Time in Old Japan

I recently read an issue of Scientific American that was entirely devoted to the concept of time. There were a number of interesting articles in the magazine. One article addressed physicists' concept of time versus everyone else's. But the one that intrigued me the most described how different cultures perceived time differently. This article got me thinking about time and its measurement in old Japan and how it differed from the west. I thought it would be interesting to share with you the methods used to mark time in old Japan.

Lunar Calendar - Koyomi

Prior to January 1, 1873, Japan's civil calendar was based on lunar cycles rather than the west's solar (Gregorian) calendar. On that date, Japan adopted the western system of time and date keeping. Since the lunar calendar followed the cycles of the moon, its year was about five days shorter than that of the solar calendar. Just as our Gregorian calendar is off by six hours each year (February 29 every leap year makes up for it), the lunar calendar had to add a 13th month every six years or so to make it coincide with the natural cycle. This extra month in the lunar calendar is called the intercalated month.

So how did Japan's farmers keep things straight since their livelihood depended more on the natural cycle of the sun? They needed to know when was the right time to plant and harvest the crops. The civil calendar didn't suit their needs, so they used an ancient solar calendar developed by Chinese astronomers. The old solar calendar was measured between two successive winter solstices. The winter solstice was the mid point of twelve equal divisions called setsu which were approximately 30.44 days in duration. The beginning of the setsu is called sekki and the mid point of the setsu was called a chuki. Each of the twenty-four sekki and chuki had its own name which was related to weather or agricultural phenomena. If we line up our current Gregorian calendar with the old solar calendar we would find that around February 4th would be the "New Year" which marked the beginning of spring; May 5th would be the beginning of summer; August 8 would be the begining of autumn; and November 8 would be the beginning of winter. Other than the farmers, the rest of Japan followed the lunar civil calendar. The lunar calendar to the left is dated 1867, and in it is a directional guide which indicates auspicious days to travel in certain directions.

Year Designations

Like the west's, each date of a lunar calendar signifies the year, the month and the day of the month. There were four different ways years have been designated in Japan, not counting the current Anno Domini method. One is the Nengo method , in which a particular era is named by the Imperial court denoting when an Emperor ascended to the throne. Generally that ascension was about a year after the prior emperor either abdicated or died. Successive years of the era are noted by a number. Premodern era names were not reign names. Generally era names signified a change of political climate, the first of which was Taika which is noted for the Taika Reforms of 645 A.D. Beginning with Emperor Meiji, the era names are the given posthumous names of the emperors, for example we are now in the year Heisei 14 marking Emperor Akihito's reign. Nengo era names were also periodically changed in the 1st and 58th year of the sexagenary cycle (60 year cycle explained below) because they were considered good luck years. Sometimes disasters could result in changing an era's name just to change the bad luck associated with it.

The other method of designating the year is the Jikki-Junishi, the ten elements and twelve zodiac signs method. Most of eastern Asia has used two sets of terms to denote the year; combined these represent the Jikki-Junishi, the sixty year cycle, which happens to be the least common multiple of 10 and 12. The ten elements are: both the elder and younger brother elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. The zodiac signs are: the rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and wild boar. The succession in years is a combination of first element- first zodiac, the next in the cycle is second element-second sign and so on. We are now in the 19th year of the cycle, which is called Mizunoe-Uma, elder brother water - year of the horse. As you are probably aware, a lot of credence is paid to the year a person is born and the personality attributes associated with that zodiac sign. It is also thought that the year's events will be determined by the zodiac sign. A person born in the year of the horse may be luckier this year than in others.

A third method of year designation began in the early Meji period (1868 - 1912) and was called the "Imperial Era". The year was marked as the number of years in the imperial lineage from the first emperor onward. It was designated by a number with the word kigen, which means the beginning of the dynasty, prefixed to it. This method reflects a period of time when Japan was trying to establish itself as a country rather than a group of provinces. The Imperial heritage was the strongest common thread of the Japanese people. This method was discontinued after WWII. The fourth method is for reign-years prior to the Nengo system. It differs from the Nengo in that it starts counting the full calendar year of the reign rather than a year after ascention to the throne. It is denoted with the word tenno (sovereign) after it to differentiate it from the Nengo system. The above woodblock print is a single page calendar called a ryakureki, and is dated 1893.

Month Designations

Months are generally noted by a number, with the exception of the first month, which is called Shogatsu (beginning month), next would be Nigatsu, literally second moon, etc. In addition to that designation, months also have informal and poetic names. Mutsuki, the first month is considered the month of affection. The second month is Kisaragi - the month of putting on more clothes. Other month's names are such things as rice planting, month of writing poetry, month of falling leaves and so on. Months that were intercalary were designated with the character jun attached to the name of the preceding month.

