Japanese citrus

Citrus fruit plants associated with Japan

Tachibana Unshū Iyokan Dekopon (Hallabong, Sumo Citrus)

Japanese citrus fruits were first mentioned in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki, compiled in the 700s, and the Man'yōshū and Kokin Wakashū, poetry anthologies compiled in the 700s and 900s, mention the Tachibana orange as a subject of waka poetry and describe its use as a medicinal, ornamental, and incense plant.

Throughout their history, the Japanese have created and cultivated various varieties of citrus fruits, taking advantage of the mild climate that is ideal for growing citrus. In particular, from the 1600s during the Edo period (1603–1868) to the present, various varieties of citrus fruits have been produced, including Unshū, Natsumikan, Hassaku, Iyokan, and Dekopon. At present, Unshū is the most widely grown in Japan, and various cultivars have been developed.

At present, the largest citrus growing areas are located in the prefectures of Wakayama, Shizuoka, Tokushima, Kochi, Oita, Miyazaki and Ehime.

## History

[edit]

Citrus fruits are believed to have originated in Assam, India and the foothills of the Himalayas, and later spread throughout the world. In October 2023, published genetic research proved that the ancestor of the citrus plants originated in India more than 25 million years ago and evolved into the true citrus species in southern China 8 million years ago, followed by early citrus species such as pomelo and citron that originated in the foothills of the Himalayas.[1] Yuzu, kunembo, and daidai, are believed to have been introduced to Japan from China between the Nara (710–794) and Muromachi periods (1336–1573).[2]

The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, compiled in the 700s, were the first books in Japan to describe citrus fruits. The Nihon Shoki states that a man named Tajimamori brought back citrus fruits from the Tokoyo no kuni (Land of immortality, ja:常世の国) on the orders of Emperor Suinin, which is thought to refer to the tachibana orange that grows wild in Japan. The Man'yōshū, a collection of poems from the same period, contains many poems about tachibana orange, and because of its strong acidity at the time, it was dried and used for medicinal and ornamental purposes rather than for food. The Kokin Wakashū, compiled in the 900s, mentions that tachibana orange was burned and used as incense to give a nice fragrance to kimonos. In Japan, tachibana orange is a symbol of eternity and is the motif for the Order of Culture.[3][4]

The most widely grown variety in Japan today is the unshu mikan (Citrus unshiu), also known as the satsuma orange. There are two theories about the origin of the unshu mikan. One is that unshu mikan originated in Japan, while the other is that it originated in China. According to the Japanese origin theory, several species that would serve as the parents of unshu mikan were introduced from China, and in the 1600s, they were born in Nishi-Nakajima, Higo Province (later Nagashima, Kagoshima) in Japan. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ehime Prefecture and Japanese scientists support this theory of Japanese origin.[5][6][7][8][9] Genetic research has shown that the unshu mikan is a cross between the kishu and kunembo.[10][11] During the Edo period, unshu mikan were not very popular due to a superstition that eating seedless unshu mikan would make one infertile. It was not until the Meiji era (1868–1912), when modernization began, that the popularity of unshu mikan increased.[9] From the mid-Edo period (1603–1867) to the mid-Meiji era (1868–1912), kishu mikan were the mainstay of cultivation.[2]

From the Edo period (1603–1867) to the present, the Japanese have created numerous varieties of citrus fruits, collectively known as tyūbankan (中晩柑). It is a general term for citrus fruits shipped from January to May, after the shipping period of unshu mikan, which is from October to February.[2][12][13] For example, natsumikan (Citrus natsudaidai) was developed around 1700,[14] hassaku in 1860,[15] and iyokan in 1886.[16] Kiyomi, Setoka and Kanpei are also types of tyūbankan.[12][13] dekopon, created in 1972, is one of the most popular varieties internationally. Dekopon was introduced to South Korea in the 1990s and became popular as Hallabong, was exported to California in 1998, and has been marketed as "Sumo Citrus" since 2011.[17]

Japan's warm summer climate makes it particularly suitable for citrus plants; while they are grown all over the country, the largest citrus growing areas are located in the prefectures of Wakayama, Shizuoka, Tokushima, Kochi, Oita, Miyazaki and Ehime.[18] In Japan, various cultivars have been developed based on the unshu mikan, and three cultivars, namely miyagawa wase, okitsu wase, and aoshima unshu, account for nearly half of the production volume of unshu mikan.[19]

## Japanese taxonomy

[edit]

Main article: Citrus taxonomy

Japan usually follows the botanical names of the taxonomy from Tyôzaburô Tanaka, often referred to as the "Tanaka system", giving for each cultivar a separate name no matter if it is pure or a hybrid of two or more species or varieties. While elsewhere it is more popular to classify the genus citrus into species, and further into varieties, and then into cultivars or hybrid. Such a system was created by Walter Tennyson Swingle from Florida and is called the "Swingle system".[20] The different approaches of the two systems lead to partially-overlapping or nested 'species', for example, Citrus unshiu and Citrus tangerina (Tanaka) versus Citrus reticulata (Swingle). Likewise, common terms, like "mikan", do not always align with these taxonomic groups.

