How the Japanese Kept Time Using Water, Fire, then Metal

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  • Опубліковано 28 вер 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 197

  • @Linfamy
    @Linfamy  Рік тому +21

    Time for another clock video.
    Related: Christians introduced mechanical clocks to Japan for GOD: ua-cam.com/video/qQVNxAVlR44/v-deo.html
    What time is it? Time to sign up: www.patreon.com/Linfamy

    • @pyeitme508
      @pyeitme508 Рік тому +1

      Wow

    • @rakiahbaker5589
      @rakiahbaker5589 Рік тому +1

      Interesting ☺

    • @jhdhdhd7
      @jhdhdhd7 Рік тому

      was your 100th like!!!!

    • @AngelicHalfblood
      @AngelicHalfblood Рік тому

      I do not mean to offend but I'm really curious about something I heard from youtube videos about the supernatural side of Japan and how there was a certain time where scary stuff happened.
      I'm curious to know how that happened. is the Bewitching hour 2am? We're there other factors that made the night more scary then others?
      If that makes sense

    • @fran3ro
      @fran3ro Рік тому

      My educated guess is that a clock servant was all day beside the incense clock watching and told what time it was each hour. And if that wasn't the case, it should have been.

  • @makaihana975
    @makaihana975 Рік тому +183

    "The road to family success is paved with the dead dreams of your children"
    Omgg 💯 somebody give this guy's scriptwriter a trophy and gold medal

    • @ladykoiwolfe
      @ladykoiwolfe Рік тому +18

      I think he does the writing.

    • @saymyname2417
      @saymyname2417 Рік тому

      There were FAR worse fates than being the shogun's watchmaker, though. And family businesses passed on from generation to generation wasn't exactly a Japanese invention.

  • @hellblazerjj
    @hellblazerjj Рік тому +35

    Love your videos especially these clock ones!

  • @blackknightjack3850
    @blackknightjack3850 Рік тому +19

    Now I'm just thinking of how unique an Edo period time system in a Japanese themed game would be

  • @KinshiAni
    @KinshiAni Рік тому +3

    Toph would be happy about the metal clocks.

  • @Randamono
    @Randamono Рік тому +13

    Is a clock maker keeping you hostage in his basement? Blink twice if you need help!
    In all seriousness really cool video! It must have been a nightmare deciding what clock to but back then lol

  • @Urlik7
    @Urlik7 Рік тому

    The art is... EXPLOSION!!!

  • @usvidragonslayer3091
    @usvidragonslayer3091 Рік тому +1

    Those Japanese clocks are cool

  • @pyeitme508
    @pyeitme508 Рік тому +2

    Wow 😳

  • @grantpodue39
    @grantpodue39 Рік тому +1

    ok not gonna lie legend of zelda majora's mask makes so much sense now lmao

  • @kennethobrien6537
    @kennethobrien6537 Рік тому +3

    You could say this is a real tiktoc video!

  • @ninjabaiano6092
    @ninjabaiano6092 Рік тому

    I really thought that they would put explosives in the incense

  • @bladeofdarknessfromblood4807
    @bladeofdarknessfromblood4807 Рік тому +1

    If I had a wife 🤔
    Eight sticks 😏

  • @m.a.9571
    @m.a.9571 Рік тому +4

    Don't search japanese clock without the l.... worst mistake of my life 😟

  • @Infinitebrandon
    @Infinitebrandon Рік тому

    A 4 stick man? I'll believe you linfamy but I wear out a girl after 2. Too much heaven makes it hard to deal with earth for them.

    • @Infinitebrandon
      @Infinitebrandon Рік тому

      Ps, I had my bank account ruined by a courtesan recently. Don't trust the ones trying to give ya money as well as the ones asking for it. In about a month I'll be back as your loyal ronin on patreon. ✌️

  • @rustyshackleford2022
    @rustyshackleford2022 Рік тому +1

    Bro enough with the clocks, I thought this was a heritage and lore channel , now we just making videos about clocks , you have a clock on your wall, tells time good, all you need is one , more then one too much clock

  • @samwill7259
    @samwill7259 Рік тому +171

    My first thought of the incense burning clock was "That sounds like a fire hazard"
    Then I remembered "Dude, everybody was living in wood and thatch houses and the only source of heat, light and food was open flame. EVERYTHING WAS A FIRE HAZARD"

    • @Linfamy
      @Linfamy  Рік тому +50

      Fires were a real problem in dense cities for sure!

