. When we
print a time table in the twenty-four hour system so as to get rid
of our clumsy A. M. and P. M., we are thousands of years behind the
Chinese. More than that, for they got the matter right without any
such pressure as our close running trains have brought to bear on
us. These branches have one syllable names and the "ten celestial
stems" have also one syllable names, all as shown on Fig. 20. Refer
now to Fig. 21 where two disks are shown, one having the "twelve
horary branches" and the other the "ten celestial stems." These disks
are usually put behind the dial so that one "branch" and one "stem"
can be seen at the same time through two openings. The clock moves
these disks one step each night, so that a new pair shows each day.
Running in this manner, step by step, you will find that it takes
sixty moves, that is sixty days, to bring the same pair around again.
Each has a single syllable name, as shown on Fig. 20, and we thus get
sixty names of two syllables by reading them together to the left.
The two openings may be seen in the dials of Figs. 15 and 19. So the
Japanese know exactly what day it is in a period of sixty which they
used in their old calendars. These were used by the Chinese over four
thousand years ago as the names of a cycle of sixty years, called the
"sexagenary." The present Chinese year 4606 is YU-KI which means the
year 46 of the 76th "sexagenary." That is, 76×60+46 = 4,606. In Fig.
20, we read TSU-KIAH, or the first year. If you will make two disks
like Fig. 21 and commence with TSU-KIAH and move the two together
you will come to YU-KI on the 46th move. But there is another way
which you might like better, thus: Write the twelve "branches,"
or syllables, straight downwards, continuously five times; close
to the right, write the ten "stems" six times. Now you have sixty
words of two syllables and the 46th, counting downwards, will be
YU-KI. Besides, this method gives you the whole sixty names of the
"sexagenary" at one view. Always read _left_, that is, pronounce the
"stem" syllable first.
[Illustration: Fig. 19--Japanese Striking Clock with Two Balances and
Two Escapements; Dial Stationary, Hand Moves]
Calendars constitute a most interesting and bewildering part of time
measuring. We feel that we have settled the matter by determining
the length of the year to within a second of time, and keeping the
dates correctly to the nearest day by a leap year every fourth and
every fourth century, established by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, and
known as the "Gregorian Calendar." In simple words, our "almanac" is
the "Gregorian." We are in the habit of saying glibly that any year
divisible by four is a leap year, but this is far from correct. Any
year leaving out the _even hundreds_, which is divisible by four
is a leap year. _Even hundreds_ are leap when divisible by four.
This explains why 1900 was a common year, because _19 hundreds_ is
not divisible by four; 2000 will be a leap because _20 hundreds_
is divisible by four; therefore 2100, 2200 and 2300 will be common
years and 2400 a leap, etc., to 4000 which must be made common, to
keep things straight, in spite of the fact that it is divisible by
four both in its hundreds and thousands. But for practical purposes,
during more than two thousand years to come, we may simplify the
rule to: _Years_ and _even hundreds_ divisible by four are leaps.
But great confusion still exists as a result of several countries
holding to their own old methods. The present Chinese year has 384
days, 13 months and 13 full moons. Compared with our 1909 it begins
on January 21st and will end on February 8, 1910. Last year the
China-Japan calendar had 12 months, or moons, but as that is too
short they must put in an extra every thirtieth month. We only allow
the error to reach one day and correct it with our leap years, but
they are not so particular and let the error grow till they require
another "moon." The Old Testament is full of moons, and even with all
our "modernity" our "feasts" and holy days are often "variable" on
account of being mixed up with moons. In Japan the present year is
the 42nd of Meiji, that is, the 42nd of the present Emperor's reign.
The present is the Jewish 5669. These and others of varying lengths
overlap our year in different degrees, so that in trade matters great
confusion exists. The Chinese and Japanese publish a trade almanac
in parallel columns with ours to avoid this. It is easy to say that
we ought to have a uniform calendar all over the world, but the same
remark applies just as much to money, weights, measures, and even to
language itself. Finally, the difficulty consists in the facts that
there are not an even number of days in a year--or in a moon--or moons
in a year. "These many moons" is a survival in our daily speech of
this old method of measuring by moons. Just a little hint as to the
amount of superstition still connected with "new moon" will be enough
to make clear the fact that we are not yet quite so "enlightened" as
we say we are. While our calendar, or almanac, may be considered as
final, we must remember that custom and religion are so mixed up with
the matter in the older countries of the East that they will change
very slowly. Strictly, our "era" is arbitrary and Christian; so we
must not expect nations which had some astronomical knowledge and a
working calendar, thousands of years before us, to change suddenly to
our "upstart" methods.
