Nishijin

• Japanese: 西陣 (Nishijin)

Nishijin is a neighborhood of Kyoto, and perhaps the most famous center of textile production in Japan.

The neighborhood's name, literally meaning "western [military] encampment," derives from it being the area where Yamana Sôzen's so-called "Western Army" was based during the Ônin War (1467-77).

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."

References

• 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.