Hiroi Michiaki: This is called a string painting, and these pictures, there’s a string you spin the top with. You play by making pictures with that string. Not only do you spin the top, but you draw a picture with that string and you ask “What is this a picture of?” and the children guess. Yesterday I made a picture there with that string painting.

Mrs. Hiroi: Yeah, you did, you did.

Hiroi: She looked at it but she didn’t know what it was at all. Hahaha.

Mrs. Hiroi: Yeah, somehow I couldn’t figure it out at all. But, ah, what is it? A ship on the water. Ahh, what do you call it? Fishers ride it, he made a picture of one fishing. You continuously place the string [down]. Knowing that, you’re like, “Ahh, I see!”

Hiroi: And this, it’s really difficult because you draw it with [only] one continuous line. Because it’s only one string. You do it like this without drawing and all at once go like this. Without stopping at all. This is string painting. This is, and, you can actually do it, using the string. It’s a string– roulette-style top.

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For Japanese, see this page.

For video, see this page.