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Spinning

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     Japanese spinning has a couple of key differences from the spinning historically done in the west. The spinning wheel used in Japan is the same as that used in India and China and it is believed to have spread to Japan around 1,200 C.E. This is most evident with cotton, in which the entire process mirrors that used in India almost exactly. However, cotton wasn’t introduced to Japan was producing fabrics long before the introduction of the spinning wheel, so some process must have existed before its introduction. Unfortunately I have had very little luck finding any information whatsoever on the spinning processes of ancient Japan. The only spinning wheel anyone associates with Japan is the spinning wheel that is largely believed to have originated somewhere in the middle East. No one seems to be very clear on exactly where and when the wheel was invented, some claim it began to be used in India from around 300 to 600 C.E., other sources claim that it didn’t spread from the middle east to India until around 1,000 or 1,200 C.E.

Tahkli supported spindle used in India for cotton spinning. Cotton requires a higher 
number of twists for inch and is therefore best spun using dense, compact spindles
with minimal points of friction.
     Although I have been able to find no information on any prior methods, I suspect that, based on the style of spinning wheel that did eventually spread in Japan and spindles used in the same area of the world, some variation on a supported spindle was probably used. The supported spindle is used by spinning a spindle whose base is resting in some bowl or dish with one hand while drafting out the fiber in the other.

Pictured on the right is a tahkli spindle used in India for cotton spinning. 

      The spinning wheel that has become known as the Japanese spinning wheel requires a very similar method. The wheel is turned with one hand, which in turn spins a whorl which twists the thread as it is drafted with the other hand. The significant difference between these spinning wheels and the spinning wheels used in the West, is that this method of spinning requires different actions to be preformed simultaneously with both hands. Another point of significance here is that there are no records of a Japanese spindle. A spindle of some sort probably existed prior to the use of the spinning wheel, but I can find no record of its existence. So, I suspect that, if a spindle was ever used in Japan, it essentially stopped being used as soon as the spinning wheel was introduced. By comparison, Europe has used spindles for all its history until the industrial revolution and in Peru spindles are used even in the current era with no significant use of spinning wheels even after Europe invaded. Spindles allow for portability and cost little to nothing. In cultures in which spindles are primarily used, spinning is generally done by a relatively high portion of the population. In Peru almost all children learn to spin and bring their spindles around with them so they can continue to produce yarn whenever and wherever. Spinning wheels generally can produce more thread faster, but they require a higher initial investment and are not portable. Therefore, in Japan, where the primary means of thread production was the spinning wheel, spinning was almost certainly delegated to a fewer individuals who spent more time spinning. This probably helped make the transition to industrialization of the textile process smoother as the process was likely already treated as more of a commercial enterprise than cottage production.



Pacey, Arnold (1991) [1990]. Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History (First MIT Press paperback ed.). Cambridge MA: The MIT Press. pp. 23–24.

 Smith, C. Wayne; Cothren, J. Tom (1999).  4. John Wiley & Sons. pp. viii. ISBN 978-0471180456. The first improvement in spinning technology was the spinning wheel, which was invented in India between 500 and 1000 A.D.

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