Hoshino Chotaro

Hoshino Chotaro was born in Mizunuma, a district of Kurohonecho, Kiryu City in 1845. The Hoshino family were wealthy farmers and from generation to generation actively engaged in the political administration of the district.

Chotaro, along with his adopted brother Ryoichiro of the Arai family in Kazuno, purchased silk throwing machines and established a filature mill in 1873, which transformed silk cocoons into raw silk yarn. At the time, Japanese raw silk sold overseas was considered of poor quality, and often the weight of the yarn was inaccurate. As a result, Japanese raw silk was held in poor regard.

Ryoichiro traveled to the United States, and, in order to sell their silk yarn, visited many companies. The two brothers combined their efforts to manufacture and sell silk yarn of high quality. As a result, American and European customers recognized the value of Japanese raw silk, leading to even more sales overseas. For that purpose Chotaro organized an association for direct exporting with forty producers in his village in Gunma.

Eventually Hoshino Chotaro became a leading silk producer in the region and the first exporting Japanese enterpriser to export raw silk to the West directly. The filature mill no longer stands; however, its original site is located behind the Kurohone Museum of History and Antiquity.