Silk transformed modern Japan, and Gunma Prefecture was its heartland. In the village of Shimamura, now part of Isesaki, on the north bank of the Tone River, stands the farmhouse of Tajima Yahei, a sericulturist who developed a method of raising silkworms in the nineteenth century. He built a two-storey house with a ventilation structure on the roof, allowing air to circulate through the upper floor where the silkworms were kept, and his design was widely copied across Japan.
The farm is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Sites, inscribed in 2014, which tells the story of how Japan modernized silk production and became the world's largest exporter of raw silk in the early twentieth century. The Tomioka mill, founded by the government in 1872 with French expertise, is the centrepiece, but the farmhouses where silkworms were raised are just as important. Shimamura still has many houses with the characteristic roof ventilators, and walking through the village is like stepping into the past.
The riding in this part of the Kanto plain is flat and mostly urban or agricultural, with roads running between rice fields, vegetable plots and towns. It is not dramatic, but the views of the mountains to the north, especially Mount Akagi, are fine on clear days. Within an hour you can reach the mountains of Gunma, with winding roads through forests and hot spring towns such as Kusatsu and Ikaho. Remember to drive on the left and to respect the low speed limits. Summers are hot and humid, winters cold and dry with strong winds, known locally as karakkaze, blowing down from the mountains.
The farm is about two kilometres from Sakai-nakajima and close to the cities of Honjo and Isesaki, which have fuel and all services. Convenience stores are everywhere in Japan, offering food, coffee and clean toilets. The local cuisine includes okkirikomi, a thick noodle stew, and yakimanju, grilled buns with miso sauce, both Gunma specialties. In late spring, mulberry trees, whose leaves feed the silkworms, still grow in some fields, a reminder of the industry that once shaped this landscape.