Japan Heritage story
Kakaa Tenka: the women behind Gunma's silk
かかあ天下
In old Gunma the women ran the silk: they raised the silkworms, reeled the thread and wove the cloth. Their husbands bragged that their wives were the best in the land, and the phrase stuck.
Key facts
- Theme
- Textiles and dyes
- Era
- Edo
- Region
- Kanto
- Official name in Japanese
- かかあ天下
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- －ぐんまの絹物語－
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 群馬県（桐生市，甘楽町，中之条町，片品村）
The story
Gunma, once called Joshu, has made silk for centuries, and the work was in women's hands. They raised silkworms at home, often with little sleep in the busy season, then reeled the thread and wove it into kimono passed from mother to daughter. Their husbands boasted "my kakaa (wife) is the best in the land", and kakaa tenka became a local byword. Today it means a woman who leads at home and at work.
When silk became Japan's main export in the late 1800s, Gunma boomed. Tomioka Silk Mill opened in 1872. In Katashina, the farmer Nagai Ito improved silkworm rearing and opened her own training school, telling her students that the farm wife should hold the purse strings.
Where to see it in Gunma
- Kiryu: a weaving town where silk was woven into cloth.
- Kanra: home of Kanrasha, a cooperative of farm families who reeled and sold silk together.
- Nakanojo and Katashina: mountain villages with silkworm farmhouses.
Start from the Gunma prefecture guide to plan the route, and see more history and heritage nearby.
Good to know
- The places are spread across Gunma, so a car or a planned train route helps a lot.
- Look for the upper floors of old farmhouses: they were built tall and airy for raising silkworms.
- Pair it with Japan's silk town of Tsuruoka if you like textile history.
Questions travellers ask
What does kakaa tenka mean?
It literally means "the wife rules". In Gunma it started as husbands' pride in wives who earned the family's cash from silk.
Is Tomioka Silk Mill part of this story?
The story tells how Tomioka Silk Mill, opened in 1872, drew girls and cocoons from all over the region. The heritage sites of this story are in Kiryu, Kanra, Nakanojo and Katashina.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.