Antique Kanji Japanese Abacus (Soroban), 5/1 Beads, Kanji Labels, 1850-1890s

This 15 rod, 90 reddish wood bead ‘soroban’ (literally, counting tray) evolved from the ancient Chinese suanpan abacus, imported to Japan in the 14th century. 
 
The single ‘heavenly’ biconal wood beads on the top have a value of five, the five ‘earth’ beads below have a value of one, the bar between them called a reckoning bar.
 
We date this piece to sometime between 1850 and 1891. In or around 1850, the upper ‘heavenly’ beads were reduced from two to one (ours has only one). Also, the carved kanji labels on the reckoning bar above each rod suggest this is an older merchant’s tool, dating from the late Edo to early Showa periods (roughly 1850–1930). In 1891, the five beads below the bar (as in ours) were reduced to four. 
 
We were unable to translate the kanji characters, but we understand they either mark the value of each rod or may have been labeled by a merchant for specific transactions. The center rod is unmarked, which we understand is because it marks decimal places. The back is unmarked which seems unusual as most have the name of a company etched on the reverse side.
 
Today, the soroban is largely taught only by private math tutors illustrating ‘the art of math’. Mastery of the soroban has become a competitive sport as well. This may have been inspired in part by a 1946 when an American solder was challenged to use a calculator against a Japanese with a soroban, the latter winning 4 out of 5 tests.
 
We believe the Burr sisters would have picked this up during one of their visits to Japan in the 1920s or 1930s. It is in excellent vintage condition with only two beads with the tiniest of chips spotted and one with some ink stains. It could use a good careful cleaning (as evidenced by the dust on the beads in the close up photos) and it is a bit dusty inside the board case. We have tried to clean it up as best possible. 
 
H 4 1/4” x L 13” x D 1 3/8”
21.66 oz (614g)
 
Disclaimer: We have tried to make sure colors shown in photos are representative of the real colors of each item. We have tried to identify all imperfections in descriptions, but we may have missed some. If you are unhappy with your purchase, let us know.