Nekochigura is a cat house with dome ceiling made out of woven rice straws.
ちぐら、というものはもともと農作業中に赤ちゃんを座らせておくためのもので、
それぞれのお家で作られていたものでした。
Originally, chigura was a woven basket in which baby sits during
parents are working in the farm and was commonly made by individual family.
それをドーム状にして猫のお家にしたところ、多くの猫が喜んで入ってくるように!
Then after making it a cat house with dome ceiling, people found cats actually love and enjoy it!
現在は新潟県の関川村を中心に作られていますが、編める人も少なく時間もかかることから、
注文してから届くまで6年もかかるそうです。
Nekochigura is currently made in several villages in Niigata prefecture, like Sekikawa-village,
however, there are only a few people who can make it and it requires lots of time to make,
now you need to wait 6 years to get one for yourself.
そこで、私は自分で作れるようになればいいと思ったのです。
At that point, I realized “how about making one by myself?”.
もとは、各家庭で作られていたもの、それほど専門的な道具も技術も必要なかったのです。
As I mentioned before, Nekochigura is made by each household, so you
really need neither special tools nor techniques.
関川村の猫ちぐらのご紹介↓Here is a link to Sekikawa-village’s Nekochigura makings
http://www.nekochigura.com/