Enshu textile history

Since ancient times, the western part of Shizuoka Prefecture has been called Totomi no Kuni.It is what we call Enshu. This Enshu area has been one of the leading cotton producing areas in Japan since the middle of the Edo period. In the midst of such a foundation, in 1845 (Koka 2), Masaharu Inoue was transferred from the Tatebayashi Domain (currently near Tatebayashi City, Gunma Prefecture) instead of the lord of the Hamamatsu Domain, Tadakuni Mizuno, who was famous for the reform of Tenpo. I came. Masaharu Inoue brought back the technology of loom from Tatebayashi. As a result of this success, the Enshu region has become a major textile producing area in Japan, and cotton cultivation, cotton yarn spinning, and cotton woven fabrics have become more popular. The birth of Enshu cotton pongee.

Even after the era goes down and the Meiji era begins, the Enshu textile production area continues to create an epoch-making trend for the Japanese textile industry. When the first Western-style spinning mill in the area was completed in 1884 (Meiji 17), Sakichi Toyoda made Japan’s first power loom (power loom-Rikishokki-) in 1898 (Meiji 29). He is the founder of the current Toyota Group.In 1909 (Meiji 42), Michio Suzuki, the founder of Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd., founded Suzuki Loom Works. Established Suzuki Loom Co., Ltd. in 1920 (Taisho 9) with improvements while manufacturing various looms. In 1929 (Showa 4), we invented the Suzuki-style salon loom and expanded exports overseas.

With the introduction of looms made by Toyoda and Suzuki, various fabrics such as velveteen, coulten, broadcloth, and poplin have come to be woven in the Enshu region, and these fabrics have been highly evaluated both at home and abroad. is.Unfortunately, however, the textile industry, which is a highly labor-intensive industry, will gradually move its manufacturing sites overseas.
In the latter half of the 1980s (after the 1960s), textile imports exceeded exports.Under such circumstances, each business operator is supporting the Enshu textile production area with an eye on the present and future, such as branding of Enshu cotton pongee and development of new sales channels by selling advanced technology pinpointly.