Gaun Tacchi - Gaun Tacchi

Spinning engineer and inventor of the Gara spinning machine. He was the second son of Yokoyama Gijuro from Tatai Village, Azumi County, Shinano Province (Nagano Prefecture) (present-day Azumino City), and his childhood name was Eiya. He became a monk at the age of 20, and was given the Buddhist name Chikei. At the age of 26, he became the chief priest of Koho-in Temple on Mount Gaun. In 1871 (Meiji 4), during the storm of anti-Buddhism and anti-Shrine protests, he returned to secular life and took the name Gaun Tatsuchi. Born into a family that weaved tabi soles, he set out to invent a cotton spinning machine for tabi soles, a childhood dream, and continued to dedicate himself to it despite failure. In 1873, he completed a cotton spinning machine with a simple mechanism, although it could only produce coarse thread. It was called Gara spinning because it made a rattling sound. In 1877, he exhibited his product at the Domestic Industrial Exposition and won the highest award, the Homon Shohai. However, imitations continued to appear, and even though gara spinning was at its peak, the inventor was extremely poor. Some industrial bureaucrats used his example to argue for the establishment of a monopoly patent system, and his improved machine was finally patented in 1889. Even after the development of Western-style spinning, Japanese-style spinning using fallen cotton continued to coexist. He also invented silk looms, calculating machines, and surveying instruments.

[Hiroshi Ishiyama]

"Masaaki Murase's "Gaun Tatsuchi" (1965/New edition, 1989, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

紡績技術者、ガラ紡機の発明者。信濃(しなの)国（長野県）安曇(あずみ)郡田多井村（現、安曇野(あづみの)市）の横山儀十郎の次男で、幼名を栄弥(えいや)といった。20歳で僧侶(そうりょ)となり、法名を智恵(ちけい)といい、26歳で臥雲山孤峰院住持となった。1871年（明治4）廃仏棄釈(きしゃく)の嵐(あらし)にあって還俗(げんぞく)し、臥雲辰致と名のった。足袋(たび)底を織る家に生まれ、子供のころからの夢であった足袋底用綿糸紡機発明に向かい、失敗に懲りず献身、1873年、粗糸(あらいと)しか製造できなかったが、機構が簡単な綿糸紡績機を完成した。ガラガラと音を出すのでガラ紡とよばれた。1877年に内国勧業博覧会に出品し、最高の鳳紋賞牌(ほうもんしょうはい)を受賞したが、模造品の続出となり、ガラ紡全盛期を呈したにもかかわらず、発明者は貧窮の底にあった。彼の例をあげて専売特許制度設定を説く勧業官僚もいて、改良機が1889年ようやく特許になった。洋式紡績の発展後も落綿(らくめん)利用の和式紡績として併存した。蚕網(さんもう)織機、計算器、測量器なども考案している。

［石山　洋］

『村瀬正章著『臥雲辰致』（1965／新装版・1989・吉川弘文館）』

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