Collected Illustrations of the Three Realms: Instruments

Page 7

The Cloth Loom

The Cloth Loom original: 布機 buji
The Explanation of Names original: 釋名 Shiming; a dictionary from the Han Dynasty that explains words through their sounds and origins states that "cloth" original: 布 bu refers to the spreading out or "arranging" of various threads. The Huainanzi original: 淮南子; an ancient philosophical and encyclopedic text from the 2nd century BCE records that when Boyu Boyu was a minister to the Yellow Emperor, the legendary ancestor of Chinese civilization first began to create clothing, he reeled pronounced here as shao hemp into cords. This was originally done by reeling pronounced here as tan by hand, guiding the warp threads over the fingers.

In later generations, the loom and shuttle original: 機杼 jizhu; a term that became synonymous with the craft of weaving itself were developed. The frame was four feet in width, and the systems for regulating the density of the weave were established therein. For farming families, the work of spinning and weaving during the spring and autumn seasons is the most vital of tasks, making this loom the most essential of all tools.