A length of Leno cloth holds a history that cannot be explained by the movement of a loom alone. People introduced techniques, renewed equipment, and kept production going through organisational change. Their work built the ability to weave that we inherit today.

Bringing Kiryu’s knowledge to Noto

Kitayama’s father-in-law, Katsuro Yokoyama, proposed introducing Leno Weaving from Kiryu at Tazuruhama Orimono. As factory manager, he oversaw equipment installation, trial operation, sample weaving and the establishment of production. Formal trading with Toray’s department for womenswear, menswear and kimono fabrics began in 1959. In those early years, production relied on shuttle looms.

Leno Weaving crosses warp threads around the weft. Kitayama’s father-in-law established a system for producing this intricate structure on automatic looms, bringing inherited weaving knowledge into daily production.

Shio Orimono was founded in 1956, and Yokoyama joined as factory manager around 1961. He developed stretch fabrics by applying covered-yarn techniques with a spandex core. From 1970 onwards, the next generation improved equipment and expanded production. These fabrics were carried forward through the work of both the people who devised the techniques and those who developed them further.

From shuttle looms to rapier looms

In 1997, Tazuruhama Orimono changed its equipment from shuttle looms to rapier looms. This transition led to the production system carried forward today.

Equipment changes, but the work of understanding yarn, adjusting machinery, and keeping a weave consistent continues. Passing on a craft involves maintaining the ability to use accumulated skills with the equipment of each generation.

Five operations come together in 2004

The former Kishi Shoji group included textile operations with different equipment and roles. In 2004, the following five were integrated to begin operating as Technowin:

  • Shio Orimono: stretch fabrics
  • Tazuruhama Orimono, formerly Kanamaru Orimono: production on Leno looms
  • Good River, formerly 良川織布: production on rapier looms
  • Hokkoku Orimono: production on water-jet looms; now the Technowin head-office factory
  • Hokkoku Sen’i: a spinning mill

In 1991, Good River replaced its earlier shuttle-loom setup by transferring more than 50 older rapier looms from Shio Orimono and introducing six new ones. Covering machines and double twisters were also introduced, enabling the mill to support Shio Orimono’s production.

Leno Weaving was one of the skills carried into this new organisation. The knowledge developed at Tazuruhama Orimono remained in the daily work of the people operating its looms.

Hokkoku Gosen’s false-twist texturing operation, also part of the former group, followed a separate path from this five-operation integration.

What we pass to the next generation

The start of formal trading with Toray in 1959, the equipment change in 1997, and the integration in 2004 each changed the shape of production. Through those changes, weaving knowledge and experience passed from person to person.

We inherit that accumulated work. Our responsibility is to restore buildings, maintain and renew equipment, and pass on the skills that allow the next generation to keep weaving. Through SHALO, we aim to bring those skills to new users, carrying the ability to weave into the next length of cloth.

English company names are transliterations or renderings of the Japanese names.