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後方には 竹 右は満開の桜
Genius is
one per cent inspiration
and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
Thomas
Alva Edison
碑の左側に書かれている文章
” 天才とは １ ％ のひらめきと９９ ％ の汗の
結晶である。 ”
The Monument to Thomas Alva Edison at the
top of the
sacred Otokoyama Mountain.
In 1879, Thomas Alva Edison revolutionized the life style of people in
the
word by inventing the durable incandescent electric light bulb, using the
bamboo which grow at Yawata, Kyoto for its filament. For the following
one decade from the year of the invention, that primitive bulb
illuminated all the world.
In 1929, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the invention of
the incandescent eletric light, the Golden Glow Eletric Light Festival was
held in many countries all over the world. Japan decided to erect the
monument to the memory of the great achievement of Thomas Alva
Edison at Yawata, for its notede bamboos which
contributed to the the invention of incandescent electric bulb.
The original monument had been situated at the north of the grounds
of this park.The Association of the Admirers of Edison moved it to the
present place in 1958. The monument was replaced by the present one
in October, 1980.
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The main Building "Honden " of Iwashimizu Hachiman-gû Shrine
on the top of Otokoyama Mountain
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18th October - Edison died on 18th October.
Electricians and the representatives of electronic
product manufacturing companies will held
a ceremony to give thanks to the soul of
Thomas Alva Edison who brought electric light
to the world. The national anthems of both
the United States and Japan will be sung.
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In front of the monument to Edison, bamboo lamps are
are prepared.
( 12 )
The portrait of Thomas Alva Edison looms up by
being iluminated by bamboo lamp lights.
( 13 )
The Festival of Light - Tôryôka - is prepared with many
bamboo lamps. On 4th May.
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Among many inventions which revolutionalized our life style in the modern ages,
the most important ones must be electric light and the electric appliances. When
asked what were the most important inventions of his, Edison himself replied
that the electric light is one of the most important inventions of his.
The bamboo at Yawata city, Kyoto prefecture, contributed greatly to his
invention
of the electric light.
In the Plaza in front of the Yawata Station, there is the monument of "Declaration
against the nuclear weapons" which consists of an object of of a huge
incan-
descent electric light and cut bamboos and also the bust statue of Thomas
Alva
Edison.
In 1876, Thomas Alva Edison established a lavoratory in Menlo, New Jersey.
and founded in 1878 Edison Electric Light Company and started research
to
manufacture the electric light of quality acceptable by the purchasing public.
In 1879, when he was 32 years old, he succeeded in manufacturing incande-
scent electric light with the carbonized cotton filament covered with tar and soot
which lasted for 45 hours.
Edison believed that the electric light bulb must last more than 600 hours
to be
marketable. He obtained more than 6,000 materials for the filament from
all
over the world to test them.
One day, he tested the bamboo of an oriental fan he found in the laboratory.
The filament lasted 200 hours. Consequently, he began to concentrate his
efforts to gather bamboos from all over the world and tested them..
He sent more than twenty researchers to many countries to find the best
bamboo for the filament of the electric bulb. It costed him more than 100,000
dollars. He tested more than 1,200 species of the bamboos. ( Notes : This
description may be an exaggeration. It is said that there are only 1,100
species
of the bamboos in the world. In Japan, about 600 species of the bamboos
grow. )
In 1880, one of his researchers, William H. Moore came to Japan and had
the
honor to meet the Japanese prime minister Itô Hirobumi and minister
of foreign
affairs Yamagata Aritomo. The Japanese statesmen advised him to go to Kyoto
to obtain the good bamboo.
In Kyoto, Uemura Masanao, the first governor of the Kyoto Prefecture of
the new
Meiji government received him and suggested that the bamboos in Sagano
and Yawata in Kyoto might be suitable for the filaments of electric bulbs.
The electric bulb with the filament of the Ma-dake bamboo of Yawata lasted for
2, 450 hours. The Edison General Electric was founded to manufacture the
electric light bulbs with the filaments made of the Yawata bamboos which
were
exported to many countries in the world during about 10 years until in
1894 when
they were replaced by the cellulose filament bulbs.
In 1887, J.P. Morgan invested two million dollars and the Edison General
Eletric
was founded to promote the sales of the incandescent electric lamps. Edison
insisted on the distribution of electrical power by direct current.
The voltage of electrical power for direct current will lower over a long distance.
The alternating current can be distributed over a long distance at a high
voltage,
and can be transformed to about 100 volts at any place.
Edison, however, doggedly insisted in the distribution of DC electricity
. He even
showed that the high voltage of an alternatinig current is dangerous by
electro-
cuting dogs and cats. His board of directors turned down the direct current
method in order to compete with Thompson House and Westing House which
were distributors of electric power by alternating current.
The name of "Edison" was removed from the company name, and he
was
forced to resign from the company.
During the following thirty years until his death, Edison never did set
foot in the
factory of General Electric. He died in 1931 without wining the Nobel Prize.
He is known in Japan as "the King of the Inventions".
Several Japanese people were working in the Edison's Laboratory. Iwadare
Kunihiko founded Nippon Electric Company "NEC". Fujioka
Ichisuke founnded
"Toshiba". In 1925, he improved the electric bulbs which
were being manufac-
tured with the technology of Western Electric and invented non-glare incan\
descent electric light bulbs in 1925. They were sold with the "Mazda"
brand.
We were familiar with the "Mazda" incandescent electric light
bulbs even in
post-war times until the fluorescent electric lights became popular. The
name
"Mazda" did not come from the Japanese surname "Matsuda".
It was taken
from "Ahura Mazda", the supreme god of the Zoroastrian religion,
"Lord
Wisdom" in .
The agreement of friendship between Milan, Ohio and Yawata City was
signed in 1986.
The votive tablets with the Edison's image printed and the wishes wriiten on
another side of the tablet are hung at the hanger in the grounds of the Iwashimizu
Hachiman-gu Shrine on the top of the Otokoyama Mountain by the worshippers.
The festival of light - Tôryôka at the Iwashimizu Hachiman-gû
Shrine started in
1999 to celebrate 1,140 years after the enshrinement of the Hachiman gods.
The festival has become one of the anual religious events of the Shrine.
On 4th May, The Shrine buildings and the vast will be lit by bamboo lamps.
The monument to Thomas Edison will be also illuminated by lights of bamboo
lamps.
Strangely enough, the birthday of Thomas Alva Edison, 11th February fallls
on
the birthday of Japanese Nation. The descendant of Sun Godess, Kamuyamato
Iwarehikono-mikoto left his palace at Katachiho in the south of Kyudhu
and
started going westwards and finally he settled himself in Kashihara ( now
Nara Prefecture) as the first emperor Jinmu of the country of Sun Rising
on
11th February in 660 before C.E.
At 10 am., the shrine holds the ceremony to celebrate the anniversary of
the birth
of Japanese nation and pray for the prosperity of the Nation. At noon,
they
celebrate the birthday of Thomas Alva Edison.
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Yawata City
