The shinning star at B. Mori is their fabulous silk. When you experience, first-hand, the luminous, jewel-tone colors, it is easy to believe that the legend of silk is true. According to Confucius, it all happened after the Yellow Emperor descended to earth on a radiant beam from a star called Chi. One day, when the emperor’s bride was sitting under a mulberry tree, sipping tea, a cocoon fell into her cup and began to unravel. The empress became so enamored with the glistening threads, she soon discovered their source, the Bombyx mori silkworm, which is found only in the white mulberry, where it produces the world’s finest silk. The empress soon developed sericulture, the cultivation of silkworms, and invented the reel and loom. She then presented the gift of silk to her husband. Believing that it contained magical powers, the emperor allowed a chosen few to wear silk, but yellow silk was reserved for the royal family. 

Under penalty of death, the mystery of sericulture remained a closely guarded secret for almost three-thousand years. However, by the fourth century BC, Greeks and Romans had begun to speak of a wondrous land call Seres, the Kingdom of Silk. By 300 BC, caravans laden with gold, jewels, and bolts of silk had begun to traverse the Silk Road. Perhaps the earliest known super-highway, the Silk Road allowed the magic of silk to spread throughout the known world, and although an astounding array of luxury items were traded, silk was considered more precious than gold.