Time of Day

Of course, prior to the western time-keeping system, knowing the time was neither precise nor a critical concern. There were two ways premodern Japan marked time throughout the day. The day was divided into two periods: sunrise to sunset and sunset to sunrise. Each of those two intervals was divided into six divisions. So the divisions or "hours", if you will, were approximately two hours in western time. The two intervals marked by dawn and dusk were not of equal duration (only equal at the two equinoxes). The twelve divisions were denoted by the zodiac signs of Junishi. The hours went in this order with their approximate time: rat 11:00 PM -1:00 AM, ox 1:00-3:00 AM, tiger 3-5:00 AM, hare 5-7:00 AM, dragon 7- 9:00 AM, snake 9-11:00 AM, horse 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM, goat 1-3:00 PM, monkey 3-5:00 PM, rooster 5- 7:00 PM, dog 7-9:00 PM, boar 9-11:00 PM. The "hours" were also represented by numbers, i.e. the hour of the rat was the nineth hour which would decrease by each hour to the fourth hour, then start with another nineth hour in the daytime. In addition to telling the time, the twelve divisions also denoted directions which meant that some days were more auspicous to travel in a certain direction than others, as we mentioned before.

Timing Devices of Old Japan

The oldest reference to any timing device in Japan is in the Nihon Shoki, Chronicles of Japan. It references a Chinese style water clock being built in the year 670. Other devices such as burning candles and wicks were most likely used to approximate the hour as well. One of the more interesting nonmechanical clocks is the incense clock. The incense clock was imported from China along with Buddhism. It was a way for the priests to know what time it was.Temples would anounce the hour to everyone else by striking the temple bell the appropriate number of times, for example the hour of the rat which is the nineth hour would be struck nine times. Other ways in which people were informed of the time were night watchmen/ town criers.

Incense Clocks

The first incense clocks made in Japan were copies of those brought over from China, but eventually they took on a definite Japanese style. Incense clocks are called joko-ban or koban-dokei. They have an upper box section which holds the ash on which the incense is burnt and a lower section with drawers which holds the clock's paraphenalia. There is usually a lattice cover that fits over the top portion to prevent drafts from burning the incense unevenly. The ash is tamped down and a wooden form with track openings are placed on it. The incense is then poured into the tracks, evened out and tamped down for a consistant rate of burning . When the form is removed there are tracks of incense on the ash, which when ignited, burn at a steady given rate. By looking at the tracks in the grid one can tell what time it is. This style of joko-ban dates from the 18th century. Temples were not the only users of incense clocks. Businesses used them as well. Tea houses also employed them as a means to determine how much time a patron would have with one of the teahouse women. When the incense stopped burning, the patron's time with her was up, then on to the next customer.

Clocks - Tokei

Mechancial clocks did not apear in Japan until contact was made with Europeans in the 1540's . Japan's first exposure to mechanical clocks and firearms was through a Portuguese ship washed ashore on Tanegashima. The earliest existing European clock in Japan was one given to Tokugawa Ieyasu by one of the Spanish missionaries. It is inscribed in Latin "made in Madrid 1581" . It is thought that the first mechanical clocks made in Japan were inspired by Dutch style clocks. These are generally called wadokei (literally Japan clocks) and were specifically named yagura-dokei, turret clocks, as seen on the right.These lantern clocks had their mechanisms driven by weights hanging from the clock. Japanese clocks measured the time in the usual two hour increments. Due to the lack of precision of the gears, mainsprings, etc. more detail went into the decoration of the clocks than into their accuracy. They were called lantern clocks because the hood which covers the clocks looked like lanterns. The clocks were usually supported by closed truncated pyramid-shape stands which enclosed the weight mechanism, or they were supported by a table which showed the weights hanging down. Clocks on tables were usually called dai-dokei, an example of which is shown below left without its "lantern" cover on. Lantern clocks were produced through 1873.

There were a number of different style clocks besides the yagura-dokei. There is the kake-dokei (hanging clock) which is also called a pillar clock. It, too, was weight driven but was hung on a pillar or wall. Pillar clocks were produced in the early 1800's. During the same time bracket clocks began to be produced in Japan. Some of these are called makura-dokei, because they resembled the shape of pillows. Some bracket clocks resemble European mantle-piece clocks. Some clocks produced shortly after 1873 had several faces displaying not only the old method of telling time but also western time, and the moon's phases.

Clocks were expensive, so very few people could afford to own one. Temples, high ranking samurai and rich merchants were usually the owners of clocks. With the advent of western time keeping, more western time pieces were imported into Japan. A lot of the old style clocks were exported from Japan as curiosities, so much so in fact, that it is very hard to find old pre-1873 clocks in Japan. It was Japan's production of clocks and watches that propelled it into other precision machinery industries. In 1881, Hattori Kintaro established K. Hattori & Co. Ltd. This clock maker was to eventually become the Seiko Corporation. In addition to K. Hattori, there was the Kusama Tokei Co whose schoolhouse clock is seen here. Japan started mass producing western style watches and clocks in the early Meiji period. Many are familar with the schoolhouse and train station pendulum clocks of the late Meiji period. By the early 1920's, exports of watches and clocks exceeded imports, firmly establishing this industry as an important segment to Japan's economy. We hope you found this topic an interesting one and worth the "time" it took to read.

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