page_title: Abacus
section_title: Japanese
hierarchical_section_title: Abacus / History / Japanese
context_page_description: The abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool that was in use in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the written Arabic numeral system. The exact origin of the abacus is still unknown. The abacus essentially consists of a number of rows of movable beads or other objects, which represent digits. One of two numbers is set up, and the beads are manipulated to implement an operation involving a second number, or rarely a square or cubic root.
  In earliest use the rows of beads could be loose on a flat surface, or sliding in grooves. Later the beads were made to slide on rods of some sort built into a frame, allowing faster manipulation. Abacuses are still made, often as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires. In the ancient world, particularly before the introduction of positional notation, abacuses were a practical calculating tool.
  There are different modern implementations of the abacus. Some designs, like the bead frame consisting of beads divided into tens, are used mainly to teach arithmetic, although they remain popular in the post-Soviet states as a tool.
context_section_description: In Japanese, the abacus is called soroban (算盤, そろばん, lit. "Counting tray"), imported from China in the 14th century. It was probably in use by the working class a century or more before the ruling class started, as the class structure did not allow for devices used by the lower class to be adopted or used by the ruling class. The 1/4 abacus, which removes the seldom used second and fifth bead became popular in the 1940s.
  Today's Japanese abacus is a 1:4 type, four-bead abacus was introduced from China in the Muromachi era. It adopts the form of the upper deck one bead and the bottom four beads. The top bead on the upper deck was equal to five and the bottom one is equal to one like the Chinese or Korean abacus, and the decimal number can be expressed, so the abacus is designed as one four abacus. The beads are always in the shape of a diamond. The quotient division is generally used instead of the division method; at the same time, in order to make the multiplication and division digits consistently use the division multiplication. Later, Japan had a 3:5 abacus called 天三算盤, which is now the Ize Rongji collection of Shansi Village in Yamagata City. There were also 2:5 type abacus.
  With the four-bead abacus spread, it is also common to use Japanese abacus around the world. There are also improved Japanese abacus in various places. One of the Japanese-made abacus made in China is an aluminum frame plastic bead abacus. The file is next to the four beads, and the "clearing" button, press the clearing button, immediately put the upper bead to the upper position, the lower bead is dialed to the lower position, immediately clearing, easy to use.
  The abacus is still manufactured in Japan today even with the proliferation, practicality, and affordability of pocket electronic calculators. The use of the soroban is still taught in Japanese primary schools as part of mathematics, primarily as an aid to faster mental calculation. Using visual imagery of a soroban, one can arrive at the answer in the same time as, or even faster than, is possible with a physical instrument.
caption: Japanese soroban
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