The Mizuochi Ruins（water clock） and the Seventeen-Article Constitution

There is a famous ruin called Mizuochi Ruins near Asuka Temple, and I think many people have visited it.

The National History Encyclopedia states, “The discovered remains include a tower-like building, various facilities for water use that were built integrally with this building, a group of four or more dug-standing pillar buildings, and a dug-standing pillar fence. It has a first-class scale and content among architecture,” and it seems that it is a highly accurate building. "Rou" means a tall building, and it seems that it was a huge two-story building that cannot be imagined from the ruins.

This building was built to tell the time using the flow of water, and served as a large clock in the Asuka area.

Using the high-tech technology of the time, the water tanks were set up at different levels, and when the top tank was filled with water and connected to each other with thin pipes, the water gradually moved from the top to the bottom, creating a thin pipe. The amount and time of flowing water is constant depending on the height, so it seems that it was a device to measure time. The more tanks there are, the more accurate time can be measured.

The large copper pipes for pumping water and the small copper pipes for flowing excess water to the Ishigami Ruins were made by rounding copper plates, joining them with silver solder, coating with lacquer to prevent freezing, and even covering them with wooden pipes.

In the Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan), the 6th year of the Saimei era (AD 660.5), it is written that “The crown prince (Nakanooeno Oji) made a water clock for the first time to inform the people of the time. In the fourth month of the tenth year of Tenchi (A.D. 671.4.25), it is written, ”A water clock is placed on a new stand to tell the time, and the bell and bell ring. This day was the first time I used leaking.

The Mizuochi Ruins are said to have been established in the tenth year of Tenchi (AD671).

The article on the water clock in the Chronicles of Japan and the existence of the Mizuochi ruins almost confirm that the Seventeen-Article Constitution was created before the sixth year of Saimei (AD660).

Although Article 8 of the 17-Article Constitution has a description of the time at which government officials should serve and the time at which they should leave, the description is ambiguous, and it is not possible to know the time at which they should serve from this wording alone.

“As mentioned in 8, the lords and the Hundred Houses should go to work early and leave late. Public affairs cannot be taken lightly, and it is difficult to complete them all in one day. Therefore, if you show up late, you won't be able to make it in time for urgent business, and if you leave early, you'll leave the office behind.”

What is written here is “Go early, leave late”', and there is no specific standard.

If this is the case, the more diligent bureaucrats will work longer hours and lose money, while the haphazard bureaucrats will gain more, making it impossible to maintain order in the bureaucracy.

This was supplemented by Article 11, which stipulated, “Look clearly at the achievements and faults of bureaucrats, and reward and punish accordingly.” I think I was convinced.

The Prince's work ranged from adjudicating lawsuits to educating the people through Buddhism, national infrastructure and transportation such as road construction, health and labor relations such as saving the poor, and diplomacy in exchanges with foreign countries. It would inevitably require a huge bureaucracy.

When the Constitution was written in the twentieth year of Suiko (AD 604), our country did not have the technology to make water clocks, and it was not possible to inform government officials of the time they should serve.

(The photo is of the Mizuochi Ruins)

Mizuochi Ruins: A 33-minute walk west from Kashiharajingu-mae Station. Taken on November 30, 2020.