資料名 |
Silk Production |
解説 |
Sericulture (silk throwing) has been promoted across Japan in the late Edo period due to encouragements by the government and industrial policies by the domains. Ukiyo-e that illustrates sericulture and silk throwing therefore became popular. “Kaiko Itonamino-zu” (Scenes of Sericulture) depicts the process of making threads from silkworms. It is a humorous work that features Seven Lucky Gods working with people. The thread-making process is illustrated in eight parts. The work in each scene is explained in a strip. ① Move newly born silkworms to paper to grow. ② Finely slice mulberry leaves as the feed for silkworms. ③ Collect mulberry leaves for grown-up silkworms. ④ Move grown-up silkworms to a box. ⑤ Boil cocoons and make fibers. ⑤ Dry the fibers. ⑥ Pull cocoons to make threads. ⑦ Take out cocoons of silkworms turning into moths. ⑧ Release silkworms that turned into moths. Two scenes are numbered five, probably because they are continued. Fibers in the explanation mean floss silk, and not cotton. Floss silk is fibers of silk obtained by boiling and pulling cocoons. The Seven Lucky Gods who work with people are ① Daikokuten, ③ Hotei, ④ Bishamonten, ⑤ Fukurokuju, ⑥ Ebisu, ⑦ Jurōjin, and ⑧ Benzaiten. The gods look happy to work. Their presence may bless production of high-quality silk. |
資料番号 |
60743 |
