Top spinning　曲独楽　Kyokugoma

Tops were thought to have arrived in Japan during the Nara period (AD 710 to AD 784) from the Korean peninsular, but could also have developed in Japan independently, as the oldest excavated top dates from the 7th century, found in the old capital of Fujiwara.

Ceramic spinning tops made of terra cotta were found at Troy (Turkey) dating from 3,000 B.C. A top still survives found in Egypt dating from 2,000 B.C. And there have been tops found in China and Greece dating back over 3000 years’ ago.

Fortune tellers were said to have spun tops at the Japanese court. Yashi also spun tops as part of their street performance.

Each region had its own style of spinning top – Hakata koma from Fukuoka prefecture and Edo koma, which traditionally came in five colours.

The woodblock print above is of top spinner, Takezawa Toji 竹沢藤次 published in 1843.

Dr HS Lynn (Washington Simmons) brought top spinning back with him in the 1860s to Britain after his stay in Japan in 1863-4.

Rutherford Alcock: “It has been suggested we might be called a nation of cricketers and fox-hunters, and some French do think we are made up of jockeys and boxers. The same hasty generalisation would make the Japanese a nation of top-spinners, in which they certainly have achieved greater excellence than any other people.” p 318, The Capital of the Tycoon vol 2

Top spinning continued to be a feature of Japanese troupes performing in Britain up until WWII

“The Japanese carry the pastime of top-spinning to a point of great perfection. The tops used by them are of delightful variety, both in size and construction. The largest of all tops is more than a foot in diameter, and proportionately heavy. Some are solid; others contain a flock of little ones which fly out when the top is lifted, and spin away by themselves. Others pull into a spiral or ladder of successive tops. One draws up into a lantern, and spins cheerily in that form. The spinners balance their toys on any kind of surface, round or flat, on the edge of a fan, the sharpest Japanese sword, along a thin cord, and after some moments of unconcerned spinning there, it is tossed on the table, with apparent carelessness, when it goes on working. One of the most delicate performances consists in spinning a top in the left hand, up the left arm, round the back of the neck and down into the palm of the right hand.” Pall Mall Gazette 17 October 1922