Knitting in Japan, Part 1, Pasge 2

The Taisho Period

The Taisho Period (1912-1926) was already two years old by the outbreak of the First World War in Europe. Hand knitting continued to grow in popularity, alongside other needlework skills and crafts. Although western style clothing was popular with the artistic, business and administrative elite, the kimono was still the main mode of costume. This restricted the type of items that people would knit to accessories, socks and underwear. Nevertheless, the demand for knitting yarns was high and several brands of yarn that would become Japanese household names were established at this point. The Fujii yarn merchants would become 'Ski', and the Matumoto yarn merchants would branch into the 'Daiya' and 'Victor' brands. Knitting yarns were mostly sold through a variety of outlets rather than specialist yarn shops. The British yarn brand 'Beehive' (recently relaunched by Patons) was very popular , but by the end of the First World War Japanese spinning companies were making their own hand knitting woollen yarns. Some of these companies are still thriving today.


	The story of Knitting in Japan, Part 2
	The Japanese Textile Industry (continued)
	The Japanese woollen industry depended initially on imported 'tops' (roving) which were then spun into yarn in Japan. At first the main output was a loosely woven plain weave woollen cloth which in Japan is called 'muslin'. When the market for this type of cloth fell they switched to producing worsted yarns. The success of the Japanese textile industry was boosted by a succession of military involvements, such as the Nichiro War between Japan and Russia (1904-1905). The outbreak of the First World War, just after the end of the Meiji Period, provided Japanese exporters the opportunity to sell to countries that were no longer able to obtain their textile products from France, Germany or the United Kingdom. Japan fought on the Allied side, and was involved in minor battles against German colonies in China and Pacific islands. Japanese women, just like their counterparts in many other countries around the world, knitted socks and underwear to send to the front		Japanese Street Lighting, 1884 (Sadakichi)
	The Taisho Period The Taisho Period (1912-1926) was already two years old by the outbreak of the First World War in Europe. Hand knitting continued to grow in popularity, alongside other needlework skills and crafts. Although western style clothing was popular with the artistic, business and administrative elite, the kimono was still the main mode of costume. This restricted the type of items that people would knit to accessories, socks and underwear. Nevertheless, the demand for knitting yarns was high and several brands of yarn that would become Japanese household names were established at this point. The Fujii yarn merchants would become 'Ski', and the Matumoto yarn merchants would branch into the 'Daiya' and 'Victor' brands. Knitting yarns were mostly sold through a variety of outlets rather than specialist yarn shops. The British yarn brand 'Beehive' (recently relaunched by Patons) was very popular , but by the end of the First World War Japanese spinning companies were making their own hand knitting woollen yarns. Some of these companies are still thriving today.		Japanese Troops in the First World War
	At the conclusion of the First World War Japan's transitionary period from it's centuries of isolation into a modern industrial power was not entirely complete, but the West was now aware for the first time of the importance of the Japanese economy as well as her strategic importance in the East. Hand knitting, once featured as a novelty news item in the Tokyo Nichinichi newspaper of January 1887 under the headline "Women's Knitting Groups - applicants are daughters from the most highly select social circles", - has become fairly widespread. A range of associated services, manufacturing industries and private knitting schools had sprung up to ensure that knitting was there to stay.
	In the next and final part we will follow Japanese knitting from the end of the First World War up to the present day, and will examine the growth of domestic machine knitting, the development of some influential Japanese knitting techniques and how knitting was to become a major leisure industry in Japan.
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