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"Living with the Gods" - Neil MacGregor
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Littlestone
Littlestone
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Edited Nov 22, 2017, 21:41
Re: "Living with the Gods" - Neil MacGregor
Nov 22, 2017, 15:52
david gregg wrote:


As for Japan the Jomon people predated the arrival of the Japanese, probably by millennia. Their stone 'circles' are based on classical megalithic geometry again familiar from Europe. I have analysed 4 of the largest myself. It is uncanny. The gods spoke to many peoples in the same geometrical terms
which they then used to define (and worship?) the movements of the Sun God!

Professor D P Gregg (retired)


You may be interested to know, David, that the standard (linear) unit of measurement in Japan (known as the shaku) is just a few millimetres short of our linear foot. Traditional Japanese architecture and crafts all use the shaku - from the thick tatami floor mats measuring 6x3 shaku (which then dictates the size of Japanese rooms, doors and walls) to the size of things like Japanese handmade paper which generally measures 2x3 shaku.

Unlike us dividing the foot into 12 the Japanese divide the shaku into 10, giving 10 sun to the shaku. This in turn is divided into bu, giving 10 bu to the sun. This in turn is divided into rin, giving 10 rin to the bu. This in turn is divided into mo, giving 10 mo to the rin. You can imagine how small this is by now (mo literally means a strand of hair).

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe (but perhaps that’s another story. :-)
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