Wasan geometry,
or traditional Japanese mathematics,
flourished under the Tokugawa
shogunate around the Edo period.
It uniquely expressed itself through mathematical votive
pictures called San Gaku, written
in the formal Sino-Japanese language
and displayed in temples and
public places.
Beautiful wooden tablets of many
sizes and shapes would outline
in pleasant and colorful ways mathematical
problems mostly left for the viewer
to solve. This tradition slowly disappeared; today, less than a thousand Sangaku have survived abandonment or destruction.
In Dr. Fukagawa and D. Pedoe own words:
During
the greater part of the Edo
period (1603-1867), Japan was
almost completely cut off from
the Western world. Books on
mathematics, if they entered
Japan at all, must have been
scarce, and yet, during this
long period of isolation, people
of all social classes, from
farmers to samurai, produced
theorems in Euclidean geometry
which are remarkably different
from those produced in the
West during the centuries of
schism, and sometimes anticipated
these theorems by many years..
These theorems were not published in
books, but appeared as beautifully colored drawings on
wooden tablets which were hung under the roof in the precincts
of a shrine or temple.
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The following three-part gallery is an extended series of variations on Sangaku problems – a tribute to mathematicians and artists alike who graced the walls of many temples in eighteenth century Japan. This work would not have been made possible without the interest and dedication of mathematicians Dr. Fukagawa, Pedoe, Rothman, Kotera and the many others who provided inspiration, guidance and support throughout this journey.
Jean Constant
Santa Fe, 6-2007
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*The artworks featured in the galleries are printed 20'x20', 220g., archival fine art paper, and and available for purchase, individually or in series. Contact the artist for more information. |