Nishijin (1961) - full transcript
A documentary about traditional weavers of Nishijin.
Kyoto Society for Viewing Documentary Cinema
NISHIJIN Production Committee
NISHIJIN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
EIICHI ASAI
SCREENPLAY
HIROSHI SEKINE
SCREENPLAY
TOSHIO MATSUMOTO
DIRECTOR
TOSHIO MATSUMOTO
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
YOSHIO MIYAJIMA
MUSIC
AKIRA MIYOSHI
NARRATOR
TAKESHI KUSAKA
Kyoto.
A city drenched in the
rain of old memories.
Beautiful kimonos don't always
come from beautiful places.
Dark rooftops,
the weight of tradition.
Underneath, if fabric
flower bloomed,
it wouldn't be strange.
Kyoto,
Nishijin.
Flowers of fabric,
rain of thread,
rain of silk.
It's not for you
that this rain falls.
The kimono has long been adored.
These days, young girls
like western clothes.
But take a step back.
It's kimonos they really want;
they're every woman's dream.
Here, that dream is
made for others.
Business is separate from dreams.
Don't disrupt the tranquility
of the loom.
According to myth,
when her loom was defiled,
Goddess Amaterasu hid herself in a cave.
We find the same moral in
the tale of Yuzuru.
The farmer's wife, a crane,
wove cloth from her own feathers.
When seen weaving in her true form,
she fled the human world forever.
“Weavers Wanted:
Good Pay, Fair Treatment"
“Now Hiring Weavers”
This is an old story.
An army battled on the East and West
banks of the Horikawa River.
All that remains today
is the name, Nishijin.
What was once a grim battlefield,
now a neighborhood where
beautiful cloth is woven.
Nishijin is a rectangular neighborhood,
with rectangular factories.
Weaving binds it together.
“Urgently Seeking Weavers”
Prayers survive
in this rectangular world:
Prayers for sound health,
for a strong family,
for freedom from flood and fire.
To live is to struggle against
nature's hostility.
To live is not to struggle
against God's will.
Children live in Nishijin as well.
They do not understand the invisible
forces at work, yet they can see them.
The silent laughter,
the imperceptible solitude.
The fashion show is about
to begin in the lobby.
Look, you could be this beautiful.
Discover your unique charms.
Modern makeup,
the elegance of a
thousand-year tradition.
Modern style,
the woven patterns preferred by royalty.
...the new Nishijin...
...modernizing facilities...
...the obi is Nishijin...
...mechanize and rationalize
production to lower costs...
...reducing prices is essential...
...what's important for weaving is the same
as what's important for philosophy...
...thoroughly commodify...
...no matter how advanced,
no machine can surpass human skill...
...thanks to machine production...
...it's an evil course...
...in the future, even more
modernization of hand weaving...
...innovation in Nishijin's
industrial structure...
Nishijin, unchanging within
its red-latticed houses.
Hand-weaving is Nishijin's
claim to fame.
Father works day and night.
He weaves three meters of cloth
and takes it to the wholesaler.
That's how I get my pocket money.
After two days, my pockets
are empty again.
Father works night and day.
Protect history.
Please, protect Nishijin.
It can't be weighed on a scale.
It can't be tallied on an abacus.
Weave history, weave authority.
Protect history, protect Nishijin.
“First Place”
“Chairman's Prize"
“Special Selection"
We came over hills,
through the forest of tears.
There are mot hills yet to cross.
We must choose a path.
To the West?
to the East?
No one person can decide.
This hectic world is changing,
but Nishijin's age is its strength.
In the smell of incense.
In the eyes of the elderly.
In the pain of the
Nail-Pulling Bodhisattva.
In my body there is a wicked
nail I cannot see, lodged deep.
"Urgently Seeking Weavers”
"Hiring Weavers: Lodgers Preferred"
"Work for Retired Coal Miners
and their Families”
”Recruiting Students for Work Training”
“Hiring Weavers: Lodgers Preferred"
"Welcoming Reception for
New Nishijin Employees"
Thank you for coming.
