¹ Shinohara, Miyohei, Kōkō-Gyō (Manufacturing and mining), vol. 10 of Chōki Keizai Tōkei (Estimates of long-term economic statistics of Japan since 1868; henceforth LTES) (Tokyo, 1972), table 3–1Google Scholar.

² The annual rate of growth in total factor productivity in American manufacturing, for instance, was 2.54 percent for 1909–37. See Kendrick, John W., Productivity Trends in the United States (Princeton, N.J., 1961)Google Scholar, table 34, compared with 3.41 percent in Japan for 1911–40 (table 1).

³ Gerschenkron, Alexander, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective: A Book of Essays (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), ch. 1Google Scholar.

⁴ This fact is stressed by many writers. See Watanabe, Tsunehiko, “Economic Aspects of Dualism in the Industrial Development of Japan,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 13 (April 1965), 293–312CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ohkawa, Kazushi and Rosovsky, Henry, Japanese Economic Growth: Trend Acceleration in the Twentieth Century (Stanford, Cal. and London, 1973), pp. 89–91Google Scholar.

⁵ The validity of horsepower statistics as an index for power capacity was discussed by Thorp, Willard L. in his “Horsepower Statistics for Manufactures,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, n.s., 24 (March 1929), 376–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶ The source of these engines in Japan should be mentioned here. Almost all water wheels installed in the early Meiji era were of the traditional type and made mainly of wood. They were constructed by kuruma daiku (wheel carpenters) relying on instructions inherited from their masters without any scientific knowledge. On the other hand, modern type wheels made of iron were imported by a few modern factories such as the Kashima Spinning Plant (1872). Water turbines were also imported in the early years, the first by the Umezu Paper Plant (1876). Production of modern type wheels and turbines began in the late 1870s, mainly in shipyards. Steam engines in the late Tokugawa and the early Meiji era were all imports. The Nagasaki Iron Works (1861) first imported an engine for manufacturing purposes, and the importation by the Satsuma Clan for cotton spinning plants (1867 and 1870) and by the government for Tomioka Filature (1870) are examples of early introduction. Home production of steam engines as well as steam turbines was carried out by shipbuilding yards, which succeeded in producing large capacity engines (more than 300 h.p.) in the 1890s. The reason for Japanese dependence on shipyards for producing steam engines and turbines lay in the fact that the government, which was seriously interested in having steamships (especially warships) to strengthen national defense, strongly supported shipyard production of engines and ships. For details see the James Watt Bicentennial Association, Nippon Jyōki-Kōgyō Hattatsu-Shi (History of Japanese steam engine manufacturing) (Tokyo, 1938), pp. 267–91Google Scholar; the History of Modern Japanese Industries Research Group, ed., Gendai Nippon Sangyo Hattatsu-Shi (History of industries in modern Japan), vol. 29 (Tokyo, 1967), pp. 114–18Google Scholar. For electric motors, see Minami, Ryoshin, “The Introduction of Electric Power and Its Impact on the Manufacturing Industries: With Special Reference to Smaller Scale Plants,” in Patrick, Hugh T., ed., Japanese Industrialization and Its Social Consequences (Berkeley, Cal., 1976), pp. 312–13Google Scholar.

⁷ Horsepower statistics for manufacturing were estimated by me in Tetsudo to Denryoku (Railroads and electric utilities), vol. 12 of LTES (Tokyo, 1965), tables 27 and 29. These are based on the Nōshōmu Tōkei-Hyō (Statistical tables of agriculture and commerce; henceforth STAC) and the Kōjyo Tōkei-Hyō (Statistical tables for factories; henceforth STF). Revised figures, which are used in this paper, were published in my Dōryoku Kakumei to Gijutsu Shinpo: Senzen-Ki Seizō-Gyō no Bunseki (Power revolution and technological progress: A study of prewar manufacturing) (Tokyo, 1976)Google Scholar, app. tables, with full explanations of estimating procedures in ch. 3.

⁸ Because of this fact, electrification tends to cause overestimation of power capacity. See Thorp, “Horsepower Statistics,” pp. 382–85.

⁹ Shinohara, Manufacturing, table 2.

¹⁰ Ibid., table 1.

¹¹ Minami, Power revolution, table F-l and app. table 1.

¹² In sugar refining small-scale plants were dominant; factories with 5–9 workers made up 73.6 percent of all plants in 1940 (STF, 1940, vol. 2, table 7). These plants, located exclusively in Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures, utilized cows for turning sugarcane presses. See the Pre-Meiji Japan History of Science Association, ed., Meiji-Zen Nippon Kikai Gijutsu-Shi (History of mechanical engineering in pre-Meiji Japan) (Tokyo, 1973), p. 91Google Scholar. This is one of the rare cases of the utilization of animal power in Japanese industry. See n. 32.

¹³ STF, 1940, vol. 2, table 6.

¹⁴ STF, 1940, vol. 2, table 7.

¹⁵ See the History of Modem Japanese Industries Research Group, ed., History, vol. 8 (Tokyo, 1968), p. 81Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Minami, Power revolution, app. table 3.

