Social Science Research Council

“Crafting the Silkworm: Tracing Japan's Science of Selective Breeding”

This dissertation examines how a biological research organism played an important role scientifically, economically, and culturally in East Asia. Historical analysis of silkworm breeding in Japan allows the study of a critical yet understudied aspect of Japanese experimental biology: the relationship between silk manufacture and the emergence of modern Japanese genetics.

My project investigates the development of Japanese genetic expertise concerning the rationalization of silkworm reproduction from the 1880s through the 1920s as silk became one of Japan’s most valuable export products. The silkworm, normally associated with family farms, emerged as an exemplary research organism and site of contestation as craftspeople, industrialists, and scientists sought to improve qualities of silk. In particular, I aim to reconstruct the history of the scientific manufacture of F1 (first generation) hybrid silkworms, and the social changes surrounding the adoption of hybrid silkworm eggs by silk farmers. The F1 hybrid silkworm is a result of selective breeding experimentation, a technique initially developed by scientist Toyama Kametaro (1867-1918). I will specifically compare the technical and non-technical writings of silkworm scientists such as Toyama, as well as trade periodicals geared toward breeders and instructors of silkworm breeding. Exploration of how the genetic standardization of silkworm varieties interacted with the household craft of silkworm breeding will shed light on the normalization of the principles of genetic inheritance in Japan. This took place at a time when the tendency to explain society with genetics gained currency not only internationally but within the Japanese silkworm genetics community, as researchers voiced opinions on policy issues such as on education and immigration. By exploring how new knowledge and space concerning new silkworm breeding practices were produced, this project shows how silkworm genetics was embedded in the context of changing agricultural production methods, overseas trade, and social issues pressing to Japan at the time.