    • @stelcxantisto
      @stelcxantisto Рік тому +15

      Plus Japanese ground is made of Jenga tiles. There was a saying goes:「火事と喧嘩は江戸の華」 meaning "Fires and quarrels are the flowers of Edo"

    • @awl5451
      @awl5451 Рік тому +4

      Tbh i don't think it's that easy to start a fire from an incense, at least from my own experience 😆 i might be wrong tho

    • @Lanval_de_Lai
      @Lanval_de_Lai Рік тому +11

      Having an open fire is ironically a good way of making your wood house fireproof because the smoke is deposited in the surfaces making them harder to lit on fire.
      In my region not long ago the people lived in circular houses with walls of stone but vegetal ceiling and wooden beams. The ceiling made of straw like materials would be super dangerous if it wasn't for the smoke.

    • @awl5451
      @awl5451 Рік тому +3

      @@Lanval_de_Lai woah, that's actually rly interesting 🤯 didn't know that

  • @felipenachmanowicz9393
    @felipenachmanowicz9393 Рік тому +210

    I imagine the incenses changed smells over their lenght and you'd know what time it is by fragrance....

    • @Linfamy
      @Linfamy  Рік тому +56

      Good guess :D

    • @erinrising2799
      @erinrising2799 Рік тому +84

      I must go home it's getting late, it's sandalwood o'clock

    • @westrim
      @westrim Рік тому

      @@erinrising2799 It's midnight, time for Sex On The Beach!

    • @bluewingedchaoscat
      @bluewingedchaoscat Рік тому +47

      Don't worry mum I'll be home at patchouli

    • @AngelicHalfblood
      @AngelicHalfblood Рік тому +2

      Nice

  • @Furigou
    @Furigou Рік тому +117

    Water.
    Fire.
    Metal.
    Clocks.
    Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Clocks Nation attacked.
    Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
    Edit: this joke doesn't hold up anymore because Linfamy changed the title of the video. Shame on you!

    • @mekhane.broken9678
      @mekhane.broken9678 Рік тому +5

      Was the avatar a blacksmith specializing in clock making?
      Being a master of water fire metal and clocks?

  • @CalebCalixFernandez
    @CalebCalixFernandez Рік тому +23

    "The road to family success is paved with the dead dreams of your children." That's my father's motto. Luckily, it dawned on him that if he's not paying for my education, he gets no say on what I would study.

    • @jamesharding3459
      @jamesharding3459 Рік тому +5

      “You can be an engineer, doctor, or disgrace to the family.”
      And that is why Uncle Sam paid for my studies in exchange for 8 years of my time.

  • @cloud4565
    @cloud4565 Рік тому +23

    This video has some big clock energy

  • @TheMarg2012
    @TheMarg2012 Рік тому +24

    I have been to Daimyo-clock museum in Yanaka. This video let me learn more about the old clocks.Thank you.

  • @khamilleannlinsag41
    @khamilleannlinsag41 Рік тому +10

    “They could have used thier most abundant form of energy at that time, but slaves were too big to fit in clocks” did not escape me

  • @ZarlanTheGreen
    @ZarlanTheGreen Рік тому +13

    The mechanical clocks had to be adjusted for time with differing lengths for day/night and season …but the same was true of water/incense/candle/sand/sun clocks, as well. Both in Japan, and in "the West". In texts from ancient Babylon, on water clocks, they talk about how much water to use for day vs night, and how to change the amounts, every half month.

  • @jeanfalconer6377
    @jeanfalconer6377 Рік тому +14

    All those clocks are so beautiful that I'm kind of sad they went away.

  • @noone2706
    @noone2706 Рік тому +6

    I've been waiting for a video like this for a long time. Thank you. Consider a video on old japanese furniture? I'm curious about storage and living in a palace vs commoner home

  • @sanguiniue
    @sanguiniue Рік тому +25

    The amount of effort that went into trying to make Japanese clocks work rather than just adopting the western time keeping method is insane. They went with several designs in decades when western ones remained relatively the same .You know why ? Because THEY WORKED !!!

    • @samuraijackoff5354
      @samuraijackoff5354 Рік тому +5

      Imagine having to adjust all those festival and head cutting times tho.

    • @anitat9727
      @anitat9727 Рік тому +12

      The US is doing the same by refusing to adopt the metric system.

  • @TheSirGoreaxe
    @TheSirGoreaxe Рік тому +6

    I was thinking that when the time changed they would have had little fireworks go off for the incense clocks. 1 firecracker for sunrise then 1 more for each hour so 2 for the second hour and so on.

