Hatakenaka Genma was a famous son of Aki who made a public clock which once marked the time for farm-workers. Hatakenaka received an American-made clock with a wooden mechanism which he repeatedly dismantled and reassembled until he mastered its working principles. Then in 1887, he made an improved version out of more precise and accurate brass. A single mechanism drives all four faces of the clock, using a weight on a pulley that keeps the clock running for about a week. The building which houses the clock is very elegant.