Making Time: Astronomical Time Measurement in Tokugawa Japan

摘要

This is a long-awaited book that provides an invaluable insight into the process through which Japan’s early modern timekeeping system based on “variable hours” has been replaced by the current equal-hours system. Though the Western system was known since the 16th century, it was not recognized as the most efficient. The Japanese were fully satisfied with their own system inherited from China; it was only in 1873 that the current system was adopted together with the Gregorian calendar.