    • @darthclaire7179
      @darthclaire7179 Рік тому

      That would be cool but would probably scatter the rest of the incense

    • @jamesharding3459
      @jamesharding3459 Рік тому

      @@darthclaire7179 I’m sure it could be made to work.

  • @matthewrosebrock7329
    @matthewrosebrock7329 Рік тому +10

    This is very interesting. Can I ask how you go about finding your references for these videos? I have a hard time finding information on more obscure or very niche Japanese culture topics. Like I really want to look into Inoue Enryo's (Professor Obake) Mystery Studies, or to understand the particulars of the Zorigami; a tsukumogami clock.

    • @oracle_8947
      @oracle_8947 Рік тому +1

      I second this. Writing a historical fiction series set in the sengoku era can be difficult since I don't speak Japanese and can only read what sources are translated on the topics I need.

    • @DiscoChixify
      @DiscoChixify Рік тому +3

      I think he made a video about it a long time ago. A lot of information he gets is from libraries and museums if I remember correctly, but there are specific books out on these topics too that you can buy online. Just have to do some digging.

  • @ToshMatsum
    @ToshMatsum Рік тому +4

    You better have that list of reputable incensed houses, my man, or I'll send you to my Patreon.
    🤝 Fun video.

  • @flankerchan
    @flankerchan Рік тому +5

    The rotating dial one looks awesome.

  • @OrisR
    @OrisR Рік тому +4

    You could say Ancient Japanese time was a WILD TIME back then, eyyy! *Yeets herself out of the Japanese Castle*

  • @TaranovskiAlex
    @TaranovskiAlex Рік тому +4

    I guess different types of incense? Like an "hour" of lavender, another "hour" or cotton etc?

  • @ssjcrafter8842
    @ssjcrafter8842 Рік тому +5

    my guess about the incense clocks' way of alerting you about the amount of time that has passed is through smell. maybe they added something to the incense to make it have a different smell?
    edit: wow, I got it right

  • @vvoid8416
    @vvoid8416 Рік тому +2

    My guess is by connecting to a fuse that would burning down a peasant village.

  • @bigfootpart4therevengeancing
    @bigfootpart4therevengeancing Рік тому +4

    Having had to disassemble grandfather clocks by hand a few times, I have to say that the more compact versions of clocks devised by the Japanese sound a lot better.
    Brass weights suck to remove from a clock.

  • @marcobuncit7539
    @marcobuncit7539 Рік тому +1

    *How it started*
    Europe: Why do you guys made smelly maze or fountain timer?
    Japan: Why do you guys made sketchy sparkle sparkle metal?
    *How it went*
    Europe: I don't know how long you gonna keep those clocks but we just gonna keep throwing ours anyway lol.
    Japan: Nah, no thanks. We're just gonna start our own business.
    Europe: Fuck.
    *How it still going*
    Europe: Hey, why you keep buying these clocks?
    Japan: Hush, great artists steal.
    Europe: What? O nevermind.
    *How it ended*
    Japan: Guess from now own we're just gonna be west.
    Europe: Pppppffffftttt.
    *How it may get revive*
    Japan: Oh, nevermind, let's just go back being our own east again.
    Europe: We'll see about that.
    Japan: Okay, boomer.

  • @mathieuleader8601
    @mathieuleader8601 Рік тому +1

    "The road to family success is paved with the dead dreams of your children sounds like a like Freddy from the Nightmare on Elm Street Series would say

  • @DenajM25
    @DenajM25 Рік тому +1

    im guessing how the incence clocks tell you, is the cracle of the fire, im at 2:30
    EDIT: i was wrong, yeah idk waht i was thinking about lol

  • @RIlianP
    @RIlianP Рік тому +1

    To the prostitute who snapped the stick, she liked to clock block her clients.

  • @TheCreapler
    @TheCreapler Рік тому +1

    another funny good vid and for me in a quarter incense stick guy lol.

  • @wicked00ly
    @wicked00ly Місяць тому +1

    03:07 bragging about being a 4 stick man! ahahahahaha

  • @thli8472
    @thli8472 Рік тому +1

    I thought it was Jeremy Clockson.

  • @xmoon_boyx3541
    @xmoon_boyx3541 Рік тому +6

    Amazing

  • @MrKIMBO345
    @MrKIMBO345 Рік тому +3

    Now, I can understand on why Japanese has strong culture with the dealing on the times.

  • @goldogwolly
    @goldogwolly Рік тому +3

    This was fascinating! Now I want to look into how ancient Chinese people told the time, pretty sure they didn't change it up as often as the Japanese did 🤔

  • @Simlatio
    @Simlatio Рік тому +1

    5:34 I've seen grandfather clocks big enough that you could stand in one. I've always wondered why they don't work anymore.

