The Clock Tower

     
Here is yet another image that I snapped on the Karatsu trip. It is the Toki no Taiko, and it dominates a small park a short walk West of the castle.

It is a mechanical clock and at certain times of the day a character literally comes out of the woodwork and beats a Taiko drum to the delight of any dog-walkers and loiterers in the vicinity.

11pm – 1am 午 Horse
1am – 3am 未 Sheep
3am – 5am 申 Monkey
5am – 7am 酉 Rooster
7am – 9am 戌 Dog
9am – 11am 亥 Boar
11am – 1pm 子 Rat
1pm – 3pm 丑 Ox
3pm – 5pm 寅 Tiger
5pm – 7pm 卯 Rabbit
7pm – 9pm 辰 Dragon
9pm – 11pm 巳 Snake

Each of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac represents a 2 hour block, so just one revolution can account for the 24 hours in a day.

Related post: Directions and the Chinese Zodiac.

Time-telling towers

It seems at every castle there was a building dedicated to the role of time announcement. It wasn’t just the predictable (bi-) hourly toll-of-the-bell or bang-of-the-the-drum though. In times of strife the various alerts would be conveyed to everyone within earshot that they ought to be getting on their bikes, so to speak.

The Toki Turret
Akizuki Castle		 The Tokinokane Turret
Usuki Castle		 The Jishōrō
Shimabara Castle		 The Toki no Taiko
Karatsu Castle
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  • Anonymous

    What an interesting clock. I would like to camp out there and watch all the animals come out. ^^

  • http://twitter.com/ichigoichielove Lisa W

    That is by far the coolest clock tower I have *ever* seen. Any chance you’re stopping by again to grab some pics of the animals that pop out? :)

  • Anonymous

    Oops. I’ve unintentionally been misleading. There are no animals that pop out, just one Taiko drummer. Oh, and the Taiko drum pops out too. Written on the clock where we’d normally see numbers 1 – 12 are the Chinese characters for the 12 animals of the zodiac so, that’s why I included the table.

    One mechanical clock that you must check out (and you very well might in December) is the clock at Dogo in Matsuyama city.

  • Anonymous

    I tell you what, next time I’ll make a point to catch a video of the animatronics. :)