Town of Japanese silk industry - Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Sites 1449
What and Why
Tomioka Silk Mill (Japanese: 富岡製糸場, Tomioka Seishijō) is Japan's (日本, Nihon) oldest modern model silk factory, established in 1872 CE by the government, with extensive import of labour from France, to introduce modern machine silk reeling and spread its technology all across Japan. The policy and factory left everlasting footprints in the industrial development of Japan.
Soon after the Meiji Restoration (明治維新, Meiji Ishin) in the late 19th century CE, Japanese raw silk was the most important export and sustained the growth of Japan’s economy. During this boom, however, the Japanese silk industry began to sacrifice the quality of its silk over quantity, which rapidly harmed the reputation of Japan as a raw silk manufacturer. As a result, the national government decided to establish the Tomioka Silk Mill as a model facility equipped with the most sophisticated machinery to improve the quality of raw silk, and import French skills to develop the area.
In 1870 CE, a French engineer, Paul Brunat, who worked in a French trading company was identified as the candidate to lead this project and he researched and decided to choose Tomioka (富岡) as a result of its favourable weather and water supply.
In spite of the attractive prospectus of the plans and the ambition from the Japanese government, the mill did not go as plan in the early days when it failed to recruit enough workers for the mill. It turns out that the Japanese were scared of Brunat's team because it was rumoured that the French drank blood! Of course the rumours was just that the French were drinking red wine and the Japanese had mistaken it for blood, as red wine was very uncommon during the time. The silk mill prospered after this rumour was dispelled after three months of delay and whatever followed the rest was history. Tomioka, and its silk mill, produced some of the finest silk in the world and the silk became the main Japanese export to the West. The mill becomes synonymous with the boom of Japanese industrialisation and international openness during the era and stands a parallel elevated status with the Meiji Restoration.
Toponymy
Tomioka means a 'rich hill' in Japanese.
See
Clearly the main site is the factory itself which is extremely well preserved, as in most Japanese stuffs and artefacts.
The entire site clearly is no longer in operation but is converted into a living museum and almost every spot can be explored. In fact the mill continued its operation until 1987 CE, due to change of economic structure, so the working condition of the mill is still quite good.
The gallery-museum does give a very good explanation of the history of silk industry and contribution from Tomioka as a whole.
The silk cocoons.
The workers dormitory.
Buy and Do
Aizome (藍染め)
Clearly silk from Tomioka, loads of seri-products along the streets. In particular this area has developed the famed Japanese aizome (藍染め), a bluish dyeing technique. Aside from silk, soap apparently seems to be everywhere.
Eat and Drink
Japanese whisky (ウイスキー)
Along the journey from Tomioka we visited the famed Suntory Hakushū Distillery (サントリー白州蒸溜所, Hakushū Jōryūsho). To westerners especially to the Scots, to claim that Japanese whisky (ウイスキー) is good would be next to blasphemous (see my blog in Edinburgh). However since the turn of this century, Japanese whiskies have garnered a fine reputation in the liquor arena and has earned themselves many top international awards, including the best of the best whiskies. I personally find Japanese blends much smoother and perhaps less 'hard' and offer a much more soothing sensation and a simpler character compared to the Scottish blends.
Suntory (サントリ) is the biggest Japanese whisky company and started brewing since the late 19th century CE. Presently the most famous Suntory blends are Yamazaki (山崎, rugged hill), Hakushu (白州, white land), and Hibiki (響, loud).
Getting There and Around
Honestly this is a bit in the middle of nowhere, Tomioka is not a particularly attractive town to visit and it is not well connected. We drove there and other than this site, there is nothing particularly interesting to visit. Entry ticket is a mere JPY 500¥. The mill is worth half-a-day of visit.
UNESCO Inscription
This property is a historic sericulture and silk mill complex established in the late 19th and early 20th century in the Gunma prefecture, north-west of Tokyo. It consists of four sites that correspond to the different stages in the production of raw silk: a large raw silk reeling plant whose machinery and industrial expertise were imported from France; an experimental farm for production of cocoons; a school for the dissemination of sericulture knowledge; and a cold-storage facility for silkworm eggs. The site illustrates Japan’s desire to rapidly access the best mass production techniques, and became a decisive element in the renewal of sericulture and the Japanese silk industry in the last quarter of the 19th century. Tomioka Silk Mill and its related sites became the centre of innovation for the production of raw silk and marked Japan’s entry into the modern, industrialized era, making it the world’s leading exporter of raw silk, notably to Europe and the United States.
References
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