To provide a pile woven fabric that has both of lightness and thinness almost equivalent to those of a typical clothing fabric and water absorbency property, heat-retaining property, breathability, good touch feeling, etc. of towel cloth. The pile woven fabric has pile height lower than the typical towel cloth (comparison example) (first structure). The pile woven fabric has a pile formed of a cotton yarn that has a yarn count finer than that of the comparison example (second structure). The pile woven fabric has pile density higher than that of the comparison example (third structure). In the pile woven fabric, the cotton yarn is twisted together with a water-soluble yarn such that the water-soluble yarn is twisted in a direction opposite to a twisting direction of the cotton yarn, and, after weaving processing, the water-soluble yarn is removed to induce reverse twisting of the cotton yarn (fourth structure).