Discovered in 1985 in Yura, Wakayama, as a bud mutation of the Miyagawa Wase mandarin, and registered as a variety in 1995. It reaches the market while the skin is still partly green, and is notably sweet for an extra-early variety.
Sources: maff.go.jp
This moment in the journey
Arida mandarins, and one more taste of autumn
For dinner, I decided to treat myself to an "autumn Wakayama feast." On the way home, I stopped at a roadside stand with a big MIKAN sign.
Wakayama's signature product is, of course, the mandarin. Boxes marked "In season in Arida" and bags of Arida mandarins were piled out front. The greenish, extra-early mandarins are a must in early autumn.
And maybe I'll go and harvest one more taste of autumn.
Watch this scene on YouTube5:09
More notes from this journey
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Mehari-zushi
A Wakayama specialty: a large rice ball wrapped in salt-pickled takana leaves.
From: Sushi, Cosmos and Ramen
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Umeboshi and red shiso rice ball
Wakayama grows more ume than any other prefecture in Japan: 58% of the national harvest in 2024 (64% the year before).
From: Sushi, Cosmos and Ramen
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Aragijima Rice Terraces
A fan-shaped terrace of rice paddies wrapped by a bend of the Arida River.
From: Sushi, Cosmos and Ramen
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Washigamine Cosmos Park
About a million cosmos bloom across the summit of Mt.
From: Sushi, Cosmos and Ramen
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Arida mandarins and stone-walled terraces
Wakayama produces more unshu mandarins than any other prefecture.
From: Sushi, Cosmos and Ramen
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Soy sauce of Yuasa
Yuasa, the town next to Aridagawa, is known as the birthplace of soy sauce brewing.
From: Sushi, Cosmos and Ramen
More notes from Kinki
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Kyoto-style ozoni (white miso New Year soup)
Ozoni in and around Kyoto is built on kombu dashi and white miso, with round mochi, taro, carrot and daikon.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Osechi (datemaki, red-and-white namasu, decorated kamaboko)
Each osechi dish carries a wish.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Toshikoshi soba (nihachi soba)
The custom of eating soba on New Year's Eve is said to have spread among ordinary people in the Edo period.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Chestnut rice (kuri gohan)
My first chestnut rice, made with chestnuts I had picked myself.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Charcoal-grilled saury with sudachi
Sanma is written 秋刀魚, "autumn sword fish," but that spelling only spread from the Taisho era on; older texts wrote it 青串魚.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Wakayama bonito and mandarin carpaccio
In contrast to the lean first bonito of spring, the fish that head south from around September are called modori-gatsuo, returning bonito.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast