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[Jeremy McCreary]

Perhaps even simple tops for throwing and finger spinning could be referred to as Edo goma and the "trick" translation or emphasis is more for commercial purposes these days.  Maybe a better term would be "surprise" top referring to the secondary actions of the toy beyond spinning the top.

Great background info, johnm! All of the tops I've seen identified as "edo koma" fulfill your surprise criterion. In that broad sense, some of the LEGO tops in the video below on the Centrifugal Tops thread might also qualify as edo koma...

[johnm]

Perhaps even simple tops for throwing and finger spinning could be referred to as Edo goma and the "trick" translation or emphasis is more for commercial purposes these days. 

With a more careful (or perhaps just more awake) read, the simple or more traditional tops are not Edo Goma but kyoku-goma, sorry for adding confusion.

From another article about Hiroi (link = creator of fun )

Spinning Tops that flourished during Edo Period (1603 – 1867) in Japan are commonly called Edo Spinning Tops. They don’t just spin, but each top has a distinctive mechanism that gives a unique movement to the top, simple analog mechanism, but some motions are in a sense robotic and full of humor.

[Jeremy McCreary]

johnm: Thanks for the clarification. Onboard mechanism seems like the most common thread for edo goma. Think I'll go with that.

[Eric]

This may have been posted before, but I'm sharing it anyway....
https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/754163648058478/

[cecil]

That's the way to live. He is only nine years older than me. And were both happy.

[ta0]

Thanks for posting that video, Eric. I think it is different to the ones we have seen before of master spinning top craftsman Masaaki Hiroi. It is always a pleasure to see his works. I hope I can visit him one day (although there is a notice on a website that he is not taking orders since July 2016 because of health issues  ).

[Iacopo]

At 11:07 of the first video there is someone balancing a top on a sword;
do you think the edge of the sword is grooved ? I suppose it is, but I am not sure and I'm curious.

[ta0]

At 11:07 of the first video there is someone balancing a top on a sword;
do you think the edge of the sword is grooved ? I suppose it is, but I am not sure and I'm curious.

Ha! That is a secret they like to keep! 



Even from up close you cannot tell.

[Jeremy McCreary]

This may have been posted before, but I'm sharing it anyway....

Fine by me -- I never get tired of that video!

[ta0]

See what I got! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc-qM-55MzY

Not really a top, but made by Mr. Hiroi himself!
These whimsical dolls are very much identified with Hiroi and are driven by an umbrella that is an inverted top.
Unfortunately the umbrella is not removable and cannot be spun like a true top, but I'm super stoked with it!

[Jeremy McCreary]

See what I got!  Not really a top, but made by Mr. Hiroi himself!

One of my favorite Hiroi automatons, you lucky dog! Pretty sure this one, or one very much like it, is in the Edo Tops book he wrote with son.

[ta0]

One of my favorite Hiroi automatons, you lucky dog! Pretty sure this one, or one very much like it, is in the Edo Tops book he wrote with son.

It's not one of the 9 of that type on the book:





but it also looks very familiar to me. I think it's one of the funniest.

I am tempted to one day cut the umbrella shaft and add a friction coupling between the two parts. Something like a wooden cone on the umbrella that fits into a matching hole on a dowel on the lower shaft. That way the umbrella could be lifted and used as a top. I think Hiroi would approve (but almost all collectors would frown on that idea).