Shrine in Japan to two weaver-sisters from Koguryo

Below is an excerpt from “Silla Korea and the Silk Road: Golden Threads Golden Age”:

Ayaha-gu Ikeda Shrine

Ayaha-gu Ikeda Shrine located in Ikeda City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, enshrines Ayaha and Kureta, two sisters who came from Koguryo in 306 CE, planted mulberry trees and raised silkworms. They spread the cultivation of silkworm and weaving techniques in Japan.

Ayaha-gu Ikeda Shrine Brief History. [Souvenir booklet from the shrine. No additional biblio- graphical data available.]

Silk weaving in Japan

The Hata, one of the most famous [Korean] peninsular families to make Japan their home in the ancient period, “presented thread and silk cloth as tribute, and when the emperor donned the clothes they were soft and warm to the skin.” The name Hata appears on a tapestry made for Prince Shotoku now kept at Horyu-ji, suggesting that the Hata might have specialized in weaving techniques.

William Wayne Farris, Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures: Issues in the Historical Archaeology of Ancient Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998), 97.