  • @mulethedonkey2579
    @mulethedonkey2579 Рік тому +1

    If there’s any job I’m gonna be forced to do instead of my desire to be a biologist, a Japanese royal clockmaker is cool as heck

  • @LegendaryNyanBeastCabbageKaya
    @LegendaryNyanBeastCabbageKaya Рік тому +1

    He said clock so much that the L disapeared ._.

  • @sergiojuanmembiela6223
    @sergiojuanmembiela6223 Рік тому +1

    The answer could be fireworks? They would explode when the fire arrived to them.

  • @benjii_boi
    @benjii_boi Рік тому +3

    guess about telling time with incense clocks: different kinds of incense for each hour, so that you could tell the hour by the smell of the incense

  • @sheepyteeth3902
    @sheepyteeth3902 Рік тому +2

    Hey! Linfamy thanks for the video! Quick question: at the start of the video when you talk about Japan and Korea potentially being on good terms, what is that hand symbol you have with the heart?- With the crossed index finger and thumb (I think).
    Thank you very much!!

  • @giantred
    @giantred Рік тому +2

    Just think, it went from water going from container to container or lighting incense to Seiko being a high end watch brand. That being said, I would really like a fire based clock.

  • @rocketgrunthyunho
    @rocketgrunthyunho Рік тому +2

    Wow what a big clock you've got sunny

  • @kidpoison9293
    @kidpoison9293 Рік тому +1

    Okay I promise I didn't cheat. The only thing that I can imagine is the change of the scent of the incense.

  • @gabi.a
    @gabi.a Рік тому +1

    thanks to you, I managed to wash the dishes not felling homicidal 😊

  • @dracotitanfall
    @dracotitanfall Рік тому +1

    Bruh these designs are sick af

  • @Akimittsun
    @Akimittsun Рік тому +2

    My guess about incense clocks is that their scents would change scents every so often to indicate the passage of time

  • @ladykoiwolfe
    @ladykoiwolfe Рік тому +1

    There are so many scents incense comes in. It would be easy to make each hour a different scent.

  • @ABW941
    @ABW941 4 місяці тому

    I thought they would hang metal balls on strings over the incens, so that when a certain point was reached the string would be burnt, the balls would drop and make a sound announcing the time.

  • @quanti5
    @quanti5 Рік тому

    Well that's disappointing. Smells? I thought the way incense clocks announced the time was with little patches of gunpowder along the way. How exciting would that have been? BOOM! Suppertime!

  • @thebookof5rings
    @thebookof5rings 6 місяців тому

    what about household clocks for peasants and merchants? did they have wadokei or mechanical clocks or water, incense. Or did they have a town bell? Specifically would like to know about the sengoku period

  • @00_rei90
    @00_rei90 8 місяців тому

    0:14
    _"After all, I forsee korea and Japan being on good terms for a long while..."_
    I mean he wasn't wrong. For hundreds of years korea and Japan was on good terms until the Meiji era

  • @Soundofwindonsand
    @Soundofwindonsand 6 місяців тому

    I don't ever want to hear any more crap about we won't use the metric system in the US, not after this.
    I thought we could be stubborn about things.😁

  • @flyingace1234
    @flyingace1234 Рік тому +2

    My guess for the incense clocks was little bits of gunpowder or fireworks embedded in the stream?

    • @hellomjb
      @hellomjb Рік тому

      That would be pretty cool, a little sparkle/crackle every half hour.

  • @alyssamcdonough8887
    @alyssamcdonough8887 Рік тому +3

    Fire crackers. That's my guess for how incencts clocks could alert you to hour changes

  • @Ornzora
    @Ornzora Рік тому +1

    I though the incense would no longer produce smell, so they just use it as stopwatch, but wow i don't think they would make diffrent smell for different time !

  • @octapusxft
    @octapusxft Рік тому

    I thought the incense clocks would announce the end by making the house catch fire

  • @YourFunkiness
    @YourFunkiness Рік тому

    If memory serves correctly, incense clocks used gunpowder to announce the time.

  • @vanaals
    @vanaals Рік тому

    It would make sense, day hours and night hours, in a country whose east and west horizons were the distinct lines between water and sky.

  • @thebookof5rings
    @thebookof5rings 6 місяців тому

    in households before the edo period how did commoners tell the time? was it a town bell or did households have incense clocks for themselves

  • @marocat4749
    @marocat4749 Рік тому

    Europrian farmer too woked from dawn till duksk an i think most peopl dis farm. s. that ws common.

