Analemmatic dials

Higashi Harima Caravan Park, Akashi (Hyogo Prefecture, Japan)

Reinhold Kriegler from Bremen (Germany) visited the Osaka area in Japan in the spring of 1999. The March 2000 issue of the NASS Compendium included his report. He was quite enthousiastic about the many dials in the park, if only because they did not seem to suffer from vandalism...
Fortunately, he saved the pictures of the analemmatic dial for me to show here!

And a special dial it is! The hour points run from 6 to 6 (18) hr local time, which in this case is also civil time. Radiating from the center of the date line, 'pie slices' of one hour wide have been laid out. Each slice has its own color. The ellipse is surrounded by a circular band, also colored, around which 12 animal figures are set. They represent the Chinese 12-year zodiac cycle. Clockwise, starting from noon you see the rat, ox, tiger, hare/rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. The southern half of the dial face has another pretty decoration. The date line has been divided into the calendar months, using standard-width numbered tiles.

The pig and the ox are just on the line from the center through the 11 hr and 1 hr points, respectively. Is that a coincidence, caused by the lines through those hour points just being 30° off the meridian? In the figure below, the red line is the hour ring for 34.7° latitude. The blue points are evenly spaced on the blue circle at 30° intervals.

The placement of the animals apparently has been adapted to fit in with the radial lines through the hour points, so as to give a pleasing, aesthetic arrangement. How thoughtful!

Akashi is well known for its location on top of the 135° meridian, which determines Japan Standard Time.

Location: 34.7° N, 135.0° E
Design: ?
Inauguration: ?
Photo © 1999 Reinhold Kriegler

Reinhold Kriegler also sent me a picture of an analemmatic dial in Aoyama.
Don't forget to visit the reflecting dials #1 and #2 in his Bremen residence.