３. History of Citrus Cultivation
“Tsune naranu Hitokuni Yama no Akitsuno no Kakitsuhata wo shi Yume ni Mishi kamo”This is a poem said to have been composed by a Manyo poet, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. Inthe Heian period, this Kamiakizu village was kept as a manor for the Fujiwara clan, and even now, sutra mounds from those days are excavated around here. Kamiakizu was once a very poor village since the mountains are steep and rocky and there were few rice paddies.Fromthe Edo period to the Meiji era, most people didn t have a job in this area, and some peoplecarried binchotan charcoal and other household goods on their shoulders to other villages over the mountains to places such as Ryujin, Nakaheji, Chikatsuyu, Hongu, and even farther over the mountains to Totsukawa to make a living. It was hard work! And they would come back with Shitake mushrooms and wood from the mountains.At the end of the Meiji era, the cultivation of Mikans started in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, andwent very well.Agricultural activities in those days were mainly rice cropping, however, at the end of the Edo period, Kishu Mikans such as Komikans and Kunenbos, which are flat and have many seeds, were cultivated for New Year s decorations. In the short story, Mikan Batake’ written by Yamamoto Syugoro, it was mentioned that the cultivation of Mikans in Kamiakizu was successful and the mikans started to grow. In the Edo period, a man named Takagi Hanshichi led a joint farming venture to grow hundreds of kumquats in Kamiakizu, and it was very successful.However,there was a major flood in 1889 (Meiji era), and more than a thousand people died in Wakayama prefecture. Here in Kamiakizu, there were thousands of landslides on Mt. Takao with an altitude of 606m, and many trees on the mountain were completely wiped out.Soagain, it became a poor village.After that, people spent a long time to recover what was lost and increase the number of Mikan trees.In 1909, the village forest was opened to the public and cultivated as a Mikan orchard. In the Taisyo era, Mikan wholesalers were established in Kamiakizu, and they started to exportkumquats to China.Several wholesalers were involved in export trade to China. After the war, the number of male workers decreased and food supply ran low as well, so the government ordered the Mikan trees to be cut down in order to grow potatoes for the people, sothere was a time that big potatoes called Gokoku potato were grown instead of Mikans in this area.As a result once again, Mikan cultivation here became quite scarce.But soon thereafter, two shipping associations were formed, Yamazyo shipping association and Hishikami shipping association. During this time there were many food shortages, so Minabe High School's horticulture course was an elite course.And Mikan farmers especially became popular at that time. Mikans began to sell rapidly once more! Around that time, in addition to the three big prefectures of Shizuoka, Aichi, and Wakayama that were growing mikans, people started to cultivate them in Kyusyu, too. In 1972, the national production of Unsyu Mikans alone was 3.65 million tons.That has now been reduced to 700,000 tons. Avoluntary group called Kinan citrus association was formed in Kamiakizu then, and some members of the group went to Shizuoka, Hiroshima, Ehime, Kochi, and Kagawa to get grafts to develop new varieties of Mikans.Thisis the origin story of how about 70 varieties of citrus fruits came to be cultivated here. Later,as the times changed, the cultivation of early Unsyu Mikans, known as sports day Mikans,was started in time for the sports festival season in the first half of October in Japan. Chestnuts and Mikan s were treats often eaten on sports day back then.Therefore,Mikans called Miyamoto Wase’ born in Wakayama prefecture became really popular because they were ripe in time for the sports festivals. However,Miyamoto Wase are actually very sour, so its popularity did not last long.Thereafter,the cultivation of Mikans modernized, and farm roads and sprinklers were installed and maintained everywhere. In winter, rice fields on the mountain were covered in thickly frozen ice and many children enjoyed ice skating there. Nowadays,with the advancement of global warming there is less and less ice to enjoy.‘Bankans’ are citrus fruits which ripen after new year s day such as Valencia oranges summer oranges and ponkans these types of citrus fruits are easily ruined by cold weather frost, at one time many Bankans were damaged and Mikan farmers suffered a lot that time.Recently, this has rarely happened, because global warming is progressing.As global warming progresses, Unsyu Mikan s ripen too quickly. |