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THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOWEL INDUSTRY IN SENNAN AREA MAINLY AT IZUMISANO, OSAKA

1967; Association of Japanese Geographers; Volume: 40; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4157/grj.40.337

2185-1735

Toshihiko Aono,

Global trade, sustainability, and social impact

In this study the writer deals with the changing regional characteristics of the Sennan towel industry which, as other minor industries of Japan, suffers in these years of the economic prosperity the high cost of manufacture materials caused by the increasing impact of the big monopolistic companies. The towel industry in Sennan area has developed centering around Sano-mura (present Izumisano city) since the middle of the Meiji Era. Now Izumisano has about 260 towel plants, 2/3 of all the towel plants in Sennan. The economic boom in these years results favourable for the towel industry of this area bringing the “modernization” of the smaller enterprises; in 1961 the installation of new looms was increased of 50% and in the years 1956-64 towel plants showed an increase of 84 in number at Izumisano. In the meantime, the industry of Izumisano was gradually put under the subordinate relation with big monopolistic capitals. The new local Industrialization Act was enforced and a fishery combinate project was set to work. As the act was applied mostly to the equipment investment of upper group of minor enterprises which were connected with the big monopolistic capitals, it was not favourable to towel plants which belong to the lower group of minor enterprises in this area. The characteristics of the Sennan towel industry since 1956 are as follows: (1) Small plants increased remarkably in number. Many of them were set on by larger landed farmers whose family labor made possible the combination of the towel manufacturing with the farming mainly because of the following factors: a) the enrichment of farmers due to the change of their farmland for the industrial use as a result of the regional industrialization. b) the unstability of onion cultivation which has been important for farmers of this area as well as paddy rice cultivation. With the advance of the industrialization it is observed, as a general tendency, that smaller scale farmer-manufacturers give up the farming with the enlargment of their plants and larger ones keep farming even if in smaller scale. (2) The economic basis of many small plants with farming consists in, beside the food production for the self-sufficiency, the sum derived from the land disposal, the diversion of their farmland to their workyards and the loan from the agricultural co-operative. (3) Most of the small plants which started after 1956 keep rather independent character in their management without any subcontract relation with big industrial companies. Only a few of them (mainly with under 20 looms) have a temporary subcontract relation with large ones (mainly with over 31 looms). Actually, in the Sennan towel industry we can find three groups of plants: Groups Labor (secondary) Number of holding looms Number of plants Domestic plants family+(employee) under 10 about 190 Smallest capitalistic employee+(family) 10-20 _??_ 120 plants Capitalistic plants employee over 21 _??_ 80 (4) Some of the large plants with over 31 looms began to produce partly the towels ordered by monopolistic spinning companies, though this phenomenon is not so remarkable in Sennan as in Imabari, another large towel manufacturing area. (5) Large plants with over 31 looms have been modernized depending chiefly on the loan, but most of small plants remain unchanged. (6) The serious labor shortage brings about the considerable inflow of new graduates of junior highschools into Sennan. Many of the large plants, especially those located in the agricultural zone, employ these young graduates from other prefectures. On the other hand, small plants engage mainly the middle- and high-aged women of workers' families in the area.