Iso cotton mill
- Completed: 1867/5
- Japanese: 磯紡績所 (Iso bouseki sho)
The Iso Cotton Mill was the first modern cotton spinning mill in Japan. It was established in the Iso neighborhood of Kagoshima in 1867, with the help of a group of British engineers brought over in 1866-1867 and housed at the Iso Ijinkan.
Construction was overseen by E. Home; it began in November 1866 and was completed the following May. The engineers' contract ended in 1868, and they returned to England. The spinning factory remained in operation, with roughly 200 men and women working 10-hour shifts on roughly 150 machines. They produced white cotton cloth which was sent to Osaka, and striped cloth, which was sold locally in Kagoshima. Matsuoka Masato managed the business until it was changed into a trading company in 1871.
The factory was formally visited by the Meiji Emperor in 1872, and came under the supervision of the Kagoshima prefectural government. The Shimazu clan (now, Shimazu Corporation) then took over operations in 1882. Weakened by the gold standard and by the death of Shimazu Tadayoshi, the factory shut down in 1897. Most of its heavy equipment was sent to other factories, in Sakai and elsewhere, but one remains on display today at the Shôkoshûseikan.
References
- "Kyû Kagoshima bôsekisho gishikan (ijinkan)," pamphlet, Iso Ijinkan.
- Plaques on-site at former site of the Iso cotton mill.
External Links
- Former site of the Iso cotton mill on Google Maps.
