Located in Maebashi-city of Gunma Prefecture, the largest silk producer in Japan, a kimono shop Nishio is known for its sophisticated original designs and reasonable prices.
The shop owner Hitoshi Nishio was born and raised in this sericulture center. Since his father used to own a silk mill, Mr. Nishio himself has deep interests in raw silk as kimono's material. He was concerned about the continuous decline of Japan's raw silk production.
About 10 years ago Mr. Nishio read about a sericulture farmer in a local newspaper. Impressed by the farmer's dedication to his work, Mr. Nishio decided to visit the farmer and offered to purchase the silk cocoons directly from him. Takashi Matsui, the farmer, was surprised. At that time there were 25 sericulture farmers in the area. All of them sold their cocoons to the local agricultural cooperatives, but none directly to a kimono retailer.
Mr. Nishio (center) and Mr. and Mrs. Matsui
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