Abstract
In the decade following the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarked on a far-reaching program of industrialization the likes of which the world had never seen before, nor is it ever likely to see again. The Meiji government’s “program of industrialization,” shokusan kōgyō, may, however, be more accurately described as ad hoc industrialization: a series of perfunctory ventures whose only elements of commonality were the adoption of Western industrial technologies that loosely fit within the rhetoric of fukoku kyōhei ideology permissible under the unequal treaties. There was little or no detailed planning involved; schemes were often formulated as problems arose. At Tomioka, the government’s premier silk reeling facility, for example, no one even considered who would work there.1 This lack of planning and foresight was typical of early Japanese efforts at technology transfer and industrial development.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Ōkurashō, Kōgyō iken (Tokyo: Ōkurashō, 1884); reprinted in Meiji zenki zaisei keizai shiryō shūsei: Ōkurashōhen, Vol. 18 (Tokyo: Meiji Bunkan Shiryō Enkōkai, 1964), pp. 35–40.
Also see, Nakamura Naofumi, “Kōhatsu koku kōgyōka to chūō-chihō: Meiji Nihon no keiken,” in 20 seiki shisutemu: 4 kaihatsushugi, ed. Tokyo Daigaku Shakaikagaku Kenkyūjō (Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 1998), pp. 241–275, on p. 245.
One of the indicators of this practice can be seen in the government’s selection of its foreign advisers based on country of specialization. See Yoshio Hara, “Westernization to Japanization: The Replacement of Foreign Teachers by Japanese Who Studied Abroad,” The Developing Economies, December 1977, 15 (4): 440–461, on p. 443.
Ōtsuka Ryōtarō, Sanshi, Vol. 1 (Tokyo: Fusōen, 1900), pp. 245–256; and based on Shibusawa’s recollections in Tomioka seishijō no sōsetsu reprinted in Shibusawa Eiichi denki shiryō, Vol. 2 (Tokyo: Shibusawa Eiichi Kankōkai, 1956), pp. 517–518 (hereafter SEDS); and Shibusawa Eiichi, Seien sensei denshokō reprinted in ibid., p. 522; McCallion, “Silk Reeling in Japan,” pp. 76–78. See also “Seien sensei denshi,” reprinted in SEDS, p. 522. According to this source, Ōkuma surveyed the officials to see if anyone had any knowledge of the silk industry, and it was he who appointed Shibusawa.
See Tomioka Seishijōshi Hensan Iinkai, ed., Tomioka seishijōshi, Vol. 1 (Tomioka: Tomioka-shi Kyōiku Iinkai, 1977), document no. 4, 1:139 (hereafter TSS);
and Ellen P. Conant, “The French Connection: Emile Guimet’s Mission to Japan, A Cultural Context for Japonisme,” in Japan in Transition: Thought and Action in the Meiji Era, 1868–1912, ed. Hilary Conroy, Sandra T.W. Davis, and Wayne Patterson (London: Associated University Presses, 1984), pp. 113–146, on p. 117;
Kamijō Hiroyuki, “Pooru Buryuna: kikai seishi gijutsu no dokusōteki ishokusha,” in Kōza Nihon gijustu no shakaishi, Vol. 2 (Tokyo: Nippon Heironsha, 1986), pp. 12–13 (hereafter KNGS).
Hazel J. Jones, “The Formulation of the Meiji Government Policy toward the Employment of Foreigners,” Monumenta Nipponica, 1968, 23 (1–2): 9–30, on p. 10.
Teruko Craig, trans., The Autobiography of Shibusawa Eiichi: From Peasant to Entrepreneur (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1994), p. 129.
Umegaki Michio, After the Restoration (New York: New York University Press, 1986), p. 118.
