Abacus Classes: From What Age, and What Do They Nurture?
Why this topic is on parents’ minds
It has been a long time since abacus classes were near the top of the rankings of children’s lessons, but many people are still interested.
- The simple hope of “I want my child to be fast at calculation”
- Monthly fees are relatively low, and many classes can be attended once or twice a week for a short time
- Parents themselves went as children, and it is not a bad memory
- In an era with more tablet learning, wanting to deliberately let children touch “paper and beads”
While you may feel “an abacus in this day and age?”, many of you are surely moved when you see a flyer for a class nearby. In this article, we lay out the research position of the abacus without exaggerating it and without underestimating it.
The history of the abacus, and where it stands now
The abacus (soroban) is a calculation tool that originally developed in China and East Asia, and in Japan it spread widely from the late Sengoku period through the Edo period. As it was praised in the phrase “reading, writing, and the abacus,” it was long a skill at the center of daily life and business.
- Muromachi to Edo
The abacus arrives and spreads in Japan
The abacus came from mainland China, and in the Edo period it became an essential skill for merchants. 'Reading, writing, and the abacus' were taught at terakoya (temple schools).
- Meiji to Showa
A standard in school education and commercial work
It was taught as standard in elementary school arithmetic and at commercial schools, and was passed on as a basic skill for office workers even during the period of rapid economic growth after the war.
- Late 1980s
Practical demand falls with the spread of calculators and PCs
As the main tools for practical calculation shifted to calculators and spreadsheet software, the number of people learning the abacus as a lesson also began to decline.
- 2000s on
Reappraised in the context of 'brain training' and 'concentration'
Not as a practical tool, but from the viewpoint of mental calculation, concentration, and working memory training, its educational value came to be discussed anew.
- Today
Continuing as a small but stable lesson
It continues in small classes around the country, centered on classes affiliated with the Japan Abacus Federation and the National Abacus Education Federation. Modern competitive styles such as flash mental calculation have also become established.
In the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Commentary on the Elementary School Course of Study (2017 notice): Mathematics, the abacus is clearly listed as content to be covered in the 3rd and 4th grades of elementary school. Within school education too, it is still in use as “a calculation tool,” though a small one, and it has not become an entirely bygone lesson.
At what age do children usually start?
Many abacus classes advertise around ages 5 to 7 (from the middle or last year of kindergarten to the early grades of elementary school) as “the time to start.” This is because:
- It is a time when reading and writing numbers becomes stable
- It is a time when children become able to sit in a chair and concentrate for 20 to 30 minutes
- It is a time when the finger motion of “flicking the beads” becomes stable
and these all come together around this age.
However, this is closer to a rule of thumb from running classes than a strict developmental basis. In reality, please think of the range of starting ages as surprisingly wide:
- Classes that set up preschool classes centered on “number play” from the first year of kindergarten
- Children who start in the middle grades of elementary school and progress to dan ranks
- People who start as adults and enjoy it
There is no strong evidence that “starting earlier means more growth.” Rather, a timing at which your child feels “this is fun” matters more.
What the abacus nurtures: what research shows
From here, we lay out separately the areas supported by research and the areas that are not so much.
What tends to grow 1: Mental calculation speed
What has been shown repeatedly for the longest time is that the speed and accuracy of mental calculation improve.
A classic study that examined, from a cognitive psychology perspective, the digit memory and mental calculation ability of Japanese abacus grand experts (holders of high dan ranks)
showed that abacus experts, compared with untrained adults, can temporarily remember very long strings of digits and handle them in mental calculation. They are thought to hold numbers not as “words” but as “the arrangement of beads on an abacus in their heads,” and this is thought to support their speed in mental calculation.
What tends to grow 2: Working memory for numbers
That working memory related to numbers—part of working memory (the ability to hold information in mind briefly while manipulating it)—is higher in people with abacus experience has been confirmed repeatedly in later research.
In an intervention study in Chinese elementary schools comparing the cognitive abilities of a group that continued abacus training and a group that did not, the abacus training group showed significantly higher performance on digit working memory and mental calculation tasks (p<0.05). This suggests not only that “the calculations they learned became faster,” but that the very capacity for handling numbers in the head may have widened.
