Zen Fountain: Shishi-Odoshi Tipping-Bucket Simulator (2D)

This 2D simulator models the mechanism behind a traditional Japanese shishi-odoshi "deer scarer": a bamboo tube pivoted off-center so its longer mouth-end rests up, catching a steady drip from a spout. As water accumulates, the simulation tracks a real torque balance — water weight times its distance from the pivot versus the tail's restoring torque — and once that balance tips past zero the tube rotates, dumping its water in a rush before the now-light tail end snaps back and strikes a rock, sending out a visible sound-wave ripple. A flow-rate slider speeds up or slows down the whole fill-tip-strike cycle, and a live volume-vs-time graph beneath the stage traces the resulting sawtooth pattern — a slow linear fill followed by a near-instant drop, repeating at a period set entirely by how fast water arrives. It shares its mechanic with the site's 3D zen fountain simulation, rendered here as a side-view lever diagram instead of a full water mesh.