Work / monument · infrastructure

Tomioka Silk Mill

1872 · 19th century

The Tomioka Silk Mill in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, was a model factory founded by the Meiji government in 1872 with French machinery and engineers, led by Paul Brunat, to modernise silk reeling. It trained women workers from across Japan, who spread the new methods to other mills. It operated until 1987 and is now a World Heritage Site.

Tomioka Silk Mill
Image: yellow bird woodstock from JAPAN · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Tomioka Silk Mill. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tomioka-silk-mill
MLA
“Tomioka Silk Mill.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tomioka-silk-mill. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Tomioka Silk Mill.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tomioka-silk-mill.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Tomioka Silk Mill’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tomioka-silk-mill (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