## Japanese citrus (partial list)

[edit]

Japanese citrus fruits include the following:

Common
name(s)  | Image  | Taxonomic
name/constituents  | Notes

|
|
|

Amanatsu |  | Citrus × natsudaidai | Yellowish-orange in colour, about the size of grapefruit and oblate in shape. The fruit contains 12 segments and about 30 seeds.
Banpeiyu (pomelo cultivar)  |  | Citrus maxima |
Bushukan (Buddha's hand) |  | Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis |
Daidai |  | Citrus × daidai |
Dekopon |  | Citrus unshiu × sinensis × C. poonensis |
Haruka |  | Citrus tamurana × natsudaidai |
Hassaku |  | Citrus × hassaku |
Hyuganatsu |  | Citrus tamurana |
Iyokan |  | Citrus × iyo |
Jabara |  | Citrus × jabara |
Kabosu |  | Citrus sphaerocarpa |
Karatachi (Japanese bitter orange)  |  | Citrus trifoliata |
Kanpei |  | 'Dekopon' × 'nishinokaori'  |
Kawachi Bankan (Mishokan)  |  | Citrus kawachiensis |
Kinkan (Kumquat)  |  | Citrus japonica |
Kinkoji unshiu |  | Citrus obovoidea × unshiu |
Kishu |  | Citrus kinokuni |
Kiyomi |  | Citrus unshiu × sinensis |
Kobayashi mikan |  | Citrus natsudaidai × unshiu |
Koji orange |  | Citrus leiocarpa |
Mikan |  | Citrus unshiu |
Ōgonkan |  | Citrus flaviculpus |
Ponkan (Tangerine)  |  | Citrus poonensis |
Reikou |  |  |
Sakurajima komikan (mandarin orange cultivar),  |  | Citrus × sinensis |
Sanbokan |  | Citrus sulcata |
Shonan gold |  | Citrus flaviculpus × Citrus unshiu |
Shikuwasa (Shiikwaasaa, Shequasar, Hirami lemon)  |  | Citrus × depressa |
Sudachi |  | Citrus sudachi |
Tachibana |  | Citrus tachibana or Citrus reticulata var. tachibana |
Tankan |  | Citrus poonensis × Citrus sinensis |
Tsunonozomi |  | 'Kiyomi' × 'Encore'  |
Yukou |  | Citrus yuko |
Yuzu |  | Citrus junos |

