Silk, Strings, and Sacred Wood

A Chinese legend tells of a father and daughter who lived alone on a remote farm with their horse.

One day, the father set out on a long journey. Missing him dearly, the daughter asked the horse to find him and bring him home, promising her hand in marriage in return. Spurred by the vow, the horse galloped off and returned days later with the father on his back. The young woman was overjoyed but quickly forgot her promise. From that day on, the horse refused to eat and grew agitated in her presence. When the father questioned her, she tearfully confessed her vow. To protect his daughter, the father killed the animal. But the next time the girl left the house, the horse rose from its grave and wrapped her in a cocoon of white threads that shimmered like silver in the moonlight. After a few days, the cocoon split open, and from it grew a new kind of tree.

This was the first mulberry tree.

The white mulberry (*Morus alba*) was domesticated in China roughly four thousand years ago. Its cultivation is inextricably linked to sericulture—the rearing of silkworms (*Bombyx mori*) and the harvesting of their cocoons for textiles.

Silk production may have begun as early as the Neolithic period within the Yangshao culture along the Yellow River, where ancient cocoons have been unearthed. Recent findings of silk fiber protein residues suggest these origins might even stretch back to the eighth millennium BCE.

Silk production.

Chinese silk robe. Ming Dynasty.

Over generations, silk became a vital economic engine. During the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), state workshops were established to produce the precious fabric, which became a cornerstone of China's foreign relations—particularly with the northern nomads, such as the formidable Xiongnu confederation. Silk satisfied the nomadic demand for luxury goods, served as a form of currency, and helped maintain the internal political structures of nomadic societies, which relied on a steady flow of goods from their sedentary neighbors. (A separate post will address this complex relationship and its eventual collapse.)

Despite Chinese efforts to maintain a monopoly, silk technology leaked out around the first century CE to the Kingdom of Khotan, an oasis south of the dreaded Taklamakan Desert. The spread of silk culture depended entirely on the mulberry tree—the silkworm's exclusive food source—and its ability to adapt to diverse climates. Thus, the white mulberry migrated across Eurasia, through Central Asia and Iran, to the Middle East and Southern Europe.

An ancient mulberry tree in the center of Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

The mulberry is a medium-to-large deciduous tree that can reach fifteen meters in height and live for up to five hundred years.

The genus *Morus* contains about ten to fifteen species that hybridize easily. The primary species are the white mulberry (*Morus alba*) and the black mulberry (*Morus nigra*), native to the mountains of Iran and the Caucasus, where it is called *Shah-tut* (King’s Mulberry) for its superior flavor. Most mulberry trees in Israel, regardless of fruit color, are white mulberries, which explains their relatively bland taste. However, one can still find the *Shami* variety of black mulberry, as well as the Himalayan or Pakistani mulberry (*Morus serrata*), known for its exceptionally long fruit.

White mulberry (*Morus alba*).

Black mulberry (*Morus nigra*).

In landscaping, the mulberry makes an excellent shade tree, provided one accounts for its size, seasonal leaf drop, and the stains left by fallen fruit. "Weeping" varieties offer a beautiful focal point and serve as a water-efficient alternative to the weeping willow, which is ill-suited to our region’s high water demands.

Himalayan mulberry (*Morus serrata*).

Weeping white mulberry.

Beyond its fruit and shade, the mulberry tree holds deep cultural significance as a source of fine wood for musical instruments.

The wood’s structure—characterized by elongated parenchyma cells and a "semi-ring porous" grain where pores transition gradually from large to small—gives it a specific acoustic quality. This makes it a prized "tonewood," much like yew or maple.

Semi-porous structure.

The wood structure of the white mulberry.

This resonance has made mulberry wood the most coveted material for instrument makers from the Uyghur craftsmen of Western China through Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to the mountains of Iran, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, and Anatolia.

The most common family of instruments in this vast region is the long-necked lute. While their history is somewhat mysterious, these instruments likely evolved from a common Central Asian ancestor, branching into a wide array of shapes, string counts, and techniques while retaining a shared basic form.

Long-necked lutes from Central Asia (Dutar, Tanbur, Kashgar Rawap, Uzbek Rawap, Azeri Tar, etc.).

Kyrgyz Komuz.

Among these are the Kyrgyz *komuz*, which closely resembles the ancient prototype; the Iranian *tar*, the centerpiece of classical Persian music; and the Turkish-Anatolian *saz* family, which includes the famous *bağlama*. The finest of these are hand-carved from a single block of mulberry. The Persian *tar* is particularly unique: its figure-eight resonator is carved from two halves of a mulberry log and covered with lambskin, a combination that gives the instrument its powerful, haunting voice.

Persian Tar.

Another notable instrument is the *tanbur*, a small lute used by the Kurdish *Ahl-e Haqq* ("People of Truth") communities of northwestern Iran. For them, the *tanbur* is a sacred vessel. Their faith is a syncretic one, blending Shiite influences with elements of Zoroastrianism and Sufism.

Ahl-e Haqq – People of Truth.

In the *Ahl-e Haqq* tradition, the sounds of the *tanbur* are the formal embodiment of time itself, a tool to summon Absolute Truth into the temple of the human body. The instrument is played during ceremonies in the *Jam-khana*, accompanying the recitation of verses from their holy book, the *Kalâm-e Saranjâm*.

The body of the sacred *tanbur* is, naturally, made of mulberry; wood sourced from a pilgrimage site is believed to enhance its sanctity. Master maker Ostad Asadollah Farmani, a seventh-generation craftsman from Kermanshah, explains that mulberry wood possesses "breathing pores" absent in woods like walnut. This creates a vibrating resonance known as *suznak*, the ultimate mark of the instrument's perfection.

From its Neolithic beginnings on the banks of the Yellow River, the mulberry tree followed the setting sun. As it moved west, it reshaped how we trade, dress, and worship, providing the literal and metaphorical threads of the "Silk Roads." These routes became the most significant conduits of cross-cultural influence in history—all thanks to the humble mulberry tree.