Oshu Zaguri - Oshu Zaguri

...An advanced method of reeling raw silk from a cocoon, with the female silk-reeler rotating the reel herself. Until the 18th century, the silk-reeling method was simple, called dotori or tebiki, but in Oshu (Fukushima), in the early 19th century during the Kyowa era (1801-04), Oshu zaguri, which uses a belt around two grooves, one large and one small, to speed up the rotation of the reel, was developed. Around the same time, Joshu zaguri, which uses several gears to mesh and speed up the rotation of the reel, was invented in Joshu (Gunma). The sudden increase in demand for raw silk due to the opening of the ports at the end of the Edo period led to the spread of zaguri technology, and Joshu zaguri in particular was introduced to various places, such as Suwa in Shinshu in 1860 (Man'en 1), Koshu in 1861 (Bunkyu 1), and Hida in 1866 (Keio 2).

*Some of the terminology used in reference to "Oshu Zakuri" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…繰糸女工が糸枠の回転をみずから行いつつ，生糸を繭から繰る方法の進んだもの。18世紀までの繰糸法は胴取や手挽と呼ばれる簡単なものであったが，奥州(福島)では19世紀初めの享和年間(1801‐04)に大小2個の溝車に調紐（しらべひも）(ベルト)をかけて糸枠の回転を速める奥州座繰が行われるようになり，上州(群馬)でも同じころ数個の坐(歯車)をかみ合わせて糸枠の回転を速める上州座繰が発明された。幕末開港による生糸需要の激増は，座繰技術の普及をもたらし，とりわけ上州座繰は1860年(万延1)信州諏訪へ，61年(文久1)甲州へ，66年(慶応2)飛驒へ，というように各地へ伝えられた。…

※「奥州座繰」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報