Past studies have indicated that the significance of cooperative filatures is to be found mainly in the advantages of vertical integration of the sericulture and silkreeling industries. IN particular, the importance of control over the price of cocoons has been stressed, on the assumption that the non-cooperative filature sector acted as the price setter, dominating the sericultural farmers. The aim of this paper is to clarify other aspects of the cooperative filature sector, focusing on: (1) the role of such filatures in the village economy; and (2) the competitiveness of cooperative filatures compared with other sectors of the silk-reeling industry. These aspects are analysed using village data from the Sonze Surveys, which were conducted in various villages during the 1910s. We examine the specific case of Obata Village in Gunma for two reasons: (1) Gunma was a representative area of the cooperative filature movement; and (2) Sonze Surveys for 16 villages, as well as other detailed data, are available for Gunma. The following conclusions are drawn : (1) Vertical integration had a considerable impact on profit stabilization. Furthermore, economies of scale arose from the horizontal integration of cooperaftive societies. These advantages strengthened the competitive edge of cooperative filatures over non-cooperative village filatures. However, cooperatice filatures were less competitive than the large-scale no-cooperative filatures, which were usually well organized and located in urban areas. (2) One crucial weakness common to cooperative filatures was the low number of operating days. This was mainly due to the rural mentality of sericulture farmers, and not due to a shortage of cocoons. (3) The employment creation effect, which hitherto has been held to be one of the main advantages, was rather small, at an estimated 20 to 40% at most.
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