What tends to grow 3: The time spent concentrating itself
Leaving research aside for a moment, something not to overlook among what children gain from an abacus class is “30 minutes to 1 hour of sitting at a desk and moving their hands quietly” itself. This is time that is actually hard to create in modern homes, and it is also part of its value as a lesson.
The “mental abacus” — experienced users move beads in their heads
The most unique discovery in abacus research is that people who have continued for a long time calculate by picturing an abacus in their heads, even without an abacus in front of them. This is called the “mental abacus.”
A study that observed, with functional MRI, the brain activity of people with abacus experience during mental calculation
showed that when people with abacus experience do mental calculation, not only areas in the left hemisphere involved in language processing but also areas of the parietal and occipital lobes involved in spatial and visual imagery are strongly active. The difference is that ordinary adults generally tend to process mental calculation verbally (replacing it with words in their head, like “roku tasu san wa kyū,” “six plus three is nine”), while people with abacus experience manipulate numbers as visual images.
A recent review paper on the cognitive and neuroscientific effects of abacus training
also concludes that this “manipulating numbers as visual images” is the core cognitive change in abacus training.
This is the truly unique part of the abacus as a lesson. A circuit for handling numbers grows by a different route from calculating with a calculator or an app—this is a change worth paying attention to even more than mental calculation speed.
On the other hand: “transfer effects” to broad areas are limited
Reading this far, you may feel “the abacus seems good for the brain,” but from here we change the tone of the discussion a little.
In recent cognitive and educational psychology, the question of how much an ability gained through one kind of training spreads to “other areas that were not trained” (transfer) has been examined strictly.
A paper that used meta-analyses to summarize the effects of activities often said to “make you smarter,” such as chess, music, and working memory training
shows that the “far transfer” of such specific training—that is, spillover effects to areas far from what was trained (overall academic ability, reasoning ability, IQ, etc.)—is much smaller than imagined, or almost nonexistent.
The abacus is not free from this “far transfer” problem either. Wang’s (2020) review is also cautious on this point, concluding that effects on nearby areas (near transfer) such as “mental calculation and working memory for numbers” are supported, but effects on math in general, general reasoning ability, and overall academic achievement are unclear.
Even so, what matters here is that it does not mean “so it’s meaningless.” “Mental calculation gets faster,” “working memory for numbers widens,” “time to concentrate at a desk is created”—these are themselves changes with independent value. Positioning it not as “a magic lesson that improves everything broadly” but as “a tool that works narrowly and deeply” is the understanding closest to the current state of research.
Certification tests and dan ranks: how do they differ?
The abacus has several certification systems. Since this can be a little confusing when choosing a class, let’s sort it out.
National Abacus Education Federation (Zenshuren)
A private abacus education organization
Tests run by affiliated classes nationwide. A wide range of kyu and dan ranks from 15th kyu to 10th dan. Children can often take the test at their class, and the steps from beginner to dan rank are finely divided.
Japan Abacus Federation (Nisshuren / Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry)
Affiliated with the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry
The abacus proficiency test co-organized by the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and local abacus federations. Grades 1st kyu to 10th kyu, with dan ranks separately. Its social recognition is relatively high, and it is usually this test that people write on a résumé.
Other certifications and competitions
Competitions and flash mental calculation
There are also systems specialized for competition or particular skills, such as the All Japan Abacus Championship and the flash mental calculation test. How children get involved varies with the class and the child's inclinations.
“How far your child can continue while enjoying it” is a point that comes before “which test to take.” It is realistic to see tests as only waypoints, functioning as a mechanism for keeping motivation up: “There’s a next goal, so I’ll try a little harder.”
Points for choosing a class
Abacus classes have few large franchise chains, and small local classes run by individuals are the norm. Because each class has a strong character of its own, we recommend trying several before deciding.
Fit with the teacher
The abacus is a lesson in which “growing through practice” counts for more than “being taught,” but even so, while children are beginners, whether there is a teacher who will patiently watch their finger movements, the rhythm of reading out numbers, and their posture makes a big difference. At a trial lesson, see whether your child seems able to talk with the teacher and whether the atmosphere is not too tense.
