Spinning Silk, Silk Making in Japan, 1878

A Japanese woman, with one shoe (geta) off to operate the spinning machine, is spinning silk from silkworm cocoons. Illustration from 1878. The production of silk originated in China and remained confined there until the Silk Road spread knowledge and trade during the later half of the first millennium BCE. China maintained its monopoly over silk production for another thousand years. Silk cultivation spread to Japan around 300 CE

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Cocoon Cocoons Silkworm Silkworms Spinning

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