Japanese silk is silk harvested in Japan. Archaeological evidence indicates that sericulture has been practiced since the Yayoi period. The silk industry was dominant from the 1930s to 1950s, but is less common now. [1]
Japanese silk is silk harvested in Japan. Archaeological evidence indicates that sericulture has been practiced since the Yayoi period. The silk industry was dominant from the 1930s to 1950s, but is less common now. [1]
Silk from East Asia had declined in importance after silkworms were smuggled from China to the Byzantine Empire. However, in 1845, an epidemic of flacherie among European silkworms devastated the silk industry there. [2] This led to a demand for silk from China and Japan, where as late as the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Japanese exports competed directly with Chinese in the international market in such low value-added, labor-intensive products as raw silk.
Between 1850 and 1930, raw silk ranked as the leading export for both countries, accounting for 20%–40% of Japan’s total exports and 20%–30% of China’s. [3] Between the 1890s and the 1930s, Japanese silk exports quadrupled, making Japan the largest silk exporter in the world. This increase in exports was mostly due to the economic reforms during the Meiji period and the decline of the Qing dynasty in China, which led to rapid industrialization of Japan whilst the Chinese industries stagnated. [3]
During World War II, embargoes against Japan had led to adoption of synthetic materials such as Nylon, [4] which led to the decline of the Japanese silk industry and its position as the lead silk exporter of the world. Today, China exports the largest volume of raw silk in the world. [5]
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori is the most widely used and intensively studied silkworm. Silk was believed to have first been produced in China as early as the Neolithic Period. Sericulture has become an important cottage industry in countries such as Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Russia. Today, China and India are the two main producers, with more than 60% of the world's annual production.
During the Empire of Japan and up to 1945, Japan was dependent on imported foods and raw materials for industry. At the time, Japan had one of the largest merchant fleets in the world with a total of approximately 6 million tonnes of displacement before December 1941. Despite heavy naval losses during the Pacific War, Japan was still left with 4,700,000 tonnes.
Tomioka Silk Mill is Japan's oldest modern model silk reeling factory, established in 1872 by the government to introduce modern machine silk reeling from France and spread its technology in Japan. The factory is designated by the government as a National Historic Site and all its buildings are preserved in very good condition. It is located in the city of Tomioka, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, about 100 km northwest of Tokyo. It is also featured as the 'ni' card in Jomo Karuta playing cards.
Agriculture in Thailand is highly competitive, diversified and specialized and its exports are very successful internationally. Rice is the country's most important crop, with some 60 percent of Thailand's 13 million farmers growing it on almost half of Thailand's cultivated land. Thailand is a major exporter in the world rice market. Rice exports in 2014 amounted to 1.3 percent of GDP. Agricultural production as a whole accounts for an estimated 9-10.5 percent of Thai GDP. Forty percent of the population work in agriculture-related jobs. The farmland they work was valued at US$2,945 per rai in 2013. Most Thai farmers own fewer than eight hectares of land.
Soufli is a town in the Evros regional unit, Greece, notable for the silk industry that flourished there in the 19th century. The town stands on the eastern slope of the twin hill of Prophet Elias, one of the easternmost spurs on the Rhodope Mountains. It is situated in the center of the Evros regional unit, 65 km north of Alexandroupoli and 50 km southwest of Orestiada, on Greek National Road 51/E85 which links Alexandroupoli with Edirne and the Bulgarian border at Ormenio. The town center is only 500m from the Evros River. Soufli is the seat of the municipality of Soufli.
The production of silk originated in Neolithic China within the Yangshao culture. Though it would later reach other places in the world, the art of silk production remained confined to China until the Silk Road opened at 114 BC, though China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk production for another thousand years. The use of silk within China was not confined to clothing alone, and silk was used for a number of applications, such as writing. Within clothing, the color of silk worn also held social importance, and formed an important guide of social class during the Tang dynasty.
Thai silk is produced from the cocoons of Thai silkworms. Thailand's silkworm farmers cultivate both types of the domesticated silkworms that produce commercial silk: Samia ricini, commonly known as the eri silkworm, which produces matte eri silk, and the Bombyx mori, producer of the better known, glossy mulberry silk. The latter is by far the larger silk producer of the two.