Style of progress
- Classes where each child progresses individually — each child moves up the kyu ranks at their own pace. Tends to suit children with good concentration
- Classes that progress all together — everyone does things like dictation calculation (yomiage-zan) together. Some children find it easier to continue thanks to a sense of fellowship and rhythm
Neither is superior. Please judge by how well it fits your child’s personality.
A guide to monthly fees
Regional differences are large, but about ¥3,000 to ¥8,000 a month for once or twice a week is one guide. Some classes charge separately for materials and test fees. Compared with other lessons, the burden is relatively light.
How long to continue, and “when to stop”
As a general guide, continuing for 2 to 3 years usually reaches 2nd to 3rd kyu. Aiming for dan ranks (1st dan and above) takes several more years.
What to think about here is “at what point to consider it ‘graduation.’”
- Up to 3rd to 2nd kyu — mental calculation at the level of daily life becomes fast enough. Even graduating here, it has more than paid off in terms of mental calculation speed and time spent concentrating
- 1st kyu and dan ranks — quite fast mental calculation becomes possible. Children move on when they are enjoying it or are interested in competition
- Competition and flash mental calculation — the stage of positioning it as a hobby or special skill. Balancing it with schoolwork is important
There is no need to decide from the start to “go all the way to dan ranks.” Rather, approaching it with looseness—“continue as long as they enjoy it,” “don’t drag it out if they’re getting bored”—tends to result in a good experience.
I took abacus myself as a child, and it wasn’t bad. So I wondered about it for my child too…
I think that’s a good motivation. What research shows is that it tends to work on mental calculation speed and working memory for numbers. Broad effects like “it develops the right brain” or “they’ll be able to do all of school math” honestly haven’t been confirmed. Even so—“mental calculation gets faster,” “time to sit at a desk and concentrate is created”—that alone makes it a lesson with plenty of value.
Can she start in the last year of kindergarten?
Many classes accept children from the middle or last year of kindergarten. But there’s no strong evidence that “the earlier you start, the more they grow,” so it’s good to use as a guide the time when your child can read numbers and seems able to sit for 20 to 30 minutes. Rather than rushing to start and having her come to dislike it, it’s easier to continue if you start after she says “I want to try it.”
A physical abacus vs. apps and tablet materials
Recently, abacus apps that run on tablets and online abacus classes have also increased. They have the convenience of “not needing a physical abacus,” and they are not bad as an entry point.
However, the “mental abacus” (the ability to picture an abacus in your head) seen in research is thought to grow on the basis of a long period of experience flicking real beads with the fingers. Whether the same thing happens with an abacus on a tablet has not yet been confirmed by research.
As a practical judgment at present, a position like:
- Apps are also effective as an entry point and experience in early childhood (children can learn the correspondence between numbers and beads while playing)
- If taking it up seriously, center it first on the experience of moving the fingers on a real abacus
- Use tablet materials alongside as a supplement
is consistent with the current evidence.
The world of competitive abacus and flash mental calculation
The world of the abacus includes areas that are overwhelming just to watch. Flash mental calculation is a competition in which numbers shown briefly one after another on a screen are added instantly on the abacus in one’s head, and top competitors give performances that seem to test the limits of human processing speed.
These worlds are separate from the research question of “does it work for ordinary children?” Please think of them as areas where “those who can go, go and enjoy it,” with the door open if your child becomes interested. There is absolutely no need to feel pressure that “my child has to become able to do flash mental calculation too.”
“Choosing not to send your child to abacus” is perfectly fine too
Reading this far, some of you may feel, “The abacus seems good, but maybe it isn’t necessarily needed.” That is a perfectly natural feeling.
- There are other routes to improving mental calculation speed (calculation drills covered in the article on the Kumon Method, school homework, calculation games at home, etc.)
- As we wrote in the article on when number concepts develop (Japanese), number sense itself also grows through everyday counting games, shopping, and cooking
- There are also ways of combining it with modern learning services, such as those covered in the article on tablet learning services
“Not sending your child to abacus” is not giving something up. It is simply the choice of replacing a place for training specialized in mental calculation speed with something else.
Closing dialogue
So the honest truth is that research hasn’t confirmed such broad effects.
