Development of Sericulture and the State of Silkworm-Egg Producers and Peddlers

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze features in the process of production and selling of silkworm-eggs in the case of Chiisagata district in Nagano Prefecture during 1890s-1910s. Chiisagata district was the largest center of silkworm-egg production at that time, and the peak of the production was in 1900s. But, the absolute amount and the proportion of the production occupied in the whole country decreased after 1900s. Their main outlets, which had been distributed in Kanto and Chubu district, became gradually limited in Nagano Prefecture. As for the process of the production, cocoon production for egg production developed in putting-out system extensively. All of large-scale producers were putters-out, and there was no big farm where the whole process from mulberry cultivation to silkworm-egg production was carried on. In World War I, when sericulture rapidly developed, the class differentiation of producers proceeded more rapidly with the development of some large-scale producers. This was caused mainly by the advanced technique for F_1 hybrid production. The competition with new dealers in other prefectures and the policy of silkworm races in each prefecture were other factors of the decline of silkworm-egg production in this district. Silkworm-egg peddlers, however, sold through personal connection with sericultural peasants in their outlets, and the buying and selling the right of egg-selling continued between peddlers as a commercial usage for a long time. As a case study, we present the management by M. Kaneko who was a middle-scale producer. He changed his outlets by selling the right of egg-selling in Gunma Prefecture and buying that in Nagano Prefecture in 1890s, and then his management developed. But, since he could not produce F_1 hybrid, he became a mere peddler of silkworm-eggs in 1920s, and finally closed his business of silkworm-eggs in 1930. He was one of typical producers and peddlers in Chiisagata district. As a perspective on the whole country, we suggest that it was difficult for the producers, who managed the whole process of the egg-production including silkworm-rearing, to develop their managements largely because the risk of bad harvest increased with enlargement of their scale, and many producers enlarged their scales by buying cocoons for egg production in the form of putting-out system.