そろばんの歴史
日本人の知恵
中国から伝わったそろばんは、珠は丸く、五珠が２つ、一珠が５つで大型のものでした。
それを、私たちの祖先は、珠を現在使われているひし形のような型に変え、また、五珠２つを１つにしたり、一珠５つを４つにするなど、構造的な面においても改良を加えました。
また、持ちやすく、小型化され、使いやすい日本のそろばんへと発展していったのです。
このような日本人の特長である改良への智恵が、そろばん１つを取りあげても、顕著にあらわれていることがおもしろい。
Japanese Know-How
The soroban introduced from China was significantly larger and had two globe-shaped beads in its upper part, which were counted as 5, and five beads in lower part, which were counted as 1.
Those globe-shaped beads have since been transformed into diamond-shaped ones. The upper part was reduced to one row and the lower part to four rows. Then, little by little slight improvements were made and the soroban became the smaller, easier-to-use one that we have today.
It is interesting to note that these modifications of the soroban directly reflect the ability of the Japanese to take an idea and improve on it. This well-known ability is clearly shown when examing the history of the soroban.
