Thoughts on “craftsmen in the division of labor within the Nishijin”

In Nishijin, there are people who are important to us.
Even as the world becomes high-tech mechanized, we have skilled craftsmen in our background.

Work scene of a “kanzome (intuition dye)” craftsman at work, dyeing silk threads without weighing dyes, which requires experience.

Is Nishijin one company?

It is often thought that only one large factory weaves Nishijin textiles, but in fact there are numerous small weaving factories in the area known as “Nishijin,” each producing textiles with their own unique characteristics.
What supports these factories are the many craftsmen.

We have workplaces within walking distance of our clients, and we help each other with our work to produce a piece of Nishijin textile.

According to the Nishijin Textile Industry Association, 12 different techniques are recognized as the definition of Nishijin textiles, indicating that a variety of textiles can be woven in Nishijin.
There are many weavers in Nishijin.
If you click on the image here, you can go to the union’s homepage and see a list of weavers belonging to the Nishijin Textile Industrial Association.

Nishijin Okamoto Nishijin Kinran brocade

We, Nishijin Okamoto, weave Nishijin brocade, which is said to be the origin of Nishijin brocade.
Our weaving technique, which has a long history, is called weft brocade (No. 3 in the above photo), which uses a variety of weft yarns to produce silk fabrics.
This also requires the hands of many craftsmen in different branches of the industry.

It is our role as weavers to combine their efforts and carry out the final weaving process.

Working at weaver

The work of the weaver can be broadly divided into the following activities.

1. Receive an order for a job
2. Decide what kind of textile to weave with the recipient of the order
3. Order design, prepare data of pattern and pattern paper.
4. Prepare silk yarns (sort from reel to skein, cone winding, wooden frame winding, etc. as needed)
5. Order for yarn dyeing
6. Order for warping
7. Preparation and maintenance of weaving machines
8. Weaving
9. Inspection
10. Post-processing order
11. Shipping

Working with Customers

Our work is only possible because of our customers.
Craftsmen work together to create a piece of cloth, and transporters deliver the goods to our customers.
Our work is made possible by human hands.

As the age of AI arrives, we believe that the power of people is indispensable to enrich people’s hearts and minds.

The charm of Nishijin textiles is created by the passion and skill of the craftsmen behind the textiles.
We will not forget the existence of these behind-the-scenes workers and will continue to collaborate with them to carry on this beautiful story.

We want as many people as possible to know about Nishijin and purchase our products so that the Nishijin production area can continue to exist.

Nishijin is a production area that weaves textiles using various techniques that are rare in the world.