Tricky Silkworm Idiom - Need Help!

[TrueNappa]

Hey All,

Found a tricky bit of Japanese I can only assume is an idiom, and hoping SOMEONE can tell me what it is. It's from a story called "Gin no Saji" (The Silver Spoon) that was published in the early 1920s... so some of the kana and kanji are the pre-WW2 ones, but that hasn't been too difficult. Here's the phrase:

ある日のことさんざ骨を折ってとうとう無理やりに引き出してしまった。

I've been able to tell that "sanza" is a flat sheet of weaved bamboo where silkworms are grown (after laying down a specific kind of paper), and as you probably know, "hone" is bone" and "oru" is to break/snap. So... "to break the bones of the silkworm housing frame" is what I've come up with, but it smells like an idiom. Likely a bad meaning.

Does anyone know what this means, can anyone help??
お願いします！

[Belton]

well 骨を折る is an idiom meaning to make an effort, to take pains to do something.

Are you sure about さんざ？
Could it be さんざん？ overwhelmingly

it would fit with 無理やりに by sheer force.

--later

according to the Japanese dictionary in OSX さんざ is an abbreviation of さんざん

[hatch_jp]

I've never hard "さんざ".

さんざん
　http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%95%E3%82%93%E3%81%96%E3%82%93&stype=1&dtype=3
　http://eow.alc.co.jp/%e3%81%95%e3%82%93%e3%81%96%e3%82%93/UTF-8/

[Belton]

http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%95% ... 3%E3%81%96


Entry in OSX 大辞泉　

さん‐ざ
〘副〙「さんざん」の略。「—待たされたあげく、断られた」

[TrueNappa]

Thanks everyone!!

I was using my 電子辞書 and it was really throwing me for a loop. The quick answer is especially appreciated. I'll keep coming back to help out and post more questions when I have them!