Understand
Kiryū lies about about 90 km northwest of Tokyo as the crow flies, and just across the Tochigi prefectural boundary from Ashikaga. During Edo times, Kiryū was known for its fine silks, an eastern match for Kyoto in western Japan. The lord of Kiryū supplied over 2,400 silk banners for the troops of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the battle of Sekigahara in 1600, and thereafter continued to pay the same tribute to the victorious Tokugawa Shogunate every year. It later became an important center for textile manufacturing during Japan's industrial revolution, and now is one of the major manufacturing centers for pachinko machines.
Kiryū's international sister cities are two other textile and manufacturing towns in the foothills: Biella, Piemonte, Italy, and Columbus, Georgia, USA. Kiryū's Columbus Street features pink and white dogwood trees and azalea bushes reminiscent of its sister city in Georgia.
The Kiryū School of Textiles, founded in 1915, has now grown into Gunma University's Faculty of Engineering (http://www.tech.gunma-u.a...), one of the largest in the country. Its website contains much useful information in English about the city and its history, and its many international engineering students lend Kiryū a more cosmopolitan flavor than many cities its size (http://www.kiea.jp/Mainin...).
In 2005, Kiryū doubled its size by incorporating a largely rural region across the upper Watarase River valley (http://www.pref.gunma.jp/...). But the most scenic gorges and valleys of the upper Watarase fall within the bounds of Midori, a separate jurisdiction, while the headwaters and the infamous Ashio copper mine fall within the bounds of Nikko city. Nevertheless, Kiryū remains the jumping-off point for trips to Mt. Akagi and to the Watarase River valley.