The 1867 trip to Europe was the third trip for Sugiura. He had been part of Tokugawa missions to Europe in 1861 and 1863. During the 1867 mission, he and Shibusawa became close friends. Sugiura’s positive disposition toward Western “civilization” may have favorably influenced Shibusawa. Igarashi Akio, Meiji isshin no shisō (Kanagawa: Seshoku Shōbō, 1996), pp. 183–187.
Also, see Sugiura Yuzuru Iinkai, Sugiura Yuzuru zenshū, Vol. 1 (Tokyo: Sugiura Yuzuru inkai, 1979) (hereafter SYZ).
Richard Sims, French Policy Towards the Bakufu and Meiji Japan, 1854–95 (Surrey: Japan Library, 1998), pp. 48–54.
Louis Gueneau, Lyon et le Commerce de la Soie (Lyon: L. Bascou, 1923) pp. 94–95;
George J. Sheridan Jr., The Social and Economic Foundation of Association Among the Silk Weavers of Lyons, 1852–1870 (New York: Arno Press, 1981), Vol. 1, p. 184
and David G. Wittner, “Iron and Silk: Progress and Ideology in the Technological Transformation of Japan, 1850–1895,” unpublished Ph.D. diss. (The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, 2000), pp. 61–63.
It should also be noted that Shibusawa and Sugiura were looking at woven Lyons silk textiles. There is no mention of raw silk in their journal. Federico argues that Italy’s silk reeling industry led the world in technical innovation and was, by the 1850s almost completely mechanically self sufficient; Giovanni Federico, An Economic History of the Silk Industry, 1830–1930 (Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 109.
See Silvana de Maio, “Italy, 9 May–3 June 1873” in The Iwakura Mission in America and Europe: A New Assessment ed. Ian, Nish (Surrey: Japan Library (Curzon Press Ltd.), 1998), pp. 149–161, on pp. 149–151.
Odaka Atsutada, “Seishi no hōkoku,” Ryūmon zasshi, May 15, 1893, 60:1–15, on p. 5; excerpts of this article are also reprinted in SEDS, Vol. 2, p. 524. Odaka stated that there were 36 frames, Ōtsuka’s description for Maebashi counts 32 reeling frames.
Kannōkyoku, Shomukyoku, Kyōshinkai hōkoku, kenshi no bu (Tokyo: Yūrindō, 1880), p. 39.
See Ōkurashō, Kōbushō enkaku hōkoku, Tokyo, 1889, pp. 684–688. The Akasaka filature was also known as the Tokyo Kankōryō Seishijō (filature).
Sano Tsunetami. Ōkoku hakurankai hōkokusho: sangyōbu, Tokyo, 1875, Vol. 1, section 6, p. 7.
Motoyama Yukihiko, trans., George Wilson, “Meirokusha Thinkers and Early Meiji Enlightenment Thought” in Proliferating Talent: Essays on Politics, Thought, and Education in the Meiji Era (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997), pp. 238–273, on p. 239.
Muramatsu Teijirō, “Basuchan-gunkan to kinu no ito,” Oyatoi gaikokujin, Vol. 15, kenchiku-domoku (Tokyo: Kashimada Shuppankai, 1978), p. 129.
Nagai Yasuoki, Seishika hikkei, 3 vols., Tokyo, 1884. The first release of the manuals was in 1878. For details regarding filature construction, see 2:12 ff.; for reeling techniques, see 3: 1–31.
Penelope Francks, Technology and Agricultural Development in Pre-War Japan, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), p. 11.
Vice Consul Martin Dohmen to F. O. Adams, Commercial Reports from Her Majesty’s Consuls in Japan, 1871 (London: Harrison and Sons, 1872), p. 56. The Japanese adoption of Western clothing was a constant source of comment and amusement for foreigners, especially the British, in Yokohama.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2005 David G. Wittner
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wittner, D.G. (2005). The Mechanization of Japan’s Silk Industry and the Quest for Progress and Civilization, 1870–1880. In: Low, M. (eds) Building a Modern Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403981110_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403981110_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-53057-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4039-8111-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)