Japanese Silk

Silk is a product strongly associated with Japan. However, the June 30^th issue of Jinja Shinpō included an article by the head of the Dainippon Silk Foundation, bemoaning the collapse of domestic production of silk fibre. Last year, domestic silk farmers produced 38 tonnes of silk thread, a drop of 99.97% since the peak in 1968. Recently, the amount produced has been halving every five years. Three quarters of active silk farmers are 70 or older, and 86% of them have no successor. The reason for this is a drop in demand for silk (because people use nylon), and competition from imported silk — the silk farmers would get paid about ¥500/hour if they priced competitively. That is less than half the minimum wage, even here.

Things are even worse when it comes to certain traditional Japanese breeds of silkworm, which produce very fine threads, but are less efficient. Reading between the lines, the main producer of this silk may be the Empress. Just as the Tennō tends his own rice field, so does the Empress raise silkworms. (With help, in both cases.) On several occasions, the Imperial household has donated the silk necessary to restore or reproduce historic treasures, and this may be because there is simply not enough of the right sort of silk available anywhere else.

In any case, the point of the article was to ask people in the Shinto community to buy things made with domestically produced silk thread, not merely made in Japan from imported thread. This is a reasonable approach. The things in question are religious vestments and tools, and Shinto’s close links to place mean that there are theological reasons to use Japanese sources if possible (particularly for jinja in Japan). That, in turn, means that jinja might be willing to pay over market price, so that the silk farmers can make at least minimum wage.

Silk is not the only material for which this sort of appeal has been made. I have mentioned previously that the Shinto community is deeply involved in plans to increase domestic production of hemp, which is traditionally used in purification rituals. Similar moves are afoot on traditional thatching techniques, provoked by the government’s decision not to thatch the roofs of the main ritual buildings at the Daijōsai, the ancient ritual marking the accession of a new Tennō. They decided against it on grounds of cost, and their response to complaints from the Shinto community was to tell them to make it available more cheaply and easily by next time. So the Shinto community, the thatching community, and a number of Diet members are trying to make that happen.

Shinto is, at least in part, about preserving the traditional culture of Japan. There seems to be an increasing awareness among priests that one way they can do that is by serving as a market for traditional crafts.