Wadokei are indigenous Japanese mechanical clocks made during the Edo Period of Japan’s history (1603-1868). For a significant part of this period, the country actively isolated itself from the rest of the world (1641-1853).  This strategy of isolation imposed by the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate, was adopted as a reaction to the international spread of European colonisation and religion. This era of Japanese history may be referred to as the “Edo Period” or the “Tokugawa Period”.

Key dates with regard to early mechanical clocks in Japan were:
– 1543  First Europeans set foot in Japan.
– 1549  First European mechanical clock gifted by a Jesuit Missionary.
– 1612  Oldest surviving European mechanical clock.
– 1636  All Japanese forbidden to return from Overseas travel as they often returned with Western beliefs contrary to Japanese traditions (and possibly a souvenir of a European clock!)
– 1641  Japan excluded all Foreigners – with exception of Dutch who were Protestants of the Roman Catholic faith.

In these early Tokugawa years, several other European mechanical clocks were gifted, however, they were all viewed as interesting Automaton that had no bearing on the natural world of timekeeping which was determined by daily dawn and dusk throughout the year.

The skilled Japanese metalworkers were soon able to copy these European imports and to adapt the “foliot and verge” regulators [see Wadokei Escapements and Balances] to provide sufficient variation to take account for the long and short “hours” of daylight throughout the year.

Japanese indigenous clocks had various names, including tokei, jimie-sho, jimie-ban, jin-shin-gi, however today they are collectively known as “Wadokei”.  [Wa (和), amongst other things, is used as a name for “Japan of Japanese”, and Tokei (時計), or Dokei, is Japanese for “Clock”.

Wadokei were used in Edo castles to keep time and thus regulate some of the daily activities of the castle complex, such as the opening of the gates.  Also, some communities within cities, such as Edo (Tokyo), had a building with a mechanical clock and employed a certain number of watchmen to keep the clock running and announce the hours to the community.  Similar practises were probably widespread throughout other major cities.

In Tokugawa Japan, as in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, only men of status owned mechanical clocks, although status may have depended less on wealth in Japan than in Europe.