We wanted to raise silkworm cocoons with our own hands and make thread from them. Hitotsuya（ひとつ屋） began working on sericulture in early spring 2021, starting with growing mulberry trees for the silkworms to eat. Our first mulberry field is recorded in “Hitotsuya’s Mulberry Field Has Begun!”.
After that, we began raising silkworms on a trial basis while continuing to grow mulberry, and from 2024 we moved into full-scale sericulture on a small scale. Silkworms grow by eating mulberry leaves, then spin thread to make cocoons as they mature. Materials from Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also introduce the process from harvesting mulberry leaves to raising silkworms and producing cocoons.
The Road to Silkworm Cocoons Does Not Always Go as Planned
However, the intense heat of recent years and poor timing have overlapped, and we have struggled to achieve the results we hoped for. In 2025 as well, the period when we wanted to begin raising silkworms coincided with events, and severe heat followed. Sericulture was proving quite difficult.
Wanting somehow to raise them safely all the way to silkworm cocoons, I finally decided to ask an experienced sericulture farmer for advice. They kindly taught me, and the more I listened, the more often I found myself thinking, “That makes sense!” Little by little, I began to see things that trial and error on our own had not revealed.
The Silkworms Have Begun Making Cocoons
And now, little by little, the situation is improving, and the silkworms have begun making cocoons. Reaching this point is a relief for now. We also recorded an earlier cocoon harvest in “Harvesting Hitotsuya Silk Cocoons!”.
Hitotsuya Silk has been a process of trial and error—or rather, at times complete confusion—but even so, we are moving forward little by little, steadily. We will make full use of what we learned this time and plan to try sericulture once again in autumn through “Hitotsuya Silk”.
Grow mulberry, raise silkworms, and turn silkworm cocoons into thread. We still have a long way to go, but please look forward to what comes next!