Japan by the Japanese/Chapter 18.2

Silk holds the balance of Japan’s foreign trade.

Sericulture, or the art of rearing silkworms, dates apparently from the ‘Age of the Gods’ in Japan. Coming down to the ‘Age of Man,’ however, we find that the industry had ​made marked progress even in the early days, owing to Imperial encouragement, and to the efforts of Chinese instructors who had become naturalized in the country. In the year A.D. 195, Prince Koman, a descendant of the royal house, emigrated to China, became naturalized, and introduced the Chinese species of silkworm. Many years later a son of this Prince Koman settled in Japan, and with him a large body of experienced silk-weavers, who were distributed throughout the country for the purpose of instructing the people in this art. About fifty years later the then Emperor is said to have required his Empress to visit the houses of the silk-weavers and sericulturists to encourage them in their industry, while still later, in A.D. 462, the Emperor Yuryake caused his Empress to pick mulberry-leaves and rear silkworms. From this time forward the culture of silk became a matter of great national concern, and, with some reverses, has continued to expand and increase to this day. Silk came to be accepted as a substitute for other payment of taxes, and to be very generally used for purposes of attire. In consequence of this, it came to pass that there was not in Japan a province where the silkworm was not reared and the fabric manufactured. During the ‘Age of Wars,’ or the Japanese Dark Ages, beginning about A.D. 936, and lasting about 700 years, the product suffered to a disastrous extent, only being carried on in out-of-the-way places which were comparatively free from the ravages of fire and the sword. With the return of peace conditions, about the year 1615, the Daimios, anxious to see the people settle back into avocations which made for orderly conditions, began assiduously to encourage a revival of the silk trade. For all that, however, the passing of sumptuary laws prohibiting the common people from wearing silk garments again threw the work into confusion, and it was not until the opening of the treaty ports in 1859 that the market for Japanese silks again flourished in any marked degree. With the New Era, the Imperial Government, carrying out the wishes of the Emperor, has encouraged the production of silk by every means in its power.

Various circumstances have combined at times within recent years to adversely affect the silk trade of the country. Soon after the opening up of the ports to foreign trade, the silkworm epidemic in Europe caused great demand for Japanese silkworm eggs, and vast numbers were exported; but success made the growers careless, and a large number of inferior eggs were sent out. The Government, seeing the certainty of eventual loss of trade and prestige which must ensue from dishonest practices of this nature, made various attempts to control the export trade, but with little success. ​In the meantime, the demand for the best quality of silkworms for European growers resulted in experiments which evolved a satisfactory product, and the foreign trade in Japanese silkworm eggs diminished by gradual stages until it ceased to exist. Demoralization in the manufacture of raw silk had set in from the same causes, and there were loud complaints from foreign buyers. The Government then took hold of the matter with determination, and after trying many devices to eliminate objectionable practices, in the year 1885 there were drawn up a series of regulations for the formation of guilds among those interested in the industry. The result has been eminently satisfactory.

The traditional method of caring for the silkworm came from Prince Shotoku, who is said to have told the agriculturists that they should rear their worms just as parents nurse and bring up their infants; that they should think of the worms just as parents think of their own children; that in adjusting the temperature for the worms they should judge of what suited them best, making the room neither too warm nor too cool, while giving it good ventilation; and that they should lavish the utmost care upon the worms both day and night. The ideas embodied in this teaching are exactly what are being taught and acted upon to-day. Still, the World’s Fair at Vienna in 1872 opened the eyes of progressive Japanese silk-producers to the value of scientific knowledge, and the officials who attended the Fair returned home enthusiastic for new and complete methods. The Imperial Government, ever ready to foster any plans for the betterment of the country and its commerce, and acting upon the suggestions of these officials, caused the establishment of sericultural laboratories. The initial difficulties were overcome after some slight complications, and to-day there are numbers of young men sent to receive instruction in practical scientific rearing of the silkworm. The result of experiments in the laboratories are made public from time to time, much to the benefit of sericulture in general, while, under this encouraging condition, those interested in the industry in the four important and progressive provinces of Fukushima, Gumma, Nagano, and Saitama, are sending travelling instructors throughout their districts.

The general rise in wages and the short period of actual egg cultivation has reduced the profit from silk production to such a point that, while the industry has increased, it has done so mostly as a by-industry of the farmer, one of the rooms of his dwelling being set aside as a rearing-room, while members of the family attend to the worms. An idea of the enormous spread of the occupation as a by-industry may be ​gathered from the fact that in 1901 there were no less than 2,475,819 families so engaged, while of silk manufacturers there were 421,941. The returns for the year 1901 show that of raw silk there was a total production of 14,639,670 pounds avoirdupois, of which the export trade took 11,596,941 pounds. Of this latter amount fully one-half went to the United States of America, nearly one-fifth to France, and about one-eighth to Italy. The trade with England amounted to only 17,195 pounds. The total sum realized by the raw silk product exported in 1901 was £7,416,733. Besides this amount, the waste raw silk exports bring into the country a revenue of about £500,000 per annum. As a means of promoting the export of silk, a regular silk-conditioning house, qualified to undertake the weighing of the gross and the net quality of silk, was established in 1896 at Yokohama. This business has progressed steadily, until the idea which it embodies is considered an important factor in the silk trade, offering the buyer, as it does, an absolute analysis and guarantee of the quality of the goods he wishes to purchase.

The mulberry farm keeps pace with the silk industry, the method of cultivation differing according to soil and climate. In the northern districts, where a comparatively low temperature prevails, the plants are allowed to remain unpruned all the year round; but in the south-western provinces, where the climatic conditions are quite the opposite, the shoots are pruned close to the root. In addition to the mulberry farm, the tree is grown for the purpose of making hedges and marking boundary-lines, these trees furnishing, it is estimated, about one-fourth of the entire amount of mulberry-leaves used in the silkworm industry of the country.