About Silk
Continuing from last month about farming, this time it is silk. It is the result of the unique environment and human power of farmers.
In writing about silk for this month's theme, I spoke with Silk Master Jusaku Kano about sericulture. Raising silkworms is very hard work. It takes 60 seasons of raising silkworms to become a full-fledged silkworm farmer. Every year, the silkworms are kept differently, and the climate is different. The mulberry leaves they eat are also different, so if you don't raise them with the utmost care, the silkworms may die. Mr. Kano is a former chief silk supervisor of the Sericulture and Horticulture Division of Gunma Prefecture's Agricultural Administration Department, and is currently the chief manager of silk demand development at Usui Silk Milling company. He has been advising me for nearly 30 years.
When I was a child, I wanted to be a fashion designer, but after reading Yukari Ichijyo’s manga "Designer," I gave up because I was intimidated by the competitive society of fashion designers. Instead, textile designers thought they had no competition because they would be working behind the scenes. It is true that it is not glamorous. It is not lucrative. The most profitable part of the job is the final stage of handing over the work to the consumer. Textile designers are subcontractors, so they make little profit. But for me, it didn't matter. It was fun work, something I could do even if I forgot to eat or sleep.
I became an independently, established textile company in 2000, in Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, because I was blessed with an environment that allowed me to meet and develop trusting relationships with many textile industry professionals, including Mr. Kano, since the 1990s. Mr. Keisuke Komatsu of Ambient, a textile manufacturing and sales company, said, "Waterfowl pretend to do nothing, but in the water they paddle as hard as they can with their legs. You can't show them how hard you are working." From Mr. Kaisuke, I learned patience, perseverance, and generous effort to build something steadily over time. From his younger brother Susumu, I learned the spirit of "Don't worry, what will be, will be.”
Mr. Isao Negishi, a master of silk salt shrinking (a processing method using the property of silk to shrink by an aqueous solution of salts) says, “ Silk, you know, is really amazing. Silkworms were revered as gods because they are so divine." When he says that with a straight face, I must really believe in him. I learned from him that belief conquers all.
Together with many textile professionals in Kiryu, we launched a joint project to produce silk fabrics in Gunma Prefecture. It was my first job after starting my business. It was too expensive for a general distribution product, not well regarded as a luxury product, and the product sales channel was incomplete. I also made silk fabrics on a handloom using raw silk. I think I made beautiful hand-woven fabrics. However, they never made it to the market. Then, I narrowed down my focus to scarves as a product that would sell better. After repeated hit and error, the hand-painted sericin-dissolving, silk organza scarves that I started making in 2013 began to sell steadily. This was the beginning of my career, not as a designer, but as an artist.
Like Mr. Negishi, who is passionate about silk, I do think silk is amazing. What makes silk so wonderful is that it is the only natural fiber that does not require further human intervention; it is a long fiber yarn that is already complete. (filament yarn)
This is a bit of a scientific explanation, but I want to explain properly because there are some misconceptions about silk.
Silk is composed of two protein components, fibroin and sericin, whose functions are interlocked. Fibroin is the center of silk's composition, while sericin surrounds it and serves as the epidermis. The luster of silk is the result of the triangular cross section of fibroin forming a prism (a state of bending, dispersion, or total reflection of light), and the colors when reflected are infinitely beautiful. Sericin functions to protect the silkworm, removes ultraviolet rays, and enhances warmth and breathability. Sericin is responsible for silk's strength as well as its stiffness. The key to our ingenuity is how to remove sericin and create a balance between the soft texture of fibroin and the depth of color. The beautiful luster and soft texture of silk are important, but it is only silk when the sericin is properly preserved.
That is why I focus on hand-painted sericin-dissolving scarves.
Silk has tens of millions of endless possibilities in terms of raw silk types and weaving techniques, and what has kept silk fascinating throughout its 5,000-year history is undoubtedly the craftsmanship that has been passed down from one person to another. It has only been 30 years for me. I would like to continue to make beautiful silk scarves with new discoveries and understanding.
If you would like to learn more about silk, this is a good website.
Now, I asked Mr. Kano about the future of the silk industry. Especially since he has been working specifically in Gunma Prefecture, if he has any advice for the future?
"Preciously, the original silkworm species has been passed down over thousands of years evolving, both in Japan and in China. The Japanese and Chinese silkworm hybrids, which are the result of crossing Japanese and Chinese original breeds with different characteristics, produce top-boiled cocoons of high quality due to hybrid vigor. This technology, developed by Dr. Kametaro Toyama, is used in all fields, including vegetable breeding.
Genetically modified silkworms are also being developed. For example, by adding spider genes, we can create a fiber that takes advantage of the benefits of both silkworms and spiders. Adding coral genes to silkworms will produce a fiber with red pigment. If we cross the gene with the gene of the wan jellyfish, we can produce a green color, or produce antibodies and enzymes inside the silkworm to develop pharmaceuticals.
Gunma Prefecture has been offering the Gunma Sericulture School since 2016 to train new sericulturists. The aim is to pass on the sericulture business and develop the production business. Young people immigrate, grow mulberry trees, raise silkworms, and produce silk. However, the sericultural farmers still face many problems in increasing their production and generating a stable income.”
Mr. Kano, who has been providing sericulture technology support to Nepal, always hopes
“We will provide new technology and systems. Let's utilize farmland for sericulture and produce cocoons. It is important that many sericultural farmers maintain stable production and management while improving their technical skills.”
In the past, as soon as the silk industry flourished and the economy became rich, sericulture declined. Many of China's sericultural farms, which boast the largest production of cocoons and raw silk, have moved to Sichuan Province in the west and Guangxi Autonomous Region in the south. Sericultural production areas in China are also moving to regions with lower labor costs. This is the result of the sericultural industry in countries where efficiency and profit have become priorities. However, silk with a history of 5,000 years has continued to survive in spite of this.
The Silk Road was a route along which kingdoms rose and fell and conquerors redrew the maps of what is now Central Asia, the Middle East, and southern Europe, each time the route twisting and turning, crossing mountains and deserts. History is repeating itself today and is about to change the map again. The Silk Road route from Tehran to Baghdad, Damascus, Gaza, and its terminus in Egypt is in the midst of a war zone. No one knows what our future holds, but we must believe that as long as history continues, inheriting the silk process is part of the path to peace.
Thank you for reading my newsletter of the month.
This month's scarf is “cocoons.”
-Yuh