All of Nishijin welcomes you.
Thank you for your hard work.
All of Nishijin is grateful.
“Young Weavers Wanted”
“Weavers Wanted: On-site Training”
Children never retrace their steps.
Children never walk the same road twice.
"Announcement: Getting rid of
four weaving machines"
...young people these clays go
where the big companies are...
...never see any new faces...
...well this company is a little...
...our advertising is
totally inadequate...
...to get the local children
interested in Nishijin jobs, I...
...a real dilemma...
...increased production...
...just don't understand...
...economists modernizing
their thinking...
...new blood...
...a variety of new approaches...
...cheerful and high
morale atmosphere...
...pay can be low,
as long as morale is up...
...morale...
...a friendly atmosphere,
no more labor unions, informal...
...I'm the father,
they're all my children...
...love and gratitude...
...they're extremely satisfied...
...just as Jesus taught...
...and yet they keep leaving
Nishijin for big companies...
”Nishijin Weavers Labor Union”
“Defend Workers' Rights”
“Pensions and Paid
Leave for Nishijin”
...wage system, salary system...
...the health insurance question...
...rehab facilities, social security...
...I don't want my sons and daughters
to have to work in Nishijin...
...I want to choose which
factory I work in...
...what an ordeal...
...ten or eleven hour work days,
or I won't be able to eat...
...but everywhere it's the same...
...even on Sundays...
...for piecework...
...if the vendors would help,
wages would go up...
...all up to the bosses...
...so stubborn, so hard
to bring everybody together...
...the company told me,
"don't join the union"...
...they're dividing us, one by one...
...extremely...
...feudal labor relations...
...we have to avoid conflict,
and negotiate...
...that's a load of bull...
...if we negotiate...
Kyoto.
A city drenched in the
rain of old memories.
Nishijin.
Flowers of fabric,
rain of thread,
rain of silk.
It's not for you that
this rain falls.
NISHIJIN Production Committee
NISHIJIN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
EIICHI ASAI
SCREENPLAY
HIROSHI SEKINE
SCREENPLAY
TOSHIO MATSUMOTO
DIRECTOR
TOSHIO MATSUMOTO
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
YOSHIO MIYAJIMA
MUSIC
AKIRA MIYOSHI
NARRATOR
TAKESHI KUSAKA
Kyoto.
A city drenched in the
rain of old memories.
Beautiful kimonos don't always
come from beautiful places.
Dark rooftops,
the weight of tradition.
Underneath, if fabric
flower bloomed,
it wouldn't be strange.
Kyoto,
Nishijin.
Flowers of fabric,
rain of thread,
rain of silk.
It's not for you
that this rain falls.
The kimono has long been adored.
These days, young girls
like western clothes.
But take a step back.
It's kimonos they really want;
they're every woman's dream.
Here, that dream is
made for others.
Business is separate from dreams.
Don't disrupt the tranquility
of the loom.
According to myth,
when her loom was defiled,
Goddess Amaterasu hid herself in a cave.
We find the same moral in
the tale of Yuzuru.
The farmer's wife, a crane,
wove cloth from her own feathers.
When seen weaving in her true form,
she fled the human world forever.
“Weavers Wanted:
Good Pay, Fair Treatment"
“Now Hiring Weavers”
This is an old story.
An army battled on the East and West
banks of the Horikawa River.
All that remains today
is the name, Nishijin.
What was once a grim battlefield,
now a neighborhood where
beautiful cloth is woven.
Nishijin is a rectangular neighborhood,
with rectangular factories.
Weaving binds it together.
“Urgently Seeking Weavers”
Prayers survive
in this rectangular world:
Prayers for sound health,
for a strong family,
for freedom from flood and fire.
To live is to struggle against
nature's hostility.
To live is not to struggle
against God's will.
