和時計 - wadokei - refers to a japanese that displays time as used in Japan's Edo period - 1600 to 1868.
The earliest (doumented?) European mechanical clock was jifted to Ouchi Yoshitaka 1551, and the time keeping system was offically banned in favor of the western clock and calendar in 1872. These are not the limits of wadokei, but the limits of its popularity.
During this period, the average person did not have any sort of clock or watch, much less the RTCs of today. Instead - the day was devided into 12 刻 - koku - temporal hours - total. These were sounded off on the Bonshō at a local buddist temple. Probaby several, since some can be heard 32 km away, and some cities had repeating relays. Some locations used drums for the same time signaling.
The year? 24 seasons, 15 days each, with the waxing and waning of the moon, based on what was learned in China. Plus leap months every so often, because like every where else, the moon doesn't care paticualrly much about the tilt of the earth and your "practical" seasons.
The Day?
You wake up, hopefully, before the rabbit koku, where the temple Bonshō strikes six times. How early depends on how much travel there is to do that day. The sun always rises during the hour of the rabbit. Dragon. Five times. Snake. Four times. Horse. Nine times. Solar noon happens this koku - during, not at the strike. Goat. Eight Times. Monkey. Seven times. Rooster. Six times. The sunset is during this koku. Dog. Five times. Pig. Four times. Rat. Nine times. Mignight happens during this koku. Ox. Eight Times. Tiger. Seven times. Too dark to work, but maybe light enough to travel, if it's the season for it.
They try and strike the Bonshō so that sunrise falls in the middle of the rabbit koku, and so on - the lenghts of koku follow the lengths of the days.
As mechanical clocks appeared within Japan - first brought from Europe, then produced locally as their designs were researched and innovated upon - these irregular length koku were to be addressed mechanically. Some by daily adjustment, some once every 15 day season, for a decent but not perfect approximation.
Pre-industrialization, more precision really wasn't needed by most.
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I've read one, two, and three strikes on the Bonshō are reserved for buddist prayers. But I can not find details.
I've only read it's traditional to sound 108 times on New Year's Day during 除夜の鐘.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_clock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonshō https://web.archive.org/web/20160603222256fw_/http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/miscellany/calendar.html https://chaari.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/telling-time-in-early-modern-japan/ https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/the-%27wadokei%27-the-old-way-of-measuring-time-in-japan https://www.jcwa.or.jp/en/etc/wadokei.html https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%99%82%E5%A0%B1 https://wadokei.org/japanese-clock-development/