Kiryu city
Today, I’ve come to Kiryu City in Gunma Prefecture, away from my hometown. This is my mother’s birthplace, and it’s a place I’ve visited many times since I was a child. My mother’s siblings and relatives still live here. It’s been quite a while since my last visit, so I came along with my mother and my younger brother this time to also visit our family grave. Normally, we come by train, but this time we decided to drive. Since we took some breaks along the way for meals and rest, it took about four hours in total. From my workshop to Kiryu, the distance is about 200 kilometers. I had expected it to take that long, so we’re staying overnight at a hotel in the city. Tomorrow, we plan to visit my mother’s sisters and other relatives, and then head back home. I’m not very used to driving long distances, so we stopped to rest several times. Luckily, most of the route is on the expressway, and there are plenty of service areas along the way—it’s really convenient! 😊
Gunma Prefecture is part of the Kanto region, just like Tokyo, and it lies to the north of where I live. Within Gunma, the city of Kiryu has long been famous as a center for silk weaving—known as Kiryu-ori. Even today, it has the highest output of textile products in the entire Kanto area. The weaving techniques here are highly advanced and, of course, recognized as a traditional Japanese craft. In addition, Kiryu has also developed as an industrial city that produces automobile parts and other machinery, making use of the refined skills cultivated through its textile industry. Since it’s located north of our region, I used to think of it as a cold place. However, due to recent climate warming and the heat from Tokyo spreading northward, Kiryu has now become known as one of the cities that gets very hot in summer. It was even featured in the news several times during this year’s intense heat wave. For more details, please check here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiry%C5%AB,_Gunma
From my impression, the climate here feels a bit dry. This area has long been known for its strong winds from winter to spring. which might be part of the reason. When I looked it up, I found that Kiryu’s annual rainfall is lower than Japan’s average. That means this region might also be a good place for woodworking and puzzle box making!..haha 😁 Now that the long autumn rains are ending, the area around my workshop will also enter the dry season. However, since the weather has still been alternating between rain and sunshine recently, Yesterday, I put my unfinished cube boxes and hexagonal boxes in a humidity-controlled case before leaving, just to be safe.😄
Gunma Prefecture is part of the Kanto region, just like Tokyo, and it lies to the north of where I live. Within Gunma, the city of Kiryu has long been famous as a center for silk weaving—known as Kiryu-ori. Even today, it has the highest output of textile products in the entire Kanto area. The weaving techniques here are highly advanced and, of course, recognized as a traditional Japanese craft. In addition, Kiryu has also developed as an industrial city that produces automobile parts and other machinery, making use of the refined skills cultivated through its textile industry. Since it’s located north of our region, I used to think of it as a cold place. However, due to recent climate warming and the heat from Tokyo spreading northward, Kiryu has now become known as one of the cities that gets very hot in summer. It was even featured in the news several times during this year’s intense heat wave. For more details, please check here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiry%C5%AB,_Gunma
From my impression, the climate here feels a bit dry. This area has long been known for its strong winds from winter to spring. which might be part of the reason. When I looked it up, I found that Kiryu’s annual rainfall is lower than Japan’s average. That means this region might also be a good place for woodworking and puzzle box making!..haha 😁 Now that the long autumn rains are ending, the area around my workshop will also enter the dry season. However, since the weather has still been alternating between rain and sunshine recently, Yesterday, I put my unfinished cube boxes and hexagonal boxes in a humidity-controlled case before leaving, just to be safe.😄