He mea tino ataahua, he mea whakapaipai hoki te hiraka e whakamahia ana e te hunga whai rawa o te hapori. I roto i ngā tau, kua whakamahia hei uhi urunga, hei kopare kanohi, hei pajama, me ngā hāri i ngā wāhi maha o te ao.

Ahakoa tōna rongonui, he tokoiti noa iho te hunga e mārama ana ki te pūtake mai o ngā papanga hiraka.

I ahu mai te papanga hiraka i Haina Tawhito. Heoi, ko ngā tauira hiraka tuatahi e toe ana ka kitea i roto i te aroaro tonu o te pūmua hiraka fibroin i roto i ngā tauira oneone mai i ngā urupā e rua i te wāhi Neolithic i Jiahu i Henan, mai i te tau 85000.

I te wā o Odyssey, 19.233, i a Odysseus e ngana ana ki te huna i tōna tuakiri, ka pātaihia tana wahine a Penelope mō ngā kākahu o tana tāne; i kī ia he hāte kanapa tōna i mau ai, pērā i te kiri o te riki maroke, e tohu ana i te kounga kanapa o te papanga hiraka.

He nui te uara o te hiraka ki te Emepaea o Rōma. Nō reira i hokohoko ai rātou i te hiraka tino utu nui, arā, te hiraka Hainamana.

He muka pūmua parakore te hiraka; ko ngā wāhanga matua o te muka pūmua o te hiraka ko te fibroin. Ka whakaputahia e ngā torongū o ētahi pepeke te fibroin hei hanga kōkō. Hei tauira, ko te hiraka momona pai rawa atu ka riro mai i ngā kōkō o ngā torongū o te noke hiraka māpere e whakatipuria ana mā te tikanga sericulture (whakatipu mā te herehere).

Nā te whakatipu i ngā pūngāwerewere o ngā noke hiraka i hua ake ai te hiraka arumoni. I te nuinga o te wā ka whakatupuhia rātou hei hanga i tētahi miro hiraka mā, kāore he kohuke i runga i te mata. I tēnei wā, he nui te hiraka e hangaia ana mō ngā kaupapa maha.