[VILLAGE Report vol.18] 60% of Japan’s Plums Come from This Prefecture | Wakayama Prefecture

Leaving Shikoku, we enter the Kinki region. First up is Wakayama Prefecture.

Its nationally designated traditional crafts are Kishu lacquerware, Kishu tansu chests, Kishu hera rods three items. That is almost the same number as Kochi. But this prefecture’s “proportion” was outside crafts.

About 60% of Japan’s plums

According to crop statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Wakayama Prefecture ranks first in Japan for plum harvest volume, accounting for about 60% of the national total.

It also ranks first nationwide for satsuma mandarins.

One prefecture produces 60% of one fruit. This has exactly the same structure as the craft shares we have seen in this series.

Kagawa’s fans at 90%, Miyazaki’s bamboo bows at 90%, Kochi’s forestry blades at 60%. Wakayama was a prefecture doing that in its fields.

One of Japan’s three great lacquerware traditions

Kishu lacquerware is made mainly in Kuroe, Kainan City. A production area known as one of “Japan’s three great lacquerware traditions,” alongside Aizu lacquerware and Yamanaka lacquerware in total.

Its beginnings go back to the Muromachi period. It began when groups of woodturners from Omi made bowls from Kishu wood according to tradition.

Its defining feature is that it spread not as a luxury item, but as “tableware for everyday use” It spread as something sturdy and affordable. That is why it sold in volume.

Paulownia chests

Kishu tansu chests are paulownia tansu chests made around Wakayama City. Paulownia resists moisture and is also strong against fire. They have long continued to be chosen as furniture for storing kimono.

The Aizu installment is still ahead of us, but paulownia tansu chests are found in many regions. Wakayama’s version is one of the few that has received designation.

A tree called ubame oak

In Wakayama, there is Kishu Binchotan charcoal Its raw material is ubame oak, which is also Wakayama Prefecture’s official tree.

Binchotan charcoal has not been designated as a traditional craft. Even so, there is probably no other charcoal whose name is so widely known as a fuel.

Whether something is designated and how it is known do not always match.

Kochi and Wakayama

Kochi has 2 items, and Wakayama has 3. The numbers are close, but the contents were completely different.

Kochi remains through uses that cannot be replaced while Wakayama remains through everyday volume that keeps it alive.

Next issue: Nara. Two “90%” stories will appear.

References: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, “Crop Statistics Survey”; Wakayama Prefecture; Kainan City; Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries

—The Value Village Editorial Team

Photo: Ka23 13 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)