REKIHAKU

No.140 A Witness to History

The History of Counting

In Japan, the basics of primary education were "reading, writing and soroban". Although it is not clear exactly when the soroban (abacus) came to Japan, the oldest extant soroban is said to have been used by Maeda Toshiie when troops were dispatched to Korea in 1592. Viewed in this light, the phrase "reading, writing and soroban" is not as old as we might think. .

Of course, it doesn't mean that before this time counting was not an important activity. In any event, some kind of counting would have been required when levying taxes..

So what kind of counting existed before the arrival of the soroban? It wasn't a matter of having a local fellow who was a whiz at mental arithmetic. It is said that "sangi" (lit: "counting rods") were used in Japan from the time of the introduction of the Ritsuryo codes in the early 8th century. As the name suggests, these counting rods were rods of wood about 3.03 centimeters in length, and depending on how they were arranged, one rod either represented the number "1" or "5". They were, therefore, used in a manner slightly similar to that of the soroban. These counting rods continued to be used together with the soroban after the latter's introduction up until the beginning of the Meiji period.

Soroban used for teaching during the Meiji period (Museum collection). This soroban does not have the same number of beads as today's soroban.	Nishiki-e of a merchant in costume with soroban (Museum collection). 1819.

By the Edo period a branch of mathematics known as "wasan" (lit: "Japanese mathematics") began to spread. "Wasan" was purportedly based on Yoshida Mitsuyoshi's "Jinkoki" first published in 1627 and Seki Takakazu's "Hatsubi Sampo" published in 1674. Whereas Yoshida's work was strongly influenced by Chinese mathematics, Seki's work is seen as marking the beginning of a mathematics that was unique to Japan. At any rate, it was from this time that mathematics began to develop from being simply addition, subtraction, multiplication and division into a field that involved equations and matrices.

Those who practiced "wasan" devoted themselves to solving difficult and new problems. When they discovered a new way of solving a problem they would visit a shrine or a temple where they presented a "sangaku" (wooden tablet). While it is by no means clear whether this custom was practiced to express gratitude to the gods, merely as a means of celebration or for mathematicians to flaunt their prowess in public, it led to an added function for the halls of shrines and temples as places where the findings of mathematical studies were shared.

Let's now leave the subject of mathematics and return to counting. The adoption of the soroban as a counting tool gradually spread and with it came nishiki-e in which this small device symbolized the accounts desks of merchants.

But the soroban did not become a compulsory subject within school education until the surprisingly late date of 1938. Of course, this doesn't mean that the soroban was not taught in schools before this time. For example, following the promulgation of the school system in 1872, although schools had to teach written calculations rather than the soroban, it would appear that the small number of teachers able to do this along with considerable pressure from parents meant that lessons on the soroban became quite common.

A "sangaku" (wooden tablet) from the Hachiman Shrine in Yanagawa-machi, Date City, Fukushima Prefecture (Reproduction from the Museum collection. The original "sangaku" is held at the Hachiman Shrine.)	The content of the "sangaku" at the left has been adapted to present-day mathematical equations. (Made in 1984 at the time of the expansion of Gallery Three.)

The popular use of the soroban and the teaching of arithmetic from the Modern period onwards suggest that people became much better in their ability to do calculations. It was, however, actually those in business who acquired skills for undertaking quick and accurate calculations.

Next comes the question of when the word "keirishi" for "accountant" appeared in the Japanese language. In terms of the legal system, the term "keirishi" was used in the Public Accountants' Law of 1927 to denote qualified persons, though in actual fact there had been "self-proclaimed accountants" before that time.

This legal prescription of the term "keirishi" was the equivalent of the present-day certified public accountant whose work includes the auditing of accounts. In fact, this earlier law of 1927 was repealed in 1948 accompanying the enactment of the Certified Public Accountant Law. However, in the "Dictionary of Current Japanese" published by Isshin-sha and Hakusei-sha in 1932, the entry for the word "keirishi" is "A person whose occupation is the task of calculation". This tells us that at that time accountants were generally recognized as being professionals skilled in calculation.

Throughout the modern period, an ability to use the soroban has been consistently required of those who make their livelihoods from doing calculations. Even when the term accountant was replaced by the term for certified public accountant and "certified public tax accountants" came into being, it was the soroban that was used for making calculations. Skill in using the soroban was also important for those who worked with company accounts, those who worked in banks and operators of retail businesses.

Of course, the soroban was not the only devise used for calculations, for mechanical calculators did exist. The first of its kind is thought to have been the Tiger Calculator, which went on sale in Japan in 1923. However, this mechanical calculating machine was as large as today's small sewing machines, and the resulting high price tag meant that not everyone could afford one. Later, even though improvements were made and their price dropped relative to the level of prices, the machine was still by no means an affordable item. It was for this reason that right up until the 1980s being certified at a certain level in soroban calculation was an advantage when looking for a job.

"Santei" (Museum collection)
This copy of the "Santei" arithmetic workbook has answers to problems that have actually been marked using red ink. The problem on the left asks "If the weight of 11 kan (1 kan = 3.75 kg) and 700 monme (1 monme = 0.001 kan) of silk thread is equivalent to the weight of 5 kan and 850 monme of silver, how much silk thread is equivalent to 10 kan of silver?".

As for these mechanical calculating machines that were beyond the reach of most people, the main manufacturers in Japan were Tiger Calculating Machine Co., Ltd. and Nippon Calculating Machine Co., Ltd. From 1953 onwards Tiger's machines sold for 35,000 yen, which meant that they gradually became affordable. Then, when a vacuum tube type of desktop calculator was released in the early 1960s it came with a price tag that was roughly ten times that of Tiger's machines, making this new type of calculator far more expensive than a mechanical calculating machine.

But by the early 1970s, smaller and affordable desktop calculators that used LSI technology became increasingly common. It was Casio's release in 1972 of the "Casio Mini", an inexpensive desktop calculator, that resulted in a reversal between the price of Casio's calculator and Tiger's machines. It was this that determined the future of both types of calculator. Tiger ceased manufacture of its mechanical calculating machines in 1970 ahead of the release of the Casio Mini, while Nippon Calculating Machine, which had ventured into the field of desktop calculators in 1964, went bankrupt in 1974 at the height of competition over lowering the price of calculators. As seen here, it was the calculator that superseded the mechanical calculating machine as a replacement for the soroban.

Advances in calculating devices have been spectacular ever since the desktop calculator came into popular use. Personal computers, which could easily handle even more advanced calculations, were also priced out of the reach of most people during the 1980s, and it was only from around the mid 1990s that they steadily came down in price, thus allowing ordinary people to have access to this convenient box that combined a number of functions, including the Internet, gaming and word processing.

Items in Rekihaku's collection that were used for calculating are limited to the soroban. We have no mechanical calculating machines in our collection, and due to little awareness of the value of old desktop calculators or computers as resources they have also been thrown away. Now is a time when we need to start considering how to handle these kinds of machines as historical resources.

Incidentally, today we cannot talk about calculating without mentioning the PC. Calculators still have a firm place alongside computers. Meanwhile, it seems that the soroban has largely faded from view. As an individual that assiduously attended private soroban classes while in elementary school, I find this situation a little sad. Although I no longer am as good as I used to be, the soroban I used as a child sits quietly on my desk at home, and on occasions I even dare to try using it.

Kosuke Harayama(Modern Japanese History, Museum Research Department)