Changes

Silk production is one of the classic examples of cottage industries and by-employments that constituted Edo period proto-industrialization, while the great Japanese demand for the import of silk, largely in exchange for the export of [[silver]] and [[copper]], and later of marine products, was a major driving force in foreign trade concerns and policies. By the 19th century, Japan had become a major producer of silk, and the European and American demand for Japanese silk became a major element of foreign trade considerations.

Silk production is one of the classic examples of cottage industries and by-employments that constituted Edo period proto-industrialization, while the great Japanese demand for the import of silk, largely in exchange for the export of [[silver]] and [[copper]], and later of marine products, was a major driving force in foreign trade concerns and policies. By the 19th century, Japan had become a major producer of silk, and the European and American demand for Japanese silk became a major element of foreign trade considerations.

==Origins==

==Origins==

According to legend, silk was first discovered by Empress Leizu (嫘祖), around 2650 BCE. As the story goes, a silkworm cocoon fell into her tea cup, and began to uncurl; the empress then found that when she spun the threads, they produced a soft and strong cloth.<ref name=pam>"Making Silk," gallery labels, Pacific Asia Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/14994269872/sizes/h/]</ref>

According to legend, silk was first discovered by Empress Leizu (嫘祖), around 2650 BCE. As the story goes, a silkworm cocoon fell into her tea cup, and began to uncurl; the empress then found that when she spun the threads, they produced a soft and strong cloth.<ref name=pam/>

Archaeological research has found, however, evidence of sericulture going back as far as six or even seven thousand years in China.<ref name=pam/>

Archaeological research has found, however, evidence of sericulture going back as far as six or even seven thousand years in China.<ref name=pam/>

==Importation of Silk==

==Importation of Silk==

Silk was a major Chinese export going back many centuries, to the [[Tang Dynasty]] if not much earlier, and being so prized and so prominent among trade goods throughout the region that the network of trade routes linking China with central and western Asia had come to be known as the "[[Silk Road]]." By the 11th century, [[porcelain]] replaced silk as China's chief export,<ref>Bonnie Smith, et al. ''Crossroads and Cultures'', vol. B, Bedford St. Martins (2012), 393.</ref> but the volume of silk exported nevertheless remained quite considerable. Throughout the 19th century, [[tea]] and silk constituted the vast majority of China's exports, the two goods combined accounting for as much as 92-93.5% of Chinese exports in the 1840s-1860s, though this figure dropped to 64.5% in [[1890]]. As late as the 1920s, roughly 50-70% of the silk produced in China was produced for export.<ref>Joseph Esherick, "Harvard on China: The Apologetics of Imperialism." ''Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars'' 4:4 (1972), 10.</ref>

Silk was a major Chinese export going back many centuries, as far back as the [[Han Dynasty]]. It was so prized that for a time, the process of producing silk was regarded as secret, and the penalty for trading in such secrets was death. Still, by circa 140 CE, the Han court lifted bans on exporting silk beyond the empire's borders, and it quickly became so prominent among trade goods throughout the region that the network of trade routes linking China with central and western Asia had come to be known as the "[[Silk Road]]." Silk very soon began to reach as far away as Rome.<ref name=pam/>

 

By the 11th century, [[porcelain]] replaced silk as China's chief export,<ref>Bonnie Smith, et al. ''Crossroads and Cultures'', vol. B, Bedford St. Martins (2012), 393.</ref> but the volume of silk exported nevertheless remained quite considerable. Throughout the 19th century, [[tea]] and silk constituted the vast majority of China's exports, the two goods combined accounting for as much as 92-93.5% of Chinese exports in the 1840s-1860s, though this figure dropped to 64.5% in [[1890]]. As late as the 1920s, roughly 50-70% of the silk produced in China was produced for export.<ref>Joseph Esherick, "Harvard on China: The Apologetics of Imperialism." ''Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars'' 4:4 (1972), 10.</ref>

Though a great simplification of the great many types of goods that were exchanged throughout the region, it has been argued that the East/Southeast Asian trade routes, dominated by the Chinese, into which the Europeans inserted themselves in the 16th-17th centuries, was predominantly a system of bringing Japanese and New World silver into China, and Chinese silk into Japan.<ref name=jansen>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 24.</ref> In the [[Azuchi-Momoyama period]], as the archipelago began to see some degree of peace and stability, and as some ''daimyô'' and merchants grew particularly powerful & wealthy, demand for high-end silks, including brocades and embroideries, flourished. ''Daimyô'' demanded high-quality silks for their own [[clothing|garments]], and those of their retainers, embroidered with the [[kamon|family crest]], as well as lavish garments for the ladies associated with their courts.<ref name=jansen/> [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi|Toyotomi Hideyoshi's]] gold-covered tea room stands as an example of the incredible levels of opulence which typified the uppermost layers of Japanese society at this time; the expensive architecture and interior decor of the likes of [[Azuchi castle|Azuchi]] and [[Fushimi castle|Momoyama castles]] were accompanied by similar opulence in textiles, [[lacquerware]], and the like.  

Though a great simplification of the great many types of goods that were exchanged throughout the region, it has been argued that the East/Southeast Asian trade routes, dominated by the Chinese, into which the Europeans inserted themselves in the 16th-17th centuries, was predominantly a system of bringing Japanese and New World silver into China, and Chinese silk into Japan.<ref name=jansen>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 24.</ref> In the [[Azuchi-Momoyama period]], as the archipelago began to see some degree of peace and stability, and as some ''daimyô'' and merchants grew particularly powerful & wealthy, demand for high-end silks, including brocades and embroideries, flourished. ''Daimyô'' demanded high-quality silks for their own [[clothing|garments]], and those of their retainers, embroidered with the [[kamon|family crest]], as well as lavish garments for the ladies associated with their courts.<ref name=jansen/> [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi|Toyotomi Hideyoshi's]] gold-covered tea room stands as an example of the incredible levels of opulence which typified the uppermost layers of Japanese society at this time; the expensive architecture and interior decor of the likes of [[Azuchi castle|Azuchi]] and [[Fushimi castle|Momoyama castles]] were accompanied by similar opulence in textiles, [[lacquerware]], and the like.