Soroban, or Japanese Abacus
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1885
notes: label: Description
content: This Japanese abacus is in the lid of a rosewood box. A wooden cross bar colored white is painted with various characters labeling various columns of the abacus. Columns 1 to 6 are labeled in units of volume used to measure rice. Columns 8 through 13 are labeled in units of Japanese currency. Column 7 is not labeled.
label: Description
content: The beads of the abacus move on 13 parallel bamboo rods, with one bead above the cross bar and five below. The shape of the beads is like that of other Japanese abaci. The base of the box contains a large container with hardened black ink, a smaller container with red ink, additional bars of red and black ink, and a brush for drawing characters.
label: Description
content: A paper sheet received with the abacus indicates that it was used by Dr. S. Tetsu Tamura as a schoolboy from 1885 to 1897 and presented to Cleveland Abbe in 1906.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.0876.04
label: catalog number
content: 1979.0876.04
label: accession number
content: 1979.0876
objectType: label: Object Name
content: abacus
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rosewood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: bamboo (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.3 cm x 17 cm x 8.5 cm; 29/32 in x 6 11/16 in x 3 11/32 in