  • @WildBillCox13
    @WildBillCox13 Рік тому +1

    "Perfect for houses . . ."

  • @ProlMLGJoe
    @ProlMLGJoe Рік тому

    Finally, some clouds orientalism slowly drifting away.

  • @ΓιώργοςΚοντογεωργίου-γ9β

    Did the incense clocks tell you the time by igniting a tiny amount of gunpowder at their end?

  • @ZarlanTheGreen
    @ZarlanTheGreen Рік тому +1

    Water, fire, metal… that's three of the five elements. What about the other two? Where are the wood clocks, and earth clocks? ;)

  • @VictoriaForSale
    @VictoriaForSale Рік тому +1

    It just came to my mind that I should have known about the Japanese old time counting before I read various books from the 11. Century like sei shonagons pillow book and especially murasaki shikibus prince genji. I always wondered about their time descriptions of night and morning for example when the gentleman visited lady's 😏 or when They wrote about the beauty of the night. I always wondered "when do they sleep?!" but now that I know the night was shorter I can imagine that intimicacy and staring at the moon was a short affair and especially the ladies are described falling asleep before the night arrived what means before Europeans really consider it night. I need to look further into this and learn about the seasonal time changes and maybe it will only rise my understanding of the Japanese old literature. Thank you so much, I knew they used zodiac animals for the time but not that the hours were irregularly long.

    • @Linfamy
      @Linfamy  Рік тому

      Glad it helped you gain a bit more understanding of old Japanese literature 👍

  • @zoeblopaistinpannu5278
    @zoeblopaistinpannu5278 5 місяців тому

    the japanese take daylight savings seriously, huh

  • @Shinji_Dai
    @Shinji_Dai Рік тому

    Western brothels had small candles instead of incense sticks but similar idea.

  • @Soyyomila_
    @Soyyomila_ Рік тому +4

    I love your content a lot!

  • @invisiblebutaintblind6582
    @invisiblebutaintblind6582 Рік тому

    I'm guessing little bits of slightly explosive powder at certain parts of the incense line- it would make a little banging noise, and you'd hear it.
    Edit: Nvm. Turns out I'm an idiot.

  • @gilgameschvonuruk4982
    @gilgameschvonuruk4982 Рік тому +1

    Silly idea:maybe the incense lighted a fuse, which started a mechanism.

  • @presidentcherry6193
    @presidentcherry6193 Рік тому +2

    Not first

  • @D8W2P4
    @D8W2P4 Рік тому

    2:23
    The same way the Welsh did their fireworks.

  • @darthclaire7179
    @darthclaire7179 Рік тому +2

    Did it change scent?

  • @napalmholocaust9093
    @napalmholocaust9093 Рік тому +1

    If my water clock is rockin don't come a knockin 😉

  • @kpp28
    @kpp28 Рік тому

    30 minutes? Damn you guys count in minutes?

  • @Carlsaurus808
    @Carlsaurus808 Рік тому +1

    if a fly didn’t have wings will it be called a wake or a fly still

  • @toibocks3201
    @toibocks3201 Рік тому

    Maybe different insense smells to tell the time apart? Lavender til noon then sandalwood or something?

  • @quantafreeze
    @quantafreeze Рік тому +1

    I'm guessing the smell changed?

  • @Sprecherfuchs
    @Sprecherfuchs Рік тому

    Why do the traditional hours start at 4?

  • @sebastienlebatteux185
    @sebastienlebatteux185 Рік тому

    It smells like it's time to leave a comment 😂

  • @kobiromano6115
    @kobiromano6115 Рік тому

    Different smells for different times?

  • @KawaiiStars
    @KawaiiStars Рік тому

    different scent for different hours?

  • @jimiwills
    @jimiwills Рік тому

    "and call it a day" 🤣

  • @Lucious410
    @Lucious410 Рік тому +1

    This was great. Thanks 😊

  • @trelauney
    @trelauney Рік тому

    [With restraint]
    Don't stop me now
    Because I'm having a good time
    Having a good time
    I figured it would be the smells, but imagine a grain of gunpowder for some hourly percussion

  • @gwammeh
    @gwammeh Рік тому +1

    6:43 HEY IT’S US!!!

  • @DigidesteinedSayian
    @DigidesteinedSayian Рік тому +1

    My guess for how incense clocks could tell time is that different hours have a different type of incense, so it smells different.

  • @marionetteproject508
    @marionetteproject508 Рік тому

    My first thought for introducing western objects like this,even when it had existed for a long time: inspiration unlocks the future - caproni