[Illustration: Fig. 20--Key to "12 Horary Branches" and "10 Celestial
Stems"]
[Illustration: Fig. 21--"12 Horary Branches" and "10 Celestial Stems"
as Used in Clocks]
[Illustration: Fig. 22--Dial of Japanese Astronomical Clock]
In Fig. 22 we have the dial of a very complicated astronomical
clock. This old engraved brass dial did not photograph well, so I
made a copy by hand to get clean lines. Commencing at the centre,
there is a small disk, B, numbered from 1 to 30, giving days of the
moon's age. The moon rises at A and sets at AA, later each day, of
course. Her age is shown by the number she touches on disk B, as
this disk advances on the moon one number each day. Her phases are
shown by the motion of a black disk over her face; so we have here
three motions for the moon, so differentiated as to show _phase_,
_ascension_ and _age_. Still further, as she is represented on the
dial when below the horizon, it can be seen when she will rise, and
"moonlight" parties may be planned. Just outside the moon's course
is an annulus having Japanese numbers 1 to 12, indicating months.
Note the recurring character dividing the months in halves, which
means "middle," and is much used. If you will carefully read these
numbers you will find a character where _one_ would come; this means
"beginning" or "primary" and is often used instead of one. The clock
hand is the heavy arrow and sweeps the dial once in a whole day, same
direction as our clocks. This circle of the months moves along with
the hand, but a little faster, so as to gain one number in a month.
As shown on the figure it is about one week into the sixth month.
Next outward is the broad band having twelve curved lines for the
hours ending outwardly in a ring divided into 100 parts, marked off
in tens by dots. These curved lines are numbered with the Japanese
numerals for hours which you must now be able to read easily. These
hour lines, and the dotted lines for half hours, are really the same
as the similar lines on Fig. 18 which you now understand. As the
hand sweeps the dial daily it automatically moves outward a little
each day, so it shortens the nights and lengthens the days, just as
previously explained for Fig. 18. But there is one difference, for
you will notice that the last night hour, on which the arrow hand
now stands, is longer than the other night hours before it, and that
it is divided into _three_ by the dotted lines. The last day hour,
on the left of dial, is also long and divided into _three_. That is,
while all the dials previously described have equal hours for any
given day, or night, this dial has a _last long hour_ in each case,
divided into three instead of the usual half-hours. This is a curious
and interesting point having its origin long before clocks. In the
early days of the clepsydra in China, a certain time was allowed
to dip up the water from the lowest jar, each morning and evening
about five o'clock of our time, see Fig. 8 (Chapter 1). During this
operation the clepsydra was not marking time, and the oriental
mind evidently considered it in some sense outside of the regular
hours, and like many other things was retained till it appeared
absurdly on the earlier clocks. This wonderful feat of putting an
interval between two consecutive hours has always been impossible to
modern science; yet President Roosevelt performed it easily in his
"constructive" interregnum! Referring to the Canton clepsydra, Fig.
8, we find that the float, or "bamboo stick," was divided into 100
parts. At one season 60 parts for the day and 40 parts for the night,
gradually being changed to the opposite for short days. The day hours
were beaten on a drum and the night hours blown on a trumpet.
Later the hour numerals were made movable on the "bamboo stick."
This is virtually a vertical dial with movable hour plates, so their
idea of time measuring at that date, was of something moving up or
down. This was put on the first clocks by the Japanese; so that the
dial of Fig. 16 is substantially the float of the Chinese clepsydra.
Further, in this "bamboo stick" of 100 parts, we have our present
system of decimal numbers, so we can afford to be a little modest
here too. Before leaving Fig. 22 note the band, or annulus, of stars
which moves with the month circle. I cannot make these stars match
our twelve signs of the Zodiac, but as I have copied them carefully
the reader can try and make order out of them. The extreme outer edge
of the dial is divided into 360 parts, the tens being emphasized, as
in our decimal scales.
