80303-0057-PP - Winnowing Rice

Japanese farmers are winnowing rice with a toumi (唐箕, winnowing machine), ca. 1880s. On the right, a man is pounding rice. The process of separating the grain from the chaff was called fusen (風選), and involved one person feeding the toumi with grain, while another turned the fan. The wind did the rest. The machine could be adjusted to increase effectiveness.

Invented in China in the beginning of the Christian Era, the toumi was used in Japan extensively. Strangely, it reached Europe only in the 18th century.

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