NAWCC Bulletin
December 1997 Volume 39/6 Number 311
Table of Contents

About the Cover

On the front cover, courtesy of the NAWCC Museum Collection, a modern print of a Japanese clock shop. The woodblock print commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Hotta Clock and Watch Company, Ltd. (now Hotta Corp.) of Tokyo, Japan. The print attempts to visualize the original shop in Nagoya, Japan. It was commissioned by the late Mr. Ryohei Hotta, NAWCC member and Fellow. The carving artist was Mr. Yoshio Kanamori and printed manually by Mr. Chikuhodo Kobayashi on handmade paper of "Torinko paper of Echizen". The print revives the old days of the Hotta Clock and Watch Co. and is poetically referred to as "Nishikie" picture. The tower clock could be dated after January 1, 1873, when Western equinoctial hours were officially adopted in Japan. On the other hand, the yagura dokei  or clocks on a pyramid, clearly visible inside the shop, suggests that mass production of Western style domestic clocks, which started in 1874, had not fully replaced traditional Japanese Clockmaking.