Concept of Electricity Described in Books Written in Edo Period

Abstract

Japanese intellects of Late Edo period (1720~1867) heard of that thunder and the essence of phenomena occurring when operating friction generators are same. Some of them called “essence of electricity” chi (essence) and tried to explain the electric phenomena by using Yin-Yang theory (In Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang are opposite forces, such as hard and soft, that continuously changes and forms a basis of everything. It is believed that everything contains both Yin and Yang in a balance). It is described in this paper that how electricity and its phenomena are interpreted in that times (1720~1888) from the information in books written in that times.