JAPAN’S SILK INDUSTRY

Evening Star, Issue 24083, 2 January 1942, Page 2

JAPAN’S SILK INDUSTRY

WORMS AS WORKERS When Japanese, newspapers claim that industry’is “choking" as a result of the suspension or trade witn the British Empire and America, the evidence of the silk industry must loom largely before them (writes “J.J.L.,” in the Melbourne ‘ Age’). The export of raw silk to the U.S.A., with parallel imports of American cotton, formed the main trade Jink across the Pacific and fostered in Japan a complex commercial structure. At the base of this structure were '10,000,000 peasants, whose livelihood was derived from sericulture, ingenious means for finding other outlets for the huge yield of raw silk—Japanese production is the largest in the world —have failed to meet the situation, and a report from Tokio says that production for the current year is to be reduced to 350,000 bales. Efforts to increase home consumption have diverted the use of silk to products hitherto regarded as completely outside the textile field; it is claimed that a silk leather suitable for footwear has been developed, that a new and better silk wool is being processed, that even grindstones and mechanical components will be made from the thread of the humble Bombyx Mori Limine—-which is the silkworm.

Of Japan’s exports to the United States approximately 60 per cent, represented raw silk and silk thread; before the expansion of rayon and manufactured exports silks furnished almost half of the total Japanese income from exports to all parts of the world. The reeling of the fibre thread gave employment to some 350,000 operatives, while the Government conditioning houses at Yokohama and Kobe absorb many more skilled employees. The total private and public capital invested in the production and export of raw silk and silk thread ranks the industry as one of the most substantial in the Japanese Empire. The organisation of the industry, which has been “ rationalised ’’ by legislation, is under the supervision of the Nihon Chuo Sanshikai (the Japan Central Haw Silk Association), which co-ordinates the work of some seventeen groups representing all phases of the industry. Of these the main are cocoon production, silkworm egg card production, raw silk reeling and association reeling, wholesale marketing and brokerage, and exporting. The association exists to sponsor increased efficiency throughout the industry, arbitrating when a conflict of interests between producers and distributors might impair the industry as a whole, and it seeks to expand the demand for raw silk by opening new markets and developing new uses. Despite rationalisation, the primary production of silk lies in the hands of peasant families, who work industriously in their own small areas of mulberry trees, and tend' the sensitive silkworms bv methods which are not radically different from those in force since sericulture began in Japan in 337 n.c. Following the example of successive Imperial households the people learned to regard cocoon-raising as an occupation. but the output was limited until an export demand was created by the opening of the ports in 1869. Until recent years almost the whole of the increasing annual output was exported. 80 per cent, of the total world production of silk emanating from Japan.

ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH. It is a fascinating story which traces the growth of a tremendous industry from the small silkworms nestling among the leaves of a mulberry bush.

The eggs of the silkworms hatch out ui May and June, and the tiny progeny feed on tender young mulberry leaves, of which there are about 1,500,000 acre* under cultivation in Japan. Four time# ( during the leaf-eating period the silkworms “sleep,” when they cast their skins and grow remarkably, so that at the time of their maximum development their weight is 10,000 times that at the time of hatching. After the fourth “ sleeping ’’ period the young silkworms reveal prodigious appetites, and they, ■ crunch -steadily and noisily at their mulberry leaves until they’are- ready to spin A their cocoons. During '"this -■ growing " period the entire family of the Japanese farmer is mobilised in the task of feeding mulberry leaves to the worms by day and night, in cleaning the trays, regulating the temperature of the shed, ( and taking other protective measures to \ ensure that the silkworms will pass to . the cocoonery in the best condition. When the point of maximum growth is reached—about 80 days after hatch- ■ ing—the diet of mulberry leaves is ' stopped, and the silkworms are removed, ■ one by one, to the cocoonery; they immediately begin to emit silk fibre, and in two days complete a cocoon containing, normally, I.oooyds of thread,- Four or five days later the worms shed their j skins within the cocoons and change j form again.

SCIENTIFIC PROCESSING. j After grading the cocoons are sold to the reeling companies, which are • either independent corporations or cooperative undertakings on the part of the producers. Reeling the delicate fibre without breaking the thread calls for a high degree of control throughout the process, and intensive research by the Sericulture Department of the Bureau of Agriculture in Tokio has developed scientific standards of processing which are enforced throughout the industry m order to maintain the quality of the export silk. So highly did the Japanese . Government regard the trade in silk / that two Government-controlled conditioning mills were established in Yoko-- : hama and Kobe, and all export silk was ; finally checked and assessed in these i plants. ... ’ Under Government direction research into all branches of silk production has • been continued, over, many _ years, ti> I improve tfie quality of the yield. This research has sought to raise the standard of the fibre, and, at the same time, 1 to reduce the cost of producing the . cocoons; this cost constitutes.almost 80 j per cent, of the total cost of the spun, silk.. The quality of cocoons varies greatly according to the methods of { raising the silkworms, while the production costs depend largely upon the amount and quality of mulberry leaves used for feeding. All silkworm eggs are ( now produced and distributed- by the ~ Bureau of Agriculture in order to on- i sure uniformity. In addition the Tosan , Jikko Kumiai (the National Sericulture j Association) has conducted a campaign , to improve the methods of individual 1 producers throughout the Empire. Sencultural education is given at special j colleges at Ueda and Kyoto, and by i instructors working in the production areas. JAPAN’S CHOICE. The increasing demand for Japanese 1 silk had created an industry which was -i spread throughout all parts of the country, and played an important part in • the financial structure of the rural com- J mumty, Th© rationalisation of the m- j dnstry and the standardisation of the output had laid the foundation for further sales of Nipponese silk in every country of the world, and it seems improbable that intensive efforts to increase home consumption will be able to absorb more than a small proportion of the output. If the attention devoted to building up the raw silk industry is i nob to be a futile endeavour, it is in , Japan’s hands to create conditions which ; will again open to her the markets of ! the world. : '