Soroban, or Japanese Abacus
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1900
name: label: maker
content: Oh Tani or Oh Ya
notes: label: Description
content: This wooden instrument has an open frame and is stored in an open wooden box. The frame (which lifts out of the box) has a cross bar and holds 21 parallel bamboo rods. Each rod holds one bead above the cross bar and five below. The beads have a similar shape to those of other Japanese abaci. All the columns of the abacus except the center one are labeled with Japanese characters on the cross bar.
label: Description
content: According to the donor,writing found on the back of the cross bar indicates that the abacus was made by Oh Tani (or Oh Ya) in Hiroshima and owned by Yoshizaemon Muraoka of Sakata-ken (a city in northern Japan, which was known by that name from 1871 until 1933, when it became Sakata-shi).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Japan: Hiroshima, Hiroshima
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Abacus
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of K. Kadokura
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0515.01
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0515.01
label: accession number
content: 1989.0515
objectType: label: Object Name
content: abacus
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 cm x 46 cm x 12 cm; 1 9/16 in x 18 1/8 in x 4 23/32 in