[21]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "We Finally Know Where Oranges and Lemons Come From". Scientific American. 2023-10-11. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
2. ^ a b c かんきつの歴史 (in Japanese). Shizuoka prefecture. 26 January 2023. Archived from the original on 23 May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
3. ^ 日本の柑橘史 その1 (in Japanese). Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, Nishiuwa. 6 June 2019. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
4. ^ 日本の柑橘史 その2 (in Japanese). Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, Nishiuwa. 16 June 2019. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
5. ^ "Hybrid Origins of Citrus Varieties Inferred from DNA Marker Analysis of Nuclear and Organelle Genomes" (PDF). Shimizu Tokurou; Kitajima Akira; Nonaka Keisuke; Yoshioka Terutaka; Ohta Satoshi; Goto Shingo; Toyoda Atsushi; Fujiyama Asao; Mochizuki Takako; Nagasaki Hideki; Kaminuma Eli; Nakamura Yasukazu. November 30, 2016. p. 50\. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2021. "Therefore, it is likely that kunenbo was backcrossed to Kishu in the Kagoshima region of Japan several times and Satsuma and Yatsushiro were selected from their offspring."
6. ^ 特集1 みかん(1) (in Japanese). The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
7. ^ みかんの歴史 (PDF) (in Japanese). Ehime Prefecture. p. 6\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
8. ^ Misaki, Akira (November 1999). "紀州有田みかんの起源と発達史" [The Origin and the Development-Process of "Kisyu Arida Mikan (Arida Mandarin)"]. 経済理論 [The Wakayama Economic Review] (in Japanese). 292. University of Wakayama: 97–118\. Archived from the original on 2002-07-01. "(After the many years of research, Dr. Tanaka has concluded the place of origin of Satsuma is Nagashima, Kagoshima. Satsuma is a chance seedling of Sōkitsu, Mankitsu, or Tendaisankitsu introduced from Huangyan Zhejiang, China. It appeared in the early Edo period. The place where Satsuma was born by mutation was Nishi-nakajima, Amakusa District, Higo Province (later Nagashima, Kagoshima), and was called Nakajima Mikan or Nagashima Mikan.)"
9. ^ a b "日本と世界の食事情「こたつでミカン」の光景はなぜ生まれたのか" [Food situation in Japan and the world. How did the scene of eating mikan at a kotatsu come about?]. Narumi Sato (in Japanese). Japan Business Press Co., Ltd. February 1, 2019. p. 3\. Archived from the original on February 5, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2021. "During the Edo period, when Kishu mikan were being cultivated, unshu mikan were already being cultivated. However, they were not yet called unshu mikan, but Nakajima mikan. Although mandarins were a luxury, unshu mikan were not the most popular. The unshu mikan is unique in that it is ready to peel and has no seeds. The lack of seeds is good because they are easy to eat, but in the Edo period, the lack of seeds was a factor that made them unpopular. It was believed that eating seedless fruit meant that one could no longer produce offspring, thus ending one's family lineage. When the fruit was named "unshu mikan" in the late Edo period, it was finally recognized. Wenzhou is a mandarin production area in China, and the name "unshu mikan" means "a mandarin comparable to the one produced in Wenzhou". The unshu mikan is often mistaken for a mandarin imported from China, but it is a genuine Japanese mandarin. It was not until the Meiji period that the cultivation of unshu mikan became popular."
10. ^ "Parental diagnosis of satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.) revealed by nuclear and cytoplasmic markers". Hiroshi Fujii, Satoshi Ohta, Keisuke Nonaka, Yuichi Katayose, Toshimi Matsumoto, etc. November 30, 2016. Archived from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
11. ^ "The genome sequence of Satsuma mandarin was unveiled". Tokurou Shimizu, Yasuhiro Tanizawa, Takako Mochizuki, Hideki Nagasaki, Terutaka Yoshioka, Atsushi Toyoda, Asao Fujiyama, Eli Kaminuma, Yasukazu Nakamura. February 20, 2018. Archived from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
12. ^ a b みかん？ 中晩柑？ かんきつ？ (in Japanese). Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, Nishiuwa. 6 January 2022. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
13. ^ a b 中晩柑とは…？ (in Japanese). 10-mikan.com. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
14. ^ ナツミカン (in Japanese). Kotobank. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
15. ^ ハッサク (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
16. ^ 伊予柑 (in Japanese). Kotobank. Archived from the original on 23 May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
17. ^ 国内育成品種の海外への流出状況について (PDF) (in Japanese). The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
18. ^ Itoh, Makiko (2014-01-14). "Juiced for a citrus winter". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
19. ^ 温州ミカン品種別栽培面積 (in Japanese). National Agriculture and Food Research Organization. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
20. ^ Citrus Genetics... Iqrar A. Khan
* Classifi cation of Citrus
21. ^ Green, Aliza. (2004) Quirk Books. Field Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market. Page 109. ISBN 1-931686-80-7

## External links

[edit]

* Japanese citrus glossary

* v
* t
* e

Citrus

True species|

* Australian and Papuan wild limes group
* Citron
* Ichang papeda
* Kaffir lime
* Kumquats group
* Mandarin orange
* Mangshanyegan
* Mountain citron
* Pomelo
* Ryukyu mandarin

Major hybrids|

* Grapefruit
* Lemon
* Lime
* Orange (sweet orange)

