Spindle whorl

A tool used to twist fibers to spin thread. It is called a tesuritsumu. It is a wooden flywheel with a diameter of 6-7 cm and a weight of 50-70 grams, and an iron axle about 30 cm long is attached to it. The tip of the axle is bent into a hook shape, and the end of the fiber is hung on it. The tesuritsumu is placed on a wooden base, and the axle is rotated by rubbing it with a piece of wood called a teshiro, which twists the fibers and produces thread, which is then wound up. It has been used all over the world since the Neolithic period, and in Japan, from the Yayoi period onwards, ones made of clay, stone, bone or horn were used, and their use is depicted in the Ishiyama-dera Engi picture scroll. It was replaced by the cotton spinning wheel introduced from China around the beginning of the Edo period, but it was used in fishing villages and mountain villages to twist hemp, nettle and other fibers until the early Showa period.

[Tadashi Kinoshita]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

繊維に撚(よ)りをかけ糸を紡ぐ用具。テスリツムとよばれる。直径6～7センチメートル、重さ50～70グラムほどの木製のはずみ車に、長さ約30センチメートルの鉄製の軸棒をつけたもの。軸棒の先端を鉤(かぎ)状に曲げ、そこに繊維の端をかけ、木の台上にテスリツムをのせ、テシロという木片で軸棒をこすって回転させると撚りがかかり、糸ができるので、それを巻いていく。新石器時代以降、世界各地で使用され、日本では弥生(やよい)時代以降に土・石製や骨・角(つの)製のものが用いられ、『石山寺縁起』絵巻などにも使用状況が描かれている。江戸初期ごろ、木綿を紡ぐ糸車が中国から伝来して以来、とってかわられるが、漁村や山村などでは、麻やイラクサなどの繊維に撚りをかけるのに、昭和初年まで使用されてきた。

［木下　忠］

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