Ahead of the Times: Flag-Waving Communication and Japan’s Dōjima Rice Exchange

A stone monument in the shape of a grain of rice marks the location of the Dōjima Rice Exchange. (© Abe Haruki)

An information placard at the site of the Dōjima Rice Market. (© Abe Haruki)

A signaler waves a flag from a platform atop the Dōjima Rice Exchange in a print from the series Naniwa fūzoku hyakuzu zukai (One Hundred Views of Naniwa). (Courtesy National Diet Library)

A Chappe telegraph. (© Getty Images)