Warazan

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Example of warazan at the Museum of Science, Tokyo University of Science
Instruction to use warazan to record the level of tax assessed, in the Yaeyama-jima Kuramoto Kujichō (1873 copy of the 1857 original); the fourth to sixth characters in the fifth line from the right read「わら算」(University of the Ryukyus Library)[1][2]

Warazan (藁算) was a system of record-keeping using knotted straw at the time of the Ryūkyū Kingdom.[3][4] In the Southern Ryukyuan languages of the Sakishima Islands it was known as barasan and on Okinawa Island as warazani or warazai.[5] Formerly used in particular in relation to the "head tax", it is still to be found in connection with the annual Itoman Giant Tug-of-War (糸満大綱引), to record the amount of miki or sacred sake dedicated.[1]

See also[edit]

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References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "The mathematics from Komonjo" (PDF). University of the Ryukyus Library. November 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  2. ^ 八重山島蔵元公事帳 [Administrative Guidelines Of Yaeyama Kuramoto] (in Japanese). University of the Ryukyus Library. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Native Writing Systems in the Okinawan Islands" 沖縄諸島の土着書記体系の研究 (in Japanese and English). University of Tokyo. 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  4. ^ Sasaki Toshikazu. "A Study of Ryukyu Materials in the Collection of the National Museum of Ethnology". National Museum of Ethnology. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  5. ^ Miyata Yoshimi 宮田義美 (27 December 2014). 古代中国における計算の起源 [The Origins of Reckoning in Ancient China] (PDF). Reports of Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, Tsuda University (in Japanese). Tsuda University: 358.
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