Kagoshima Prefecture Specialties, Souvenirs, Shrines and Temples, and Sightseeing | 47 Prefectures Guide

Kagoshima is Much of the soil is shirasu plateau, made up of volcanic ejecta deposits The drainage is too good for rice cultivation. That limitation shaped the food culture of this prefecture.

Specialties

Sweet potatoes rank first in Japan for harvest volume. The number of pigs raised, including Kurobuta pork, is also the highest in Japan. in total.

These two are connected. In land where rice could not be grown, people cultivated sweet potatoes, fed the scraps to pigs, and then combined them with koji to make shochu. From one crop came staple food, meat, and alcohol. Kagoshima has the largest number of honkaku shochu distilleries in Japan. A disadvantage became a whole system.

Kuroushi beef, from the prefecture with Japan’s largest number of Wagyu cattle raised, yellowtail, katsuobushi, with Makurazaki City as a major production area, and satsuma-age fried fish cake.

Souvenirs

Satsuma-yaki black jōka teapots, karukan sweets, and keihan chicken rice. And Authentic Oshima Tsumugi.

Oshima Tsumugi is known for its mud-dyeing, using the mud of Amami Oshima. Threads dyed with the liquid of the techi tree are rubbed dozens of times in iron-rich mud fields. It is a black that can only be produced through a chemical reaction.

Shrines and Temples

Kirishima Jingu Shrine (Kirishima City) is a shrine associated with the legend of the descent of the heavenly grandson and its main sanctuary and other structures are National Treasures.

Kirishima Jingu Shrine has burned down many times due to eruptions of the Kirishima mountains, and each time it was rebuilt while changing location. The current shrine buildings were built in 1715 through a donation by the Shimazu clan. The same is true of Aso Shrine in Kumamoto, but places of worship in southern Kyushu are based on the premise of living with volcanoes.

Kagoshima Jingu Shrine (Kirishima City) is A shrine associated with the myth of Yamasachihiko, said to be the prototype of the Urashima Taro legend.

The remains of the Shimazu clan’s family temple, Amami ashage ritual spaces, and Noro beliefs.

Sightseeing

Yakushima was, in 1993, One of Japan's first World Natural Heritage sites, together with the Shirakami-Sanchi. It is known for its Yakusugi cedars, including Jomon Sugi.

Sakurajima, a volcano that remains active today; Sengan-en Garden; Ibusuki’s sand steam hot springs; Amami Oshima, a World Natural Heritage site; and Chiran.

Traditional Crafts

Nationally designated items are Authentic Oshima Tsumugi, Satsuma ware, and Kawanabe Buddhist altars: three items in all.

Satsuma ware is said to have begun with potters who came from the Korean Peninsula after the Bunroku and Keicho campaigns This is said to be the case. The background is the same as Hagi-yaki in Yamaguchi and Arita-yaki in Saga. The division between shiromon, white Satsuma ware for presentation to elites, and kuromon, everyday wares for common people, follows the same pattern as Nagasaki’s Mikawachi-yaki and Hasami-yaki.

For details, see [VILLAGE Report vol.8] Shiromon and Kuromon

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References: Kagoshima Prefecture, Kagoshima City, Kirishima City, Ibusuki City, Amami City, National Tax Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village Editorial Department