Children live in Nishijin as well.
They do not understand the invisible
forces at work, yet they can see them.
The silent laughter,
the imperceptible solitude.
The fashion show is about
to begin in the lobby.
Look, you could be this beautiful.
Discover your unique charms.
Modern makeup,
the elegance of a
thousand-year tradition.
Modern style,
the woven patterns preferred by royalty.
...the new Nishijin...
...modernizing facilities...
...the obi is Nishijin...
...mechanize and rationalize
production to lower costs...
...reducing prices is essential...
...what's important for weaving is the same
as what's important for philosophy...
...thoroughly commodify...
...no matter how advanced,
no machine can surpass human skill...
...thanks to machine production...
...it's an evil course...
...in the future, even more
modernization of hand weaving...
...innovation in Nishijin's
industrial structure...
Nishijin, unchanging within
its red-latticed houses.
Hand-weaving is Nishijin's
claim to fame.
Father works day and night.
He weaves three meters of cloth
and takes it to the wholesaler.
That's how I get my pocket money.
After two days, my pockets
are empty again.
Father works night and day.
Protect history.
Please, protect Nishijin.
It can't be weighed on a scale.
It can't be tallied on an abacus.
Weave history, weave authority.
Protect history, protect Nishijin.
“First Place”
“Chairman's Prize"
“Special Selection"
We came over hills,
through the forest of tears.
There are mot hills yet to cross.
We must choose a path.
To the West?
to the East?
No one person can decide.
This hectic world is changing,
but Nishijin's age is its strength.
In the smell of incense.
In the eyes of the elderly.
In the pain of the
Nail-Pulling Bodhisattva.
In my body there is a wicked
nail I cannot see, lodged deep.
"Urgently Seeking Weavers”
"Hiring Weavers: Lodgers Preferred"
"Work for Retired Coal Miners
and their Families”
”Recruiting Students for Work Training”
“Hiring Weavers: Lodgers Preferred"
"Welcoming Reception for
New Nishijin Employees"
Thank you for coming.
All of Nishijin welcomes you.
Thank you for your hard work.
All of Nishijin is grateful.
“Young Weavers Wanted”
“Weavers Wanted: On-site Training”
Children never retrace their steps.
Children never walk the same road twice.
"Announcement: Getting rid of
four weaving machines"
...young people these clays go
where the big companies are...
...never see any new faces...
...well this company is a little...
...our advertising is
totally inadequate...
...to get the local children
interested in Nishijin jobs, I...
...a real dilemma...
...increased production...
...just don't understand...
...economists modernizing
their thinking...
...new blood...
...a variety of new approaches...
...cheerful and high
morale atmosphere...
...pay can be low,
as long as morale is up...
...morale...
...a friendly atmosphere,
no more labor unions, informal...
...I'm the father,
they're all my children...
...love and gratitude...
...they're extremely satisfied...
...just as Jesus taught...
...and yet they keep leaving
Nishijin for big companies...
”Nishijin Weavers Labor Union”
“Defend Workers' Rights”
“Pensions and Paid
Leave for Nishijin”
...wage system, salary system...
...the health insurance question...
...rehab facilities, social security...
...I don't want my sons and daughters
to have to work in Nishijin...
...I want to choose which
factory I work in...
...what an ordeal...
...ten or eleven hour work days,
or I won't be able to eat...
...but everywhere it's the same...
...even on Sundays...
...for piecework...
...if the vendors would help,
wages would go up...
...all up to the bosses...
...so stubborn, so hard
to bring everybody together...
...the company told me,
"don't join the union"...
...they're dividing us, one by one...
...extremely...
...feudal labor relations...
...we have to avoid conflict,
and negotiate...
...that's a load of bull...
...if we negotiate...
Kyoto.
A city drenched in the
rain of old memories.
Nishijin.
Flowers of fabric,
rain of thread,
rain of silk.
It's not for you that
this rain falls.