Incense clock

The incense clock (香鐘, 香钟, xiāng zhōng in Chinese) is a special timekeeping device invented in China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) that spread to neighboring countries such as Japan. The clocks' bodies are effectively specialized censers that hold incense sticks or powdered incense that have been manufactured and calibrated to a known rate of combustion is used to measure relatively short periods of time from minutes, hours, to days. The clock may also contain bells and gongs which act as alarms. Although the water clock and astronomical clock were known in China beforehand (example: Su Song), the incense clock was also highly used.

History

In addition to water, mechanical, and candle clocks, incense clocks were used in the Far East, and were fashioned in several different forms. [Richards, p. 52] Incense clocks were first used in China around the 6th century; in Japan, one still exists in the Shōsōin, [cite book|title=Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity: Clocks of Late Imperial China|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8bXxHSZkWssC&printsec=frontcover#PPA209,M1|last=Pagani|first=Catherine|page=p. 209|isbn=0472112082|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=2001|accessdate=2008-06-21] although its characters are not Chinese, but Devanagari.cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=QerLX9x8pIkC&printsec=frontcover#PPA160,M1|title=The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics|page=pp. 160–161|last=Schafer|first=Edward|year=1963|isbn=0520054628|publisher=University of California Press] Due to their frequent use of Devanagari characters, suggestive of their use in Buddhist ceremonies, Edward H. Schafer speculated that incense clocks were invented in India. Although similar to the candle clock, incense clocks burned evenly and without a flame; therefore, they were more accurate and safer for indoor use.cite web |url=http://infolab.stanford.edu/~echang/Class/public/report.html |title=Visualizing Video Streams using Sand Glass Metaphor |author= Chang, Edward; Lu, Yung-Hsiang |publisher=Stanford University |date=December 1996|accessdate=2008-06-20]

Types

Several types of incense clock have been found, the most common forms include the incense stick and incense seal.cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=XDwZ9WZ3oBIC&printsec=frontcover#PPA55,M1|title=Of Time, Passion, and Knowledge: Reflections on the Strategy of Existence|publisher=Princeton University Press|last=Fraser|first=Julius|page=pp. 55–56|year=1990|ibsn=0691024375|accessdate=2008-06-21]

tick incense clocks

An incense stick clock uses incense sticks that have been calibrated to know burning rates.cite web |url=http://www.msichicago.org/scrapbook/scrapbook_exhibits/time/educ_pages/act_incenseclock.html |title=Time Activity:Incense Clock |accessdate=2008-04-29 |publisher=Museum of Science and Industry |location=Chicago] Most of these clocks were elaborate, sometimes having threads, with weights attached, at even intervals. The weights would drop onto a platter or gong below, signifying that a certain amount of time had elapsed. Some incense clocks were held in elegant trays; open-bottomed trays were also used, to allow the weights to be used together with the decorative tray. [Levy, p. 18] [cite web |url=http://www.nawcc.org/museum/nwcm/galleries/asian/incense.htm |title=Asian Gallery – Incense Clock|accessdate=2008-04-28|publisher=National Watch and Clock Museum] Sticks of incense with different scents were also used, so that the hours were marked by a change in fragrance. [Richards, p. 130] The incense sticks could be straight or spiraled; the spiraled ones were longer, and were therefore intended for long periods of use, and often hung from the roofs of homes and temples. [cite book|title=Fire: Servant, Scourge, and Enigma|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=6Lg7o6NnJzgC&printsec=frontcover#PPA157,M1|publisher=Dover Publications|last=Rossotti|first=Hazel|page=p. 157|year=2002|isbn=0486422615|accessdate=2008-06-21]

In Chinese medicine doctors would make multiple partial breaks on a incense stick as instructions to the patient such that the patient would take a dose of medication everytime the incense has burned to one of these breaks. In Japan, a geisha was paid for the number of "senkodokei" (incense sticks) that had been consumed while she was present, a practice which continued until 1924. [cite book| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xdVkzs6iI1YC&printsec=frontcover#PPA183,M1| title=The Trail of Time: Shih-chien Ti Tsu-chi : Time Measurement with Incense in East Asia| last=Bedini| first=Silvio| publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=p. 183|isbn=0521374820|year=1994|accessdate=2008-06-21]

