''Sekka Zusetsu'' () is a figure collection written by

Doi Toshitsura was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Edo period, who ruled the Koga Domain. He served as a ''rōjū'' for Tokugawa Ienari during the Tokugawa shogunate. References * Bolitho, Harold. (1974). ''Treasures Among Men: The Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Ja ...

, the fourth ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of

Koga Domain file:Koga castle kannonjikuruwa dorui.jpg, alt=, Site of Koga Castle, administrative headquarters of Koga Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Shimōsa Province, Honshū. The d ...

in 1832.

Overview

was located at the center of the Kantō Plain. Due to heavy snowfall, the Koga Domain was a good place to observe

snowflakes A snowflake is a single ice crystal that has achieved a sufficient size, and may have amalgamated with others, which falls through the Earth's atmosphere as snow.Knight, C.; Knight, N. (1973). Snow crystals. Scientific American, vol. 228, no. ...

, the fourth ''

'' of

started observing snowflakes as his hobby with his own

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...

which was imported from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and he drew pictures and studies about snowflakes in the book. This figure collection of his is highly valued today in Japan as the first Japanese figure collection of snowflakes. It's said that Toshitsura had many difficulties observing snowflake properly because snowflakes need −10 to −15 Celsius degrees temperature to hold their correct shapes. So Toshitsura had to observe them under very cold temperatures. This book was written for him and his family (the Doi clan, ), but it had great influence on Japanese textile-patterns also. As soon as he wrote the book, snowflake patterns () became popular among ordinary people in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

Observation method

#Putting a black cloth outside at night when it seems cold enough to snow #Receiving snowflakes with the cloth #If snowflakes received, picking them up carefully and putting into a black cup #Being careful not to breathe on them, and observing them with a microscope.

External links

Scanned facsimile of entire ''Sekka Zusetsu'' online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sekka zusetsu Edo-period works 19th-century history books