Soroban
Last week I came across a supply of budget priced soroban or “Japanese abacus”. They are well designed and robustly constructed, so I decided to list them as “Basic Sorban” on the soroban sales page of this website.
Actually, their design resembles that of high quality modern soroban such as the Tomoe soroban – also available on this website.
A typical modern soroban is housed in a plastic “tray”. The tray serves to strengthen the frame, protect the rods and make the soroban easy to use whether you are holding it in your hand or working with it flat on the table.
All the parts of the basic soroban, the tray, the rods and the beads, are made of plastic. It is a bit “chunkier” than the Tomoe model, and not quite as smooth, but it is excellent value for the price, whether you opt for the basic 11 rod soroban or the basic 13 rod version.
Please note that whereas the Tomoe soroban will be shipped by Express Mail Service, the basic version is shipped by air mail – unless you request, and pay for, a shipping upgrade.
Here is the link to the soroban page: http://www.japanese-games-shop.com/other-goods/soroban/
David Hurley


