ABSTRACT
The oldest of time-tellers were the sun-dial and the clepsydra, the water-clock of the Greeks. Fixed sundials are seldom to be met with in this country as there is no custom among us of using one as garden ornament. The most famous sun-dial is the one installed in the enclosure of the Shiogama Shrine near Matsushima in Rikuzen. Tradition says that it was designed and dedicated by Rin Shihei, a publicist in the latter days of the Tokugawa Shogunate whose ideas were broadened and enlightened by his acquaintance with Western learning. Pocket dials were quite common till the beginning of the Meiji era, and they were distinguished for a great variety of design. The water clock was first made in Japan in imitation of a Chinese model in the ninth century. It was installed by the Emperor Tenji at his Palace. Many such must have been made since then, but nothing has been preserved to this day.
