Japanese magic mirror (makkyō)

What it is

A bronze mirror whose back carries a figure (often Buddhist) and that, when it reflects light onto a screen, shows that figure in the image. Japanese craftsmen make it with thickness and polishing adjustments that create the subtle curvature required.

The technique came from China; the date of Japanese production proper is imprecise (cited from the Edo period). Ayrton and Perry (1878) analysed it in Japan and linked the effect to curvature.

What it led to

• physical study by Ayrton and Perry in Tokyo (1878)
• modern explanation of the surface curvature
• the hidden-mirror tradition of the clandestine Christians (kakure kirishitan)

Built on

• Chinese magic mirrors (light-transmitting)c. century I a.C.-VII d.C.

Links

Sources

• https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AD%94%E9%8F%A1