Ordinary Japanese spinning tops are made of wood, but Kyo tops are made of a bamboo stem around which a long piece of thick cotton string (or a strip of expensive silk such as yuzen-dyed fabric or nishijin brocade) is wound.
通常の日本独楽は木を削りだして作成されるが、京こまは竹製の心棒に木綿製の幅広のヒモ（高級品では友禅や西陣織等の絹製の細長いテープ状の生地）を巻き付けてある。