Hokkaido’s Harvest Scenery: Autumn Edition
Hokkaido is known as Japan's food base, and is a treasure trove of a wide variety of foods, such as agricultural and livestock products, seafood, wine, sake and beer.
Autumn – from September to November – is the harvest season for fruits, potatoes and other root vegetables, rice, buckwheat and the like. It is also when marine products such as salmon and Pacific saury are landed.
We have gathered together some ‘taste of autumn’ harvest scenery, much anticipated by the people of Hokkaido.
Special feature
Matsumae Kagura in buckwheat fields
The Matsumae Kagura (sacred Shinto dance), which is a designated important intangible folk-cultural property of Japan, was held in a buckwheat field in Sengen in the town of Fukushima in the Oshima region of southern Hokkaido on August 29. The elegant dance was performed by members of the town’s Matsumae Kagura Preservation Society, amid blooming white buckwheat flowers.
The ‘Sengen buckwheat-flower viewing gathering’ is organized each year by the town’s Sengen District Revitalization Executive Committee and the Sengen Soba Producers Association in the hope of encouraging an abundant, disease-free harvest. Last year’s event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and this year it was held for the first time in two years, with only the producers and other related parties present.
A special stage was set up in a buckwheat field with an area of approximately 3 hectares, surrounded by a Japanese cedar forest at the foot of Mt. Daisengendake. The town’s Matsumae Kagura Preservation Society staged six performances, including the ‘Okina-mai’ dance performed by masked dancers, and the ‘Yaotome-mai’ dance performed by two shrine maidens known as ‘miko’.
Ms. Nishida, a third-grade pupil at Fukushima Junior High School, who served as one of the ‘miko’, smiled as she explained, “I was worried as to whether or not I could dance due to the coronavirus, but I’m glad I was able to do it without any problems.” The chair of the executive committee said, “I hope that the coronavirus will be brought under control as soon as possible, and that the crops will be abundant.”
Location
Sengen in the town of Fukushima
Special feature
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The seasonal ban on autumn mantis-shrimp fishing was lifted along the coast of the city of Otaru in central Hokkaido, and the first auction was held at the Otaru City Fisheries Cooperative Regional...
Harvesting of rice-paddy art
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Harvest autumn mosaic
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On September 28, the harvest of ‘La La Shine’ Shine Muscat grapes – a luxury table variety that has become a new specialty-product brand of the town of Niki in the Shiribeshi region of central Hokk...
The harvesting of rice has begun in earnest in the town of Tobetsu in the Ishikari region of central Hokkaido, where rice production thrives. Due to the continuous intense heat of the summer this y...
The work of thinning-down the ‘Yamasachi’ vines – developed especially for wine-making – is reaching its peak in the vineyards of Chiyoda in the town of Ikeda in the Tokachi region of eastern Hokka...
The first attempt at producing orange wine has begun at the Infeeld Winery in the Tanno-cho district of the city of Kitami in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido.
The harvesting of the cone-shaped flowers of hops, which are used to make beer, is reaching its peak in the town of Kamifurano in northern Hokkaido. The hops grow on vines that extend to a height o...
First catch landed in Taiki as autumn salmon fishing begins on the Pacific coast in eastern Hokkaido
The autumn salmon fishing season has begun on the Pacific coast in eastern Hokkaido and, on September 1, the first catch of 3.6 tons was landed at the Taiki fishing port in the town of Taiki on the...
This year’s potato harvest is reaching its peak in Hokkaido’s potato-producing region in the city of Obihiro. Due to the hot temperatures and lack of rain in July, the potatoes are smaller than usu...
Fifty large boats leave three ports to fish for Pacific saury off the coast of eastern Hokkaido
The ban on large-scale fishing vessels (at least 100 tons), which are the mainstay of Pacific-saury net fishing in eastern Hokkaido, was lifted on August 20. Despite the forecast of low numbers of ...
The harvesting of carrots has begun in earnest in the town of Otofuke in the Tokachi region of eastern Hokkaido, which boasts the most prolific production in Hokkaido.