The economy of East Asia comprises 1.6 billion people living in six different countries and regions. The region includes several of the world's largest and most prosperous economies: Japan, South Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is home to some of the most economically dynamic places in the world, being the site of some of the world's most extended modern economic booms, including the Japanese economic miracle (1950–1990), Miracle on the Han River (1961–1996) in South Korea, the Taiwan miracle in Taiwan (1960–1996) and the current economic boom (1978–2015) in Mainland China.
China is the world's largest and earliest silk producer. The vast majority of Chinese silk originates from the mulberry silkworms. During the larval stage of its life-cycle, the insects feed on the leaves of mulberry trees. Non-mulberry silkworms cocoon production in China primarily focuses on wild silk from the Chinese Tussah moth. This moth typically feeds on trees and its larvae spin coarser, flatter, yellower filament than the mulberry silk moths.
Tussar silk is produced from larvae of several species of silkworms belonging to the moth genus Antheraea, including A. assamensis, A. paphia, A. pernyi, A. roylei, and A. yamamai. These silkworms live in the wild forests in trees belonging to Terminalia species and Shorea robusta, as well as other food plants such as jamun and oak found in South Asia, eating the leaves of the trees on which they live. Tussar silk is valued for its rich texture and natural, deep-gold colour, and varieties are produced in many countries, including China, India, Japan, and Sri Lanka.
A silk mill is a factory that makes silk for garments using a process called silk throwing. Traditionally, silk mills were concentrated in Japan, England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Italy and Switzerland.
The textile industry in India traditionally, after agriculture, is the only industry that has generated huge employment for both skilled and unskilled labour. The textile industry continues to be the second-largest employment generating sector in India. It offers direct employment to over 35 million people in the country. India is the world's second largest exporter of textiles and clothing, and in the fiscal year 2022, the exports stood at US$ 44.4 billion. According to the Ministry of Textiles, the share of textiles in total exports during April–July 2010 was 11.04%. During 2009–2010, the Indian textile industry was pegged at US$55 billion, 64% of which services domestic demand. In 2010, there were 2,500 textile weaving factories and 4,135 textile finishing factories in all of India. According to AT Kearney’s ‘Retail Apparel Index’, India was ranked as the fourth most promising market for apparel retailers in 2009.
The textile industry is the largest manufacturing industry in Pakistan. Pakistan is the eighth largest exporter of textile commodities in Asia. Textile sector contributes 8.5% to the GDP of Pakistan. In addition, the sector employs about 45% of the total labor force in the country. Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of cotton with the third largest spinning capacity in Asia after China and India and contributes 5% to the global spinning capacity. At present, there are 1,221 ginning units, 442 spinning units, 124 large spinning units and 425 small units which produce textile.
Muslin, a cotton fabric of plain weave, was historically hand woven in the areas of Dhaka and Sonargaon in Bangladesh and exported for many centuries. The region forms the eastern part of the historic region of Bengal.
The silk industry in Azerbaijan has existed since ancient times. Shirvan was the largest silk farming region there. The population in Shamakhi, Basqal, Ganja, Shaki and Shusha engaged in silk production. Patterned, ornamental silk female kerchiefs were produced in these regions. Silk production was one of the main activities continued into modern times.
Matsugaoka reclamation site was a cooperative farm on reclaimed land in Meiji period Japan, for the production of silk thread and cloth. Its location, in the modern city of Tsuruoka, Yamagata, became a National Historic Site of Japan in 1989.
Arafune-Azumaya Cold Storage Facilities are natural refrigerators used in silkworm production in association with the Tomioka Silk Mill in the towns of Shimonita and Nakanojō, Gunma Prefecture Japan. They are jointly designated as a National Historic Site and, together with the Tomioka Silk Mill, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the serial nomination Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Sites
The Takayama Sericulture School, also known as the "Takayama-sha Sericulture School" or the "Takayama-sha Sericulture Improvement Society", was a school and research institute located in the city of Fujioka, Gunma. It was founded in 1884 by sericulturist Takayama Chōgorō to teach sericulture and conduct research on improvements to Japan's fledgling silk industry. The school building from 1887 was made a National Historic Site of Japan in 2009. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014 under the overall designation of "Tomioka Silk Mill and associated sites".
The Tajima Yahei Sericulture Farm is located in the Sakaishima neighbored of the city of Isesaki, Gunma. It was the former home of an influential silk farmer in the early Meiji period, known for writing a new sericulture theory which laid the foundations for modern sericultural production. The building has been protected as a National Historic Site since 2012. It was subsequently included as part of The Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Industrial Heritage UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.
Media related to Silk in Japan at Wikimedia Commons