¹⁷ In several industries (such as chemical fertilizer, cement, glass, and steel manufacturing) electric generation based on steam, gas, and heat generated in the production processes became popular during the 1920s and especially the 1930s. The James Watt Bicentennial Association, History, pp. 286–87. Consequently the ratio of primary motors to total motors in terms of horsepower for all manufacturing as a whole showed a slight decrease in the 1930s. Minami, Power revolution, app. table 5.

¹⁸ For the history of the paper manufacturing industry see the History of Modern Japanese Industries Research Group, ed., History, vol. 12 (Tokyo, 1967)Google Scholar.

¹⁹ The growth rate of labor productivity was the highest in printing and binding for 1909–19, the decade of most rapid electrification (Minami, Power revolution, table 5–26). Thus this industry was a leader in electrification and growth in labor productivity. Such was the case also in the U.S. See Du Boff, Richard B., “The Introduction of Electric Power in American Manufacturing,” Economic History Review, 2nd ser., 20 (Dec. 1967), 516Google Scholar.

²⁰ See Kiyokawa, Yukihiko, “Men-Kōgyō Gijutsu no Teichaku to Kokusan-Ka ni Tsuite” (On the adoption of the modern technology in cotton manufacturing), Keizai Kenkyu (Economic review), 24 (April 1973), 131Google Scholar.

²¹ Du Boff, “Electric Power,” p. 516.

²² For the change in wages, see Minami, Ryoshin, The Turning Point in Economic Development: Japan's Experience (Tokyo, 1973), chs. 7 and 8Google Scholar.

²³ For details see Minami, “Electric Power,” pp. 308–12.

²⁴ We owe the history of this industry to the History of Modern Japanese Industries Research Group, ed., vol. 11 (Tokyo, 1964)Google Scholar; the Takahashi Institute of Economic Research, Nippon Sanshi-Gyō Hattatsu-Shi (History of the Japanese silk reeling industry), vol. 1 (Tokyo, 1941)Google Scholar.

²⁵ Minami, Power revolution, table 5–11.

²⁶ Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, Sanshi-Gyō ni Kansuru Sankō-Shiryō (Materials for the silk reeling industry) (Tokyo, 1912), pp. 78–79Google Scholar.

²⁷ Machine filature plants reporting no mechanical power comprised 36.1 percent of the plants with 10 or more basins in 1893, 15.5 percent in 1900, and 5.5 percent in 1905 (the Takahashi Institute of Economic Research, History, p. 505).

²⁸ This view was first expressed by Akira Ono in his “Gijutsu Shinpo to Borrowed Technology no Ruikei” (Technological progress and types of borrowed technology), in Tsukui, Jinkichi and Murakami, Yasusuke, eds., Keizai Seicho Riron no Tenbo (Survey of the theories of economic growth) (Tokyo, 1968),. pp. 199–214Google Scholar.

²⁹ For the history of this industry refer to Kiyokawa, , “On the adoption”; the Japanese Textile Association, ed., Nippon Sen-i Sangyō-Shi, Kaku-Ron Hen (History of the Japanese textiles industries, volume of detailed exposition) (Tokyo, 1958)Google Scholar; the History of Modem Japanese Industries Research Croup, History, vol. 11; Uchida, Hoshimi, Nippon Bōshoku Gijutsu no Rekishi (History of technology of spinning and weaving in Japan) (Tokyo, 1960)Google Scholar.

³⁰ The gara-spinnlng technique used tubes made of tin plate, one inch in diameter and 5–7 inches long. Raw cotton was stuffed in one end of the revolving tubes and twisted thread was formed by pulling the cotton out of a small pinhole in the other end and wound over bobbins.

³¹ One monme is 3.8 grams and one kan is 1000 monme.

³² Animals formed an important source of power in the English spinning industry before the age of steam engines. See Hills, Richard L., Power in the Industrial Revolution (Manchester, 1970), p. 89Google Scholar. In Japan, on the contrary, utilization of animal power was rather exceptional in manufacturing activities, perhaps because Japanese agriculture with scarce land could not afford to raise many animals.

³³ Minami, Power revolution, table 5–6.

³⁴ Ibid., tables 2–8 and 5–6.

³⁵ Unfortunately, there are no statistical materials to show the relative cost of water wheels and steam engines. A study of American cotton spinning plants about 1840 by Peter Temin, however, shows that total cost (capital cost, running cost, and other) was slightly higher for a steam powered plant than a water powered plant due to the high price of coal. See his “Steam and Waterpower in the Early Nineteenth Century,” this Journal, 26 (June 1966), 197Google Scholar. This result is suggestive for Japan in the early Meiji period, where coal was rather scarce and expensive.

³⁶ Steinberg, S. H., Five Hundred Years of Printing (London, 1959), p. 201Google Scholar.

³⁷ See the Asahi Newspaper Co., Asahi Shinbun no 90-Nen (Ninety years of the Asahi Newspaper) (Tokyo, 1969)Google Scholar; the Mainichi Newspaper Co., Mainichi Shinbun 100-Nen Shi 1872–1972 (One hundred year history of the Mainichi Newspaper, 1872–1972) (Tokyo, 1972)Google Scholar.

