Sock Production in Nara Prefecture

Abstract

In agricultural villages, especially in those of the Nara basin, relatively small-scale industries have been introduced, the kinds of which vary with the time of introduction. From early ages, most of the farmers in these areas were engaged in some cottage industries because they could not live solely on their agricultural income. During thriving period of Yamato cotton production, weaving was an important job for women. The appearance of the spinning industry at the end of the Meiji era, however, led to a drastic decline of Yamato cotton production. The manufacture of hosiery or shell buttons has now been developed as the major village industry.Sock production was started by Taizo Yoshii in Umami, and afterward spread to such areas as Shimoda, Nijo, Goido, Takada and Okanishi. These constitute the main sock-producing districts in present Nara Prefecture. Nara Prefecture, which has the largest concentration of sock producing facilities in Japan, also ranks first in short stocking production (e.g., 50% of the domestic output in 1965, and 30% in 1971).One of the characteristics of the sock production is that there are a lot of ultra-small factories; for instance, the plants containing only 1-5 knitting machines amount to 20% of the total, and those containing 6-15 machines amount to 54%. Thus the small-scale factories make up 74% of the total. The reason for the existence of such small factories is that they merely engage in knitting socks or stockings; the finishing work is done elsewhere by their subcontractors.The socks produced are collected from the knitters by wholesale merchants living in the villages, and then transported to wholesale merchants in cities, to brandmakers, or to other local wholesale merchants. The local wholesale merchants market the goods to retail shops, while the urban merchants and brandmakers sell them to supermarkets and department stores.Sock manufacture is of especial importance in Nara Prefecture, and has so developed as to be well-known, throughout the country, as an industry founded in agricultural regions.