A brick weaving shed raised in December 1919
The Former Kanayoshi Textile Mill Company Sawtooth Roof Factory (旧株式会社金芳織物工場鋸屋根工場, Kyū Kabushiki-gaisha Kanayoshi Orimono Kōjō Nokogiri-yane Kōjō) is a single-story weaving shed at 1-1-55 Higashi-Hisakata-cho in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, built in 1919 and entered on the national list as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 11 December 1998.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs file carries an unusually exact date for a building of this class: the ridge beam was hoisted into place on 14 December 1919. The contractor was the Shimada-gumi firm of Takasaki. The client was Kanaya Yoshijirō, a Kiryu weaver who had gone into business in the early Meiji era and formed his trade name, Kanayoshi, by putting the first character of his surname next to the first character of his given name.
Brick carries the outer walls. Timber carries the roof. Gunma mills of the period were often put up this way, and it is why the registration record describes the structure as timber-framed brick rather than brick throughout.
The bricks came from Fukaya in Saitama Prefecture, from the kilns of Nippon Renga Seizō, and they are laid in English bond, with courses of headers and stretchers alternating up the wall. Stand close and the pattern is legible without any special knowledge: one course shows long faces, the next shows square ends.
Why a shed became a listed building
Kiryu's cultural properties division counts roughly 260 sawtooth-roofed weaving sheds still standing in the city. They were put up in quantity after Nihon Orimono K.K. was founded here in 1889, and construction continued until about 1969. Out of all of them, only the Kanayoshi shed has brick walls.
That is the reasoning behind its listing. The Registered Tangible Cultural Property system works from three criteria, and this building was accepted under the one that covers structures which could not easily be built again. Registration is a lighter form of protection than the systems that carry the word designation, and it was created in 1996 with exactly this kind of working industrial fabric in mind.
The same round of registrations on 11 December 1998 took in the office that adjoins the shed on its west side. Seventeen years later, in 2015, the dyeing workshop behind the office and the two residential buildings of the Kanaya family were added. Kiryu has since named the shed and the office together as the fifteenth of its historic-townscape structures under the city's own scheme.
Four bays where there were once six
The roof is the point of the building. Each bay is a triangle in section, with a short glazed slope facing north and a longer slate-angled slope facing south, repeated in series so that the ridge line reads as a row of saw teeth.
North-facing glazing was not a stylistic choice. Light entering from the north stays even through the working day and never falls as direct sun, which matters when someone at a loom has to judge the color of a silk weft hour after hour. Kiryu wove figured cloth for a demanding market, and color judgement was part of the job.
According to the city, the shed originally ran to six bays. The northernmost was taken down when a steel-framed replacement went up on that side of the site, leaving the four that survive. The registered footprint is 298 square meters, roofed in sheet iron.
Inside, nothing has been plastered over. The brick face is exposed, the timber roof structure sits open above the room, and the north lights still do the work they were built to do. It is a rare chance to stand under a Taishō-era mill roof rather than look at one from a car window.
Visiting: the shed is now a bakery
Since 2008 the Former Kanayoshi Textile Mill Company Sawtooth Roof Factory has operated as a bakery and café, which makes it one of the easier registered buildings in Gunma to get inside. No admission is charged; you walk in as a customer.
The operator lists opening hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with last orders at 3:30 p.m. The premises trade all year apart from 29, 30 and 31 December and 1 and 2 January. There are 80 seats and parking for 31 cars, with a rear entrance leading in from the large car park behind the building. Coach parties are asked to call ahead.
From JR Kiryu Station on the Ryōmō Line the walk takes about 18 minutes, or 8 minutes by taxi. Shin-Kiryu Station on the Tōbu Isesaki Line is about 13 minutes away by car, and Ōta-Kiryu interchange on the Kita-Kantō Expressway about 20 minutes. Kiryu-ga-oka Amusement Park and Zoo is a 10-minute walk.
Neither the city nor the operator publishes a restriction on photography, but the interior is a working café with other customers in it, so a word with the staff before taking pictures is the sensible course. The office stands immediately to the west and the dyeing workshop behind it; both can be seen from the grounds, and neither is open inside.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Gunma
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Kanayoshi Textile Mill Company Sawtooth Roof Factory
- [ Kusatsu Onsen & Tomioka Silk Mill Heritage Tours ]
Q&A
- Can you go inside the Former Kanayoshi Textile Mill Company Sawtooth Roof Factory?
- Yes. The building has housed a bakery and café since 2008, and the interior is open to customers with no admission fee. Hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., last orders 3:30 p.m., closed only from 29 December to 2 January.
- How do I reach the Kanayoshi sawtooth roof factory from Kiryu Station?
- It is about an 18-minute walk from JR Kiryu Station on the Ryōmō Line, or roughly 8 minutes by taxi. Drivers coming off the Kita-Kantō Expressway at Ōta-Kiryu need about 20 minutes, and there is parking for 31 cars on site.
- What makes the Kanayoshi sawtooth roof factory different from other Kiryu mills?
- Kiryu still has around 260 sawtooth-roofed weaving sheds, but this is the only one with brick walls. The brick came from Nippon Renga Seizō in Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture, and is laid in English bond.
- When was the Former Kanayoshi Textile Mill Company Sawtooth Roof Factory built and registered?
- Its ridge beam went up on 14 December 1919, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 11 December 1998, on the same day as the office next door. The builder was the Shimada-gumi of Takasaki.
- Why does the Kanayoshi sawtooth roof factory have that zigzag roof?
- Each bay has a glazed slope facing north, so daylight reaching the looms stays steady and never becomes direct sun. Weavers judging the color of silk needed that consistency. Six bays were built; four remain after the northernmost was removed.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kanayoshi Textile Mill Company Sawtooth Roof Factory (旧株式会社金芳織物工場鋸屋根工場) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-1-55 Higashi-Hisakata-cho, Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 11 December 1998 (Heisei 10) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 298 square meters; timber-framed brick, single-story, sheet-iron roof |
| Owner | Lupin Ltd. (the owner field of the Agency for Cultural Affairs database is blank) |
| Public Access | In use as a bakery and café; open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., last orders 3:30 p.m.; no admission fee |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Database of Designated Cultural Properties: Former Kanayoshi Textile Mill Company Sawtooth Roof Factory
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00000950
- Kiryu City: Former Kanayoshi Textile Mill Company (registered cultural properties)
- https://www.city.kiryu.lg.jp/kankou/bunkazai/1010700/kunitouroku/1001996.html
- Kiryu City: Former Kanaya Family Residence and Former Kanayoshi Textile Mill Company
- https://www.city.kiryu.lg.jp/kankou/bunkazai/1010700/kunitouroku/1013382.html
- Kiryu City: Structures Forming the Historic Townscape
- https://www.city.kiryu.lg.jp/shisei/machi/1018368/1012377/1018437.html
- Bakery Cafe Renga (site operator): store information
- https://www.kiryu-renga.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.09