Elekiter

The Elekiter (replica) exhibited in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan

The Elekiter being demonstrated

A curio shop demonstrating and selling an Elekiter. The sign at the entrance says "Newest curiosities from foreign countries".

The Elekiter (エレキテル, Erekiteru, derived from Dutch elektriciteit, for electricity) is the Japanese name for a type of generator of static electricity used for electric experiments in the 18th century. In Japan, Hiraga Gennai presented his own elekiter in 1776, derived from an elekiter from Holland. The elekiter consists of a small box that uses the power of friction to generate electricity and store it.

The Elekiter relied on the various Western experiments with static electricity during the 18th century, which depended on the discovery that electricity could be generated through friction, and on the invention of the Leyden jar in the 1740s, as a convenient means to store static electricity in rather large quantities. Hiraga Gennai acquired an elekiter from the Netherlands during his second trip to Nagasaki in 1770, and made a formal demonstration of his elekiter in 1776.

"Elekiteru" (note the slightly different spelling) has been recognized as IEEE Milestone in 2024. Its title is "Elekiteru: First Electrostatic Generator in Japan, 1776". [1] Its citation reads as follows.

In 1776, a friction-induced electrostatic generator was first demonstrated in Japan by Gennai Hiraga after he spent six years repairing and restoring a broken device imported from the Netherlands. His improved design was later called the Elekiteru, and its widespread demonstration in Japan inspired the country's first generation of electricity researchers. Hiraga's Elekiterus have been displayed in Tokyo and in Kagawa Prefecture, respectively.

See also

• Rangaku
• Japanese words of Dutch origin

References

• Suzuki, Kazuyoshi (2006) Edo Technology (Japanese: 見て楽しむ江戸のテクノロジー), Suuken Publishing, ISBN 4-410-13886-3