Changes

It took roughly 35,000 cocoons to make twelve pounds of raw silk. That many cocoons would grow out of roughly one ounce of eggs, but would require one ton of mulberry leaves to be fed on.<ref name=pam>"Making Silk," gallery labels, Pacific Asia Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/14994269872/sizes/h/]</ref>

It took roughly 35,000 cocoons to make twelve pounds of raw silk. That many cocoons would grow out of roughly one ounce of eggs, but would require one ton of mulberry leaves to be fed on.<ref name=pam>"Making Silk," gallery labels, Pacific Asia Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/14994269872/sizes/h/]</ref>

==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/>

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 into Japan===

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/>

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/>

Restrictions on the export of precious metals, the decline in mining outputs for export, and the rise of domestic silk production combined to cause a dramatic drop in the importation of silk in the early decades of the 18th century. Whereas 110,000 ''[[Japanese Measurements|kin]]'' of silk (145,200 lbs or 66,000 kg) were imported in 1641, only 40,000 ''kin'' was imported in 1711, and only 10,000 in 1716.<ref name=ikegami254/>

Restrictions on the export of precious metals, the decline in mining outputs for export, and the rise of domestic silk production combined to cause a dramatic drop in the importation of silk in the early decades of the 18th century. Whereas 110,000 ''[[Japanese Measurements|kin]]'' of silk (145,200 lbs or 66,000 kg) were imported in 1641, only 40,000 ''kin'' was imported in 1711, and only 10,000 in 1716.<ref name=ikegami254/>

==Domestic Production==

===Domestic Production in Japan===

[[File:Silk-cocoons.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Silk cocoons being prepared for spinning.]]

[[File:Silk-cocoons.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Silk cocoons being prepared for spinning.]]

Over the course of the Edo period, textile merchants based in the [[Nishijin]] district of [[Kyoto]] extended their control over the silk industry, at least in central Japan, establishing vertical organizations in which a given Nishijin merchant claimed within his operation silkworm farms, spinners, weavers, and dyers, as well as transportation, marketing, and wholesale and retail operations. Many of these families, or the firms they established, continue to hold prominent places in producing the highest-quality silks and [[kimono]] today. It is estimated that at its height in the Edo period, Nishijin's textile industry may have employed as many as 100,000 people, including weavers, spinners, dyers, and others. There were at this time roughly 7,000 ''takabata'' "high looms," which were used to produce the highest quality textiles, and which required two operators at a time; most textiles were produced using the single-operator ''hirahata'', or "flat looms."<ref>Moriya Katsuhisa. "Urban Networks and Information Networks." in Chie Nakane and Shinzaburô Ôishi (eds.) ''Tokugawa Japan: The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan''. University of Tokyo Press, 1990. p98.</ref> By the 1720s, roughly 90% of silk processing in the archipelago was done in and around Kyoto.<ref>Kaplan, Edward The Cultures of East Asia: Political-Material Aspects. Chap. 16 & 18. 25 June 2003 <http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/>.</ref>

Over the course of the Edo period, textile merchants based in the [[Nishijin]] district of [[Kyoto]] extended their control over the silk industry, at least in central Japan, establishing vertical organizations in which a given Nishijin merchant claimed within his operation silkworm farms, spinners, weavers, and dyers, as well as transportation, marketing, and wholesale and retail operations. Many of these families, or the firms they established, continue to hold prominent places in producing the highest-quality silks and [[kimono]] today. It is estimated that at its height in the Edo period, Nishijin's textile industry may have employed as many as 100,000 people, including weavers, spinners, dyers, and others. There were at this time roughly 7,000 ''takabata'' "high looms," which were used to produce the highest quality textiles, and which required two operators at a time; most textiles were produced using the single-operator ''hirahata'', or "flat looms."<ref>Moriya Katsuhisa. "Urban Networks and Information Networks." in Chie Nakane and Shinzaburô Ôishi (eds.) ''Tokugawa Japan: The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan''. University of Tokyo Press, 1990. p98.</ref> By the 1720s, roughly 90% of silk processing in the archipelago was done in and around Kyoto.<ref>Kaplan, Edward The Cultures of East Asia: Political-Material Aspects. Chap. 16 & 18. 25 June 2003 <http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/>.</ref>