ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Kyoto's traditional silk weavers' perceptions of their worlds of work and family and of themselves as craftspeople, in light of the economic and technological changes affecting their industry and their work and family lives. It is based on extensive life-history interviews that author have conducted over the past nine years with weavers and manufacturers in Kyoto's Nishijin weaving district. The Nishijin industry is currently undergoing an unprecedented crisis threatening it with extinction, caused by the declining consumer market for kimonos and intensified by internal problems in the organization of production and marketing. Nishijin weaving is fundamentally a family industry on the level of the manufacturers, the weavers, and the craftspeople in related processes. The Nishijin weaving industry was family intensive both in the manufacturer's enterprise and in the weavers' cottages. The work of individual members was part of the family's collective effort and was valued as such.
