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Show a top to an infant and he or she will never tire of watching it spin. And in that childlike fascination, perhaps it is not too great a stretch to visualize our distant ancestors, picking up and twirling a nut found nearby, intrigued at its gyrations. One might imagine that, in the course of time, people in various parts of the world began to carve wood with tools, creating new objects that would twirl even better.
Indeed, tops are ancient playthings found widely throughout the world, toys that have journeyed through the centuries together with the human race. The earliest surviving tops are reputed to be wooden objects unearthed in Egypt, dating from the 20th to 14th centuries B.C. They are believed to be tops because of their shape which resembles whittled pencils. Earliest clues as to how ancient tops were spun can be gathered from the illustrations on Grecian pottery of around the 8th century B.C. |
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Most tops are made of dogwood. The wood is polished to a smooth finish with sandpaper or with scouring rushes which are rough to the touch. Sharkskin was used in the past before sandpaper was available. The vivid reds, yellows, green and purple colors are a distinguishing feature. |
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| In Japan, tops are called koma. Tops of a certain type were brought from China and were spun at court ceremonies in the Heian period (794–1185). But besides these Chinese imports, it seems from excavations predating the Heian period that tops native to Japan also existed. True to their reputation as "natural" playthings, tops emerged naturally in all regions of the world, and Japan was no exception. |
| The choice of tool depends on the curves you want to carve and the size of the wood. Top makers create their own tools, or modify off-the-shelf products to suit their needs. |
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