That’s right. But that doesn’t mean “there’s no point in doing it.” “Mental calculation gets faster,” “the capacity to handle numbers in the head widens,” “time to sit at a desk and concentrate is created”—these are changes with independent value. If you take flashy effects often claimed in ads, like “it develops the right brain” or “it makes them naturally smart,” with a grain of salt, and instead choose it as a lesson that buys “time for mental calculation and concentration,” you won’t end up disappointed.
In that case, I’ll first go to a trial lesson and see whether it suits my child.
That’s the best way. Fit with the teacher, the atmosphere, your child’s reaction—going once shows you a lot. Whether she continues, quits, or never goes in the first place, each is a proper choice.
Research details
Primary sourcesStudy design: A comparative study of memory tasks from a cognitive psychology perspective, with abacus grand experts (holders of high dan ranks) and ordinary adults.
Participants: A comparison of Japanese abacus grand experts (people with experience in calculation competitions at high dan ranks) and ordinary adults without training.
Main results: Abacus grand experts can hold much longer strings of digits in short-term memory than ordinary people. It showed that they hold numbers not as language but as “the arrangement of beads on an abacus in their heads,” and that this is the foundation of their mental calculation ability. A classic paper that became the starting point of research on the “mental abacus.”
Limitations: Because the participants are at the “grand expert” level, caution is needed in generalizing. It is not a study that directly showed effects on children, but one that described the cognitive characteristics of adult experts as the result of long-term training.
Study design: Measuring brain activity with functional MRI (fMRI). It compared the brain activity during mental calculation of people with and without abacus experience.
Participants: A group of experts holding abacus dan ranks, and a control group with no abacus experience.
Main results: When people with abacus experience do mental calculation, in addition to language processing areas (left hemisphere), areas of the parietal and occipital lobes involved in visual and spatial processing are strongly active. In contrast, those without experience showed a pattern of activity dominated by language processing. It showed neuroscientifically that abacus training transforms the processing of numbers into a visual-imagery route.
Limitations: Broad interpretations such as “the right brain is activated = it’s right-brain education” are a leap. Whether the observed changes in active areas spread to general cognitive abilities such as academic achievement or IQ was not tested in this study.
Study design: A quasi-experimental intervention study conducted in Chinese elementary schools. It compared the cognitive abilities of an abacus training group and a regular group.
Participants: Chinese elementary school children (a training group and a control group, on the scale of several hundred in total).
Main results: The group that continued abacus training showed significantly higher performance on digit working memory and mental calculation tasks (p<0.05). It suggests that the training may affect not only “the calculations they learned becoming faster” but the very capacity for handling numbers in the head.
Limitations: It is a study published in a Chinese-language journal, and independent replication in the English-speaking world is limited. It has a quasi-experimental design without full randomization. Because of cultural and educational differences, reservations are needed in generalizing to Japan.
Study design: A review paper organizing recent research on the cognitive and neuroscientific effects of abacus training.
Scope: Studies of the effects of abacus training conducted mainly in China, Japan, and Taiwan, and brain imaging studies of people with abacus experience.
Main results: The effects of abacus training most consistently supported are mental calculation speed and working memory for numbers. As a neural basis, involvement of visual and spatial processing pathways is consistently reported. On the other hand, it concludes that regarding spillover effects (far transfer) to math in general, general reasoning ability, and overall academic achievement, research results are divided and nothing can be said clearly.
Limitations: The quality of individual studies varies, and studies with small samples are included. At the time of the review, quantitative integration by meta-analysis was limited.
Study design: A meta-analytic review of the “far transfer” effects of cognitive training such as chess, music training, and working memory training.
Scope: Many previous studies on the effects of cognitive training (including randomized controlled trials).
Main results: It concludes that the spillover effects to areas far from what was trained of various kinds of training often said to “make you smarter” are much smaller than imagined, or almost nonexistent. A paper representing the recent view in cognitive psychology that even when effects are seen in nearby areas (near transfer), far transfer is rare.
Limitations: It is not a meta-analysis directly on abacus training, but this article cites it as a reference showing the recent trend of treating “spillover effects of specific training to broad areas” with caution.