³⁸ Minami, “Electric Power,” pp. 313–15.

³⁹ Ibid., tables 2 and 8.

⁴⁰ Minami, Power revolution, table 5–12.

⁴¹ One tan equals a roll of cloth of about 12 yards.

⁴² A hand loom is assumed to be 0.267 of a power loom based on their relative prices in 1902 (Uchida, History, p. 185).

⁴³ The same study was made for the other weaving industries (silk, wool, and hemp) and the same conclusions obtained. See Minami, Power revolution, tables 5–17 and 5–18.

⁴⁴ Minami, “Electric Power,” pp. 318–20.

⁴⁵ Minami, Power revolution, table 5–11.

⁴⁶ Ibid., fig. 5–2.

⁴⁷ Ibid., table 5–8.

⁴⁸ Nonetheless, the loss of power seemed to decrease to some extent. An experiment for a spinning plant by Shigetaro Matsumura in 1923 shows that the ratio of the horsepower of a spinning machine to that of a steam engine was 67 percent in the case of direct drive and 69.8 percent in the case of indirect drive (electric power generated by the steam engine ran the machine). See id., “Bōseki Kōgyō ni okeru Denryoku ōyō no Toku-Shitsu o Ronzu” (A discussion of the merits and demerits of electrification in the spinning industry), Denki Hyōron (Electricity review), 1 (Jan. 1923), 39.

⁴⁹ Minami, Power revolution, app. table 5.1

⁵⁰ Ibid., table 5–6.

⁵¹ Takeshiro Maeda, “Bōshoku Kōjō no Kikai Unten ni Dendoki o Mochiyuru no Benri ni tsuite” (On the merits of using motors in driving machines in spinning plants), Nippon Denki Geppō (Japanese electricity monthly), 11 (March 1903), 6.

⁵² Hayashi, Sukeo, “Shokki oyobi Seimai-Ki e Dendōki ōyō ni tsuite Tori Shirabetaru Jikō” (A survey of the application of electric motors to weaving and rice processing machines), Denki no Tomo (Friend of electricity), 268 (Dec. 1910), 756Google Scholar.

⁵³ Arisawa, Hiromi, ed., Gendai Nippon Sangyō Kōza (Lectures on modern Japanese industries), vol. 7, Sen-i Sangyō (Textiles) (Tokyo, 1960), p. 59Google Scholar; the Japanese Textile Association, History, p. 33.

⁵⁴ This was reported for American plants by Damon, George A., “The Electrical Equipment of a Model Printing Establishment,” Electrical World, 32 (Nov. 1898), 504Google Scholar. Generally, the American experience seems to be applicable to Japan's because the state of their industrial technology was basically the same with some time-lags.

⁵⁵ Hayashi, “A survey,” p. 756.

⁵⁶ Matsumura, “A discussion,” p. 159.

⁵⁷ Hayashi, “A survey,” p. 755; Tsunekawa, Kiyoshi, “Kōgyō-Yō Dōryoku toshiteno Denki ōyō ” (The application of electricity as power for manufacturing), Friend ofelectricity, 402 (July 1916), 94Google Scholar.

⁵⁸ “The Electric Plant of the Government Printing Office II,” Electrical World, 31 Jan. 1898), 117Google Scholar; Dellenbaugh, F. S. Jr., “Electric Drive for Small Printing Plants,” Electric Journal, 12 (May 1915), 193.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Asano Cement Co., Asano Cement Enkaku-Shi (History of Asano Cement) (Tokyo, 1940), p. 673Google Scholar; Hayashi, “A survey,” p. 755; Tanaka, Tatsuo, “Kōjō Dōryoku no Denka o Unagasu” (Promoting electrification in factories), Friend of Electricity, 402 (July 1916), 88Google Scholar.

⁶⁰ Arisawa, Lectures, p. 59.

⁶¹ Ibid., p. 59; the Japanese Textile Association, History, p. 34.

⁶² Biship, Reed R., “Electric Power for Operating Printing and Binding Machinery I,” Electrical World, 30 (Oct. 1897), 419Google Scholar.

⁶³ Black, W. A., “Solving Woodworking Drive Problems,” Electrical World, 71 (April 1918), 821Google Scholar.

⁶⁴ Arisawa, Lectures, p. 59; Asano Cement Co., History, p. 673; Black, “Drive Problems,” p. 821; Mumford, Lewis, Technics and Civilization (New York, 1934), p. 224Google Scholar.

⁶⁵ Du Boff, “Electric Power,” p. 509.

⁶⁶ See n. 2.

⁶⁷ Minami, Power revolution, app. table 2.

⁶⁸ Du Boff, “Electric Power,” table 1.

⁶⁹ Boff, Du, “Electrification and Capital Productivity: A Suggested Approach,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 48 (Nov. 1966), table 1Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ Minami, “Electric Power,” pp. 322–23.