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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.

==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>

 

 

 

 

 

===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/>

 

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.  

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>

By the 1760s, Japanese domestic production of silk had grown to such a point that the realm was able to actually begin ''exporting'' silk, and importing gold and silver, reversing the flows which had so concerned the shogunate a century earlier.<ref>Hellyer, 73-78.</ref>  

By the 1760s, Japanese domestic production of silk had grown to such a point that the realm was able to actually begin ''exporting'' silk, and importing gold and silver, reversing the flows which had so concerned the shogunate a century earlier.<ref>Hellyer, 73-78.</ref>  

Japanese silk production first appears in Western records in [[1859]]. In that year, Italy is said to have been producing five times as much raw silk as Japan, and China ten times as much. Japan's production expanded quickly, however, growing five-fold by [[1862]], just as French and Italian silkworm cultivation was ravaged by disease. Fifty years later, in [[1912]], Japan was the top exporter of silk in the world, and by 1938, roughly four-fifths of world silk production was controlled by Japan. In total, roughly half of Japanese exports in the [[Meiji period]] were textiles or textile-related products.<ref name=conant74>Conant, Ellen. "Cut from Kyoto Cloth: Takeuchi Seihô and his Artistic Milieu." ''Impressions'' 33 (2012). p74.</ref> Where Edo period silk production is often lauded as an example of Japanese proto-industrialization, contributing to great improvements in livelihoods for those who engaged in such activities, Meiji period industrial factory production of silk is often pointed to as representative of the grueling and oppressive conditions under which factory workers (in the case of silk mills, often chiefly young women) were forced to work, very long hours, for little pay. The [[Tomioka silk mill]] laborers strike of [[1898]] is a particularly famous example of numerous such incidents; the 1979 film ''Aa, Nomugi toge'' ("Ah! Nomugi Pass") presents a fictionalized account of the experiences of such silk mill workers circa 1900-1905.

Japanese silk production first appears in Western records in [[1859]]. In that year, Italy is said to have been producing five times as much raw silk as Japan, and China ten times as much. Japan's production expanded quickly, however, growing five-fold by [[1862]], just as French and Italian silkworm cultivation was ravaged by disease. Fifty years later, in [[1912]], Japan was the top exporter of silk in the world, and by 1938, roughly four-fifths of world silk production was controlled by Japan. In total, roughly half of Japanese exports in the [[Meiji period]] were textiles or textile-related products.<ref name=conant74>Conant, Ellen. "Cut from Kyoto Cloth: Takeuchi Seihô and his Artistic Milieu." ''Impressions'' 33 (2012). p74.</ref> And roughly one-quarter of the silk production in the country was in [[Nagano prefecture]].<ref>William Coaldrake, "Unno: Edo Period Post Town of the Central Japan Alps," ''Asian Art'' 5 (Spring 1992), 24.</ref> Where Edo period silk production is often lauded as an example of Japanese proto-industrialization, contributing to great improvements in livelihoods for those who engaged in such activities, Meiji period industrial factory production of silk is often pointed to as representative of the grueling and oppressive conditions under which factory workers (in the case of silk mills, often chiefly young women) were forced to work, very long hours, for little pay. The [[Tomioka silk mill]] laborers strike of [[1898]] is a particularly famous example of numerous such incidents; the 1979 film ''Aa, Nomugi toge'' ("Ah! Nomugi Pass") presents a fictionalized account of the experiences of such silk mill workers circa 1900-1905.

==References==

==References==