“The quality of this textile is really special, come look!”

The local industry of Fujiyoshida City is textile-making. With the establishment of Fuji Textile Co., Ltd. the number of jobs related to textile increased, and thus the Weaving Town was created.

To learn about the transformation from silk to textile, you need look no further than the row of stores lined up from east to west starting in Asumimachi. These stores are lined up in order of the production process, and this area on the east side of Honmachi Street is now known as “Kinuyamachi'' or “Silk Town”.

Word spread of the superb quality of Fujiyoshida textiles all the way to Nagoya, Osaka, and even Tokyo. They were also light and easy to transport, and supply was limited as it was only for sale once a week. Upon hearing this, wholesaler dealers along with individual brokers started planning their next business trip to Fujiyoshida.

Without proper storefronts, the textile factories rented rooms in the houses lined along the main road of Kinuyamachi, which is why the houses of this area are all built with particularly wide doors to welcome buyers. Eventually, the textile companies built their offices here, as this narrow street of Kinuyamachi went on to become the center of textile production in Japan.

It was during this time of great prosperity that brokers from Tokyo and elsewhere would come for the textiles, but stay for the pleasure district of Nishiura and all the fun it had to offer.

As day turned to night, the women who worked in the pleasure district would often visit the shrine of Ō-Inari, the god of prosperity, as the sun sets behind them. On their way to work, they’d pick up a few men, and together head to Nishiura, night after night.