True and hybrid
cultivars|

* Alemow
* Amanatsu
* Assam lemon
* Bergamot orange
* Bizzarria
* Bitter orange
* Blood lime
* Blood orange
* Byeonggyul
* Biasong
* Cam sành
* Cara Cara navel orange
* Citrange
* Citrumelo
* Citrus taiwanica
* Clementine
* Coorg orange
* Daidai
* Dekopon
* Encore
* Fairchild tangerine
* Florentine citron
* Forbidden fruit
* Ginger lime
* Haruka
* Hassaku
* Hebesu
* Heen naran
* Hyuganatsu
* Imperial lemon
* Indian wild orange
* Iyokan
* Jabara
* Jaffa orange
* Jamaican tangelo
* Kabbad
* Kabosu
* Kaji Nemu
* Kakadu lime
* Kalpi
* Kanpei
* Kawachi bankan
* Key lime
* Khasi papeda
* Kinkoji unshiu
* Kinnow
* Kishu mikan
* Kiyomi
* Kobayashi mikan
* Koji
* Komikan
* Laraha
* Lemonade fruit
* Limón de Pica
* Lumia
* Mandelo
* Mandora
* Melanesian papeda
* Melogold
* Meyer lemon
* Micrantha
* Midknight Valencia Orange
* Murcott
* Myrtle-leaved orange tree
* Nagpur orange
* Nasnaran
* New Zealand grapefruit
* Ōgonkan
* Orangelo/Chironja
* Oroblanco
* Palestinian sweet lime
* Persian lime
* Pixie mandarin
* Pompia
* Ponderosa lemon
* Ponkan
* Rangpur
* Reikou
* Rhobs el Arsa
* Rough lemon
* Samuyao
* Sanbokan
* Satsuma mandarin
* Setoka
* Shangjuan
* Shonan Gold
* Smith Red Valencia
* Sudachi
* Suruga yuko
* Sweet lemon
* Sweet limetta
* Tangelo
* Tangerine
* Tangor
* Tsunonozomi
* Valencia orange
* Variegated pink lemon
* Volkamer lemon
* Winged lime
* Xã Đoài orange
* Yūkō
* Yuzu

Citrons|

* Balady citron
* Corsican citron
* Diamante citron
* Fingered citron/Buddha's hand
* Greek citron
* Moroccan citron
* Yemenite citron

Mandarin oranges|

* Cleopatra mandarin
* Shīkwāsā
* Nanfengmiju
* Tachibana
* Willowleaf orange

Papedas|

* Celebes papeda
* Mountain "citron"
* Ichang papeda

Pomelos|

* Banpeiyu
* Dangyuja

Kumquats group|

| Kumquat species|

* Hong Kong kumquat
* Meiwa kumquat
* Oval kumquat
* Round kumquat
* Jiangsu kumquat
* Malayan kumquat

|

Kumquat hybrids
(× Citrofortunella)|

* Calamansi
* Citrangequat
* Limequat
* Mandarinquat
* Procimequat
* Sunquat
* Yuzuquat

Australian
and Papuan
wild limes group|

| Eromocitrus
(former genera)|

* Desert lime

|

Microcitrus
(former genera)|

* New Guinea wild lime
* Australian round lime
* Russell River lime
* Maiden's wild lime
* Mount White lime
* Australian finger lime
* Brown River finger lime

Clymenia
(former genera)|

* Clymenia platypoda
* Clymenia polyandra

Oxanthera
(former genera)|

* Orange-flowered oxanthera
* Large-leaf oxanthera
* Wavy-leaf oxanthera
* Oxanthera brevipes

Related genera
(perhaps
properly Citrus)|

* Poncirus/Trifoliate orange

Drinks|

* Calamansi juice
* Chūhai
* Dried lime tea (noomi basra)
* Grapefruit juice
* Lemon liqueur
* Cedratine
* Curaçao
* Limoncello
* Lemonade
* Mint lemonade
* Swiss lemonade
* Lime cordial
* Limeade
* Orange juice
* Triple sec
* Yuja-hwachae
* Yuja tea

Products|

* Calcium citrate
* Citric acid
* Chenpi
* Dried lime
* Lemonene
* Limonene
* Marmalade
* Neroli
* Oleo saccharum
* Orange flower water
* Orange oil
* Orange oil tires
* Orangeat
* Pickled lime
* Chanh muối
* Preserved lemon
* Succade
* Zest
* Twist

Diseases|

* Black spot
* Canker
* CTV/Tristeza
* Exocortis
* Greening
* Mal secco
* Phytophthora
* citricola

Citrus botanists|

* Clara H. Hasse
* Robert Willard Hodgson
* Lena B. Smithers Hughes
* David Mabberley
* Clément Rodier
* Robert Soost
* Walter Tennyson Swingle
* Chōzaburō Tanaka
* Ikuro Takahashi
* Johann Christoph Volkamer
* Herbert John Webber

Citrus production|

* Citrus rootstock
* Kumquat production in China
* Lemon Capital of the World
* Lime production in Mexico
* Orange production in Brazil

Related topics|

* The Citrus Industry
* Citrus taxonomy
* Cold-hardy citrus
* Hesperidium
* Japanese citrus
* List of citrus fruits
* Mother Orange Tree
* Orangery
* University of California Citrus Experiment Station
* University of California, Riverside Citrus Variety Collection

* Category
* Production
* Commons

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template