This is not a rose. Its pale cream petals appear to overlap in generous layers, revealing a small flash of deep crimson at the centre. It is a cotton flower. The moment we encountered it in the field, we were struck by a beauty so sumptuous that it seemed closer to a carefully cultivated garden flower than to the blossom of a crop.
▼ A pale cream cotton flower reminiscent of a rose
This flower was produced by extra-long-staple cotton carefully preserved in Japan. We have no documentation proving a direct lineage from Sea Island cotton, so we cannot accurately declare that it is Sea Island cotton. Even so, it is a precious cotton encountered at the end of our search for Sea Island cotton and now grown in Iga. For that reason, we record the joy of this flowering under the words “Sea Island cotton has bloomed.”
Beyond Our Search for the “Jewel of Cotton”
In our earlier article, “What We Learned from Importing Sea Island Cotton Seed | GM Cotton”, we described how the Sea Island cotton seed we imported from overseas tested positive for genetically modified cotton and had to be destroyed. It was the loss, before our eyes, of seed obtained through considerable time, expense, and hope.
Japan does not authorize the cultivation of GM cotton. Under Japan’s Cartagena Act, use that may release a genetically modified organism into the environment, including cultivation, requires prior approval based on an assessment of effects on biodiversity. Some GM cotton lines are permitted for food or feed use, but GM cotton has not been approved for cultivation in Japan, and planting it would violate the law. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries explains this distinction in its guidance for cotton-seed importers. Laws, agricultural practices, and social views concerning GM crops differ among countries. This article does not condemn countries where GM cotton is legally cultivated or the farmers who use it; the issue in our case was that the seed could not legally be grown in Japan and did not match our aim of developing non-GM cotton on our own land.
After that experience, we were fortunate to receive seed of high-quality extra-long-staple cotton that had been maintained in Japan. It carries no famous brand name, and no records prove a direct genetic relationship with Sea Island cotton. Nevertheless, it is irreplaceable seed that has continued through generations in the Japanese environment and produces long, white fibres.
▼ Seed of extra-long-staple cotton preserved in Japan
A Rose-Like Flower Opened in the Field
The cotton we sowed and raised on the land of Iga has finally bloomed. Seen closely, the thin, soft edges of the petals ripple gently, while a deep red colour appears at the centre. Its expression changes with the viewing angle, and from the front it looks almost as splendid as a double-flowered rose.
▼ A cotton flower showing different expressions from different angles
Its beauty does not feel meaningful simply because the cotton is unusual. It remains so strongly in our hearts because we did not bring in a completed answer from a distant place; we received seed that had been protected in Japan and raised it on our own land.
Taking Root in the Fields of Iga
Seen as a single blossom, it resembles an ornamental flower. Step back, however, and there are rows of cotton plants growing through black mulch. These plants have endured rain, fierce sunlight, and summer heat at the Hitotsuya（ひとつ屋） Textile Farm in Iga.
▼ Extra-long-staple cotton growing at the Hitotsuya Textile Farm in Iga
Our aim is not to reproduce overseas Sea Island cotton exactly as it is. We want to select plants that grow well here, plants with long and beautiful fibres, and plants able to withstand pests, disease, and changes in climate, then carry their seed into the next generation. By gradually adapting them to the environment of Iga, we hope to develop them into “Hitotsuya cotton.”
Beyond the Flower Lie Yarn and Cloth
The flowering of cotton is both an achievement and an entrance into material making. After the flower fades, a boll develops. When the mature boll opens, cotton fibres and the seed of the next generation appear. The harvested cotton is separated from its seed, loosened, spun into yarn, dyed with plants, and eventually carried into cloth.
The development from cotton flower to boll and white fibre is also introduced by the Kinki Regional Agricultural Administration Office of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in “Cotton Flowers Are Blooming”. A flower in the field lasts only about a day before it withers, leaving the boll that will later produce fibre.
Rather than obtaining something called the “jewel of cotton” from elsewhere, we want to spend time growing and selecting cotton on our own land, polishing it into a material worthy of that name. The first sign of that journey appeared as a pale cream flower in a field in Iga.