As we are getting a little tired of these complicated descriptions,
let us branch off for a few remarks on some curiosities of Eastern
time keeping. They evidently think of an hour as a _period of time_
more specifically than we do. When we say "6 o'clock" we mean a
point of time marked by the striking of the clock. We have no names
for the hour periods. We must say "from 5 to 6" or "between 5 and
6" for an hour period. The "twelfth hour" of the New Testament, I
understand to mean a whole hour ending at sunset; so we are dealing
with an oriental attitude of mind towards time. I think we get that
conception nearly correct when we read of the "middle watch"
and understand it to mean _during_ the middle third of the night.
Secondly, why do the Japanese use no 1, 2, 3 on their dials? These
numbers were sacred in the temples and must not be profaned by use on
clocks, and they mentally deducted these from the clock hours, but
ultimately became accustomed to 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. Thirdly, why this
reading of the hours backwards? Let us suppose a toiler commencing
at sunrise, or six. When he toiled one hour he felt that there was
one less to come and he called it five. This looks quite logical, for
the diminishing numbers indicated to him how much of his day's toil
was to come. Another explanation which is probably the foundation
of "secondly" and "thirdly" above, is the fact that mathematics and
superstition were closely allied in the old days of Japan. If you
take the numbers 1 to 6, Fig. 23, and multiply them each into the
uncanny "yeng number," or nine, you will find that the last digits,
reading downwards, give 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. Stated in other words:
When 1 to 6 are multiplied into "three times three" the last figures
are 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, and _1, 2, 3, have disappeared_; so the common
people were filled with fear and awe. Some of the educated, even now,
are mystified by the strange results produced by using three and nine
as factors, and scientific journals often give space to the matter.
We know that these results are produced by the simple fact that nine
is one less than the "radix" of our decimal scale of numbers. Nine is
sometimes called the "indestructible number," since adding the digits
of any of its powers gives an even number of nines. But in those days
it was a mystery and the common people feared the mathematicians, and
I have no doubt the shrewd old fellows took full advantage of their
power over the plebeians. In Japan, mathematics was not cleared of
this rubbish till about 700 A. D.
[Illustration: Fig. 23--Use of "Yeng Number" and Animal Names of
Hours]
On the right-hand side of Fig. 23 are given the animal names of
the hours, so the day and night hours could not be mistaken. In
selecting the _rat_ for night and the _horse_ for day they showed
good taste. Their forenoon was "before horse" and their afternoon
"after horse." Japanese clocks are remarkable for variety. It looks
as if they were always made to order and that the makers, probably
urged by their patrons, made extreme efforts to get in wonderful
motions and symbols relating to astronomy and astrology. Anyone
examining about fifty of them would be likely to conclude that it was
almost hopeless to understand them all. Remember, this is the old
Japanese method. Nearly all the clocks and watches I saw in Japan
were American. It will now be necessary to close this chapter with a
few points on the curious striking of Japanese clocks.
In those like Figs. 14, 15, 19, the bell and hammer can be seen. In
the type of Fig. 16, the whole striking mechanism is in the weight.
In fact, the striking part of the clock is the weight. On each of the
plates, having the hour numerals, Fig. 16, a pin projects inwards and
as the weight containing the striking mechanism, descends, a little
lever touches these and lets off the striking just when the pointer
is on the hour numeral. Keeping this in mind, it is easy to see that
the clock will strike correctly when the hour is indicated by the
pointer, no matter how the hour plates are set for long or short
days. Similar pins project inwards from movable plates on Figs. 12,
13, 14, 15, so they strike correctly as each hour plate comes to the
top just under the point of the fixed hand. In Fig. 19, the striking
is let off by a star wheel just as in old Dutch clocks. Clocks
like Figs. 18-22 do not strike. In all cases the hours are struck
backwards, but the half-hours add another strange feature. The _odd_
numbered hours, 9, 7, 5, are followed by one blow at the half hour;
and the _even_ hours, 8, 6, 4 by two blows, or stated altogether--
9_{1} 8_{2} 7_{1} 6_{2} 5_{1} 4_{2}.
Here the large figures are the hours and the small ones the
half-hours. Only one bell is used, because there being no one and
two among the hours, the half-hours cannot be mistaken. This is not
all, for you can tell what half hour it is within two hours. For
example, suppose you know approximately that it is somewhere between
9 and 7 and you hear the clock strike 2, then you know it is half
past 8. See the large and small figures above. This is far superior
to our method of one at each half-hour.
By our method the clock strikes _one_ three times consecutively,
between 12 and 2 o'clock and thus mixes up the half hours with one
o'clock. Some interesting methods of striking will be explained in
the third chapter when we deal with modern time keeping.