Iyo Raw Silk (Ehime): season, origin and where to buy

Official registration details (MAFF)

The registered description as published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Characteristics

Iyo Raw Silk has a classy gloss and airy texture. It is bulky as threads are carefully and slowly extracted from cocoons and thus maintains the original “S-shaped” waves that created by silkworms.

Link with the production area

Seiyo City is a unique production area as it uses multi-strand reeling machines that reel from a large number of cocoons at low speed while suppressing tension by a raw-crocheting method, and the area also uses raw cocoons that are kept refrigerated.

Characteristics and link with the area: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries website (https://www.maff.go.jp/e/policies/intel/gi_act/register/s10.html)

Where to buy

As a rule, only products that meet the registered standard may use a GI name (with exceptions such as prior use). Check for the GI mark and the place of origin to tell it apart from ordinary products with similar names.

Find on furusato nozei (opens in a new tab)

These links go to Japanese-language shops; check whether they ship overseas.

Some shop links on this page are affiliate links; we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

FAQ

Iyo Raw Silk is produced in Seiyo City, Ehime Prefecture. The thread is reeled slowly and with low tension from refrigerated raw cocoons, so the natural waves the silkworm spun into it are preserved. The result is a bulky, lustrous silk with a soft, airy feel.

Iyo Raw Silk is produced in Seiyo City, Ehime Prefecture.

Look for it via furusato nozei (hometown tax donation). Check the GI mark and the place of origin before you buy.

Iyo Raw Silk was registered as a Geographical Indication on February 2, 2016 (Registration No. 10). The registered producer group is Ehime Seiyo Sericulture Industry Promotion Association.