Powdered incense clocks

Incense seal clocks are essentially specalized censers, the work through burning lines of powdered incense created using incense seals (香印, "xiāng yìn" in Chinese; "kodokei" in Japanese). They were used for similar occasions and events as the stick incense clock. While religious purposes were of primary importance, these clocks were also popular at social gatherings, and were used by Chinese scholars and intellectuals.Bedini, pp. 103–104] The seal was a wooden or stone disk with one or more grooves etched in it into which incense was placed. [Fraser, p. 52]

These clocks were common in China, but were produced in fewer numbers in Japan. To signal the passage of a specific amount of time, small pieces of fragrant woods, resins, or different scented incenses could be placed on the incense powder trails. Different powdered incense clocks used different formulations of incense, depending on how the clock was laid out. [cite journal|last=Bedini|first=Silvio A.|date=1963|title=The Scent of Time. A Study of the Use of Fire and Incense for Time Measurement in Oriental Countries|journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society|publisher=American Philosophical Society|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|volume=53|issue=5|pages=pp. 1–51|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1005923?seq=1|accessdate=2008-05-14|doi=10.2307/1005923] The length of the trail of incense, directly related to the size of the seal, was the primary factor in determining how long the clock would last; all burned for long periods of time, ranging between 12 hours and a month. [Bedini, p. 105] [cite book |author=Fraser, J. A. |title=Time, The Familiar Stranger |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |location=Amherst |year=1987 |pages=p. 52 |isbn=0-87023-576-1|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=n026gjD4B9QC&printsec=frontcover#PPA52,M1] [Fraser, p. 56]

While early incense seals were made of wood or stone, the Chinese gradually introduced disks made of metal, most likely beginning during the Song dynasty. They were often made of paktong in the form of multileveled small boxes with patterned perforated tops. Gold and silver powder incense clocks are considered quite rare. This allowed craftsmen to more easily create both large and small seals, as well as design and decorate them more aesthetically. Another advantage was the ability to vary the paths of the grooves, to allow for the changing length of the days in the year. As smaller seals became more readily available, the clocks grew in popularity among the Chinese, and were often given as gifts. [Bedini, pp. 104–106] Incense seal clocks are often sought by modern-day clock collectors; however, few remain that have not already been purchased or been placed on display at museums or temples.Bedini, p. 187] Although they are no longer used formally for time keeping, such incense clocks are still used by scholars and monks in East for evoking moods and for aesthetics.

Using incense seal clocks requires a period of preparation. A fine layer of damp white wood ash is first laid down in a small container, flattened, and lightly compacted. Seals that were in the form of patterned metal stencils were simply laid down on the ash while the incense powder was poured over it. After a light compaction of the incense powder by a tamper, lifting up the metal seal forms a long trail of incense powder that has been masked onto the ash. Other seals have a protruded pattern that creates a negative indentation in the wood ash. The incense powder is carefully spooned into the indentation in the ash and then recompacted again with the seal.Citation |last=Bedini|first=Silvio A.|year=1994|title=The Trail of Time : Time Measurement with Incense in East Asia|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-37482-0]

References

ee also

*Chinese incense culture
*History of timekeeping devices

External links

* [http://www.japanese-incense.com/time.htm] : TIME MEASUREMENT WITH INCENSE IN JAPAN (With Sticks and Coils) -- Silvio A. Bedini
* [http://www.japanese-incense.com/geisha-bedini.htm] : In the Flower and Willow World by -- Silvio A. Bedini
* [http://www.bandcantiques.com/items/458422/en1store.html Chinese Enameled Paktong Incense Clock] : commercial site showing an example of an incense seal styled incense clock