Kiryu Region

Producing compound jacquard textiles

The Kiryu textile region in Gunma Prefecture is known for producing compound jacquard textiles using mainly rayon and synthetic fibres. Its long history dates back to 714 in the Nara Period, when ‘Ashiginu’ (rough silk) was contributed to the imperial court, according to the ‘Shoku Nihongi’ (the official historical record of the imperial court in the Nara Period). The region became a shogunal demesne after woven flag silk figurines were produced for the Tokugawa side at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600) and almost all the roots of the current divisional labour system date back to the Edo Period (1603-1868). Since the textiles were mainly for kimonos, however, orders continued to decline, reflecting how Westernisation led to less demand for traditional Japanese clothing. Small wonder therefore than from 1955 or so, they started producing fabric for western-style ladieswear. The region is known, for example, as being the first nationwide to use rayon. Pioneering energy that propelled the region forward and spawned further development of more original textiles.

Ceaseless ingenuity has gone into not only techniques of jacquard machines, but also differentiating lustrous effects achieved by yarns and elaborate arrangements that encompass diverse finishing methods. Thanks to such efforts, the region has been able to provide an ever-wider product range in small batches that can be rapidly rolled out. But even as this high-speed weaving operation accelerates, low-speed looms remain just as important and fabrics produced with both methods have been acclaimed by overseas customers.