Short History of Grinding Implements for Domestic Use in Japan

Abstract

There are many works that refer to the history of grinding implements1～6), but they are restricted mainly to the origin of Western wheat flour milling technology as a professional activity, and do not always pay attention to domestic use. It is an interesting fact that almost all the ancient grinding implements devised by humans throughout history have continued to be used domestically even after the advent of more efficient specialized ones. We can find many examples of this in Japan as well, and some of them have survived to the present day. On the other hand, owing to the recent dramatic change in our life-style, the familiarity of these implements is being rapidly lost in Japan. Therefore, the present work is an attempt to record them in an intelligible form, and to collate them with the Chinese and European ones from the historical viewpoint. Another point to be cited is the very old, traditional grooving of the rotary quern which survives now in Japan. The so-called "counterclockwise revolving, eight-quarter grooving pattern" is the same as that which existed in Europe and China during the Roman period. Though we do not know where and when it originated as yet, this fact is decisive proof of its transmission.