Why the Textile Culture Flourished in Isesaki City: Its Rise and Fall

Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture. This land where MEISENNE was born was once one of the largest silk fabric producing areas in Japan. Why did textile culture flourish so much in this land? I would like to trace its history from beginning to end.

It began as a side business for farmers.

The history of Isesaki textiles dates back to the Edo period. Isesaki flourished as a sericultural region from ancient times, and during the off-season (the time of year when farm work is relatively light and requires less effort), farmers used waste cocoons such as tama-ito and noshi-ito to make striped fabrics dyed with grass and tree bark. In other words, textiles were originally a "side business" made during free time from farming.

Its durability and stylish striped patterns gained a reputation, and from the era of Shogun Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun, it spread to various provinces including Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo, and came to be called "futori" or "shima." In the late Edo period, commercialization further advanced, and the farmers' side business gradually grew into Isesaki's main industry.

 

Textiles created the town's infrastructure

As the textile industry grew, the town's structure also changed. Silk merchants gathered in the city, silk inns that facilitated trade appeared, and motobataya (textile manufacturers from the late Edo period to the Meiji and Showa periods) that produced textiles emerged. The motobataya operated on a division of labor system: they purchased yarn with their own funds, commissioned dyeing, and then commissioned farmers to weave.

In the Meiji era, modernization accelerated further. In Meiji 18 (1885), the Isesaki Textile Industry Association established a textile training center, which later became the Isesaki Dyeing and Weaving School, the predecessor of Isesaki Technical High School. The town's structure itself became centered on textiles to the extent that a school for textiles was established. Intermediary merchants who mediated between producers, sellers, and department stores also emerged, and Isesaki began to function as an industrial system.

 

Meisen took root, becoming a way to express individuality

It was in the late Meiji period that the textile previously known as futori began to be called "Meisen," but the turning point for Meisen to truly flourish is said to have been due to a statement by a certain individual. Nogi Maresuke, who became the head of Gakushuin in Meiji 40 (1907), expressed concern about the flashy attire of female students and decreed that "clothing should be Meisen or less." This policy, intended to promote simplicity, took an unexpected turn. Following this statement, the production of Meisen with vibrant colors and diverse patterns, different from the plain ones of the past, began.

Demand exploded, and in the early Taisho period, it was produced in the five major production areas of Isesaki, Chichibu, Ashikaga, Hachioji, and Kiryu. Records show that about half of the women walking in kimonos wore Meisen.

The peak was in 1930 (Showa 5). Isesaki City became one of the leading Meisen producing areas in Japan, reaching a golden age where it was said that about 1 in 10 women wore Isesaki Meisen. It was an era when a single piece of fabric truly took root in the lives and attire of women of that time.

 

Overcoming war, the decline of Meisen arrived

The history of Isesaki Meisen was not always smooth. Production temporarily decreased due to the impact of the Great Depression and the controlled economy during the war, but even when the city center was devastated by air raids just before the end of the war, the hand-weaving industry in the suburbs quickly recovered. In 1956 (Showa 31), it reached a production scale of 2.92 million rolls and 5 billion yen, showing its resilience by entering its third golden age.

However, it could not resist the changes of the times. Due to rapid changes in fashion and lifestyles after the war, Meisen began to decline from this year onwards. In the major trend of Westernization, new product development such as wool kasuri was attempted, but the demand for replacement did not continue, and the industry declined.

 

Signs of a reevaluation of Meisen

In the late 1990s, after a long silence, a small wave of reevaluation for Meisen arrived. A boom in antique kimonos occurred, and Meisen, as a prime example, began to attract attention again. That small boom continues even now.

Isesaki Meisen, which began as a side business for farmers, created the town's infrastructure, became the aspiration of women, and then quietly disappeared. MEISENNE stands on the memory of its rise and fall.

References

• Isesaki City "Isesaki City's Traditional Industries and Crafts"
• Shirotex Co., Ltd. "The Story of Isesaki Meisen"
• Wikipedia "Isesaki Kasuri"
• Isesaki Municipal Isesaki High School "About Isesaki Meisen" (Enjoyable Isesaki Town Walk)
• Yukemuri Forum "The World of Beautiful Isesaki Meisen, Still Stimulating People's Hearts Today"