Ichikawa's Pears ( Region's Brand )

The annual volume of production of Ichikawa's pears is 7,180 ton and the production value in 2005 was estimated at 2.8 billion yen, where it ranked second in the nationwide production of pears. Pear cultivation in Ichikawa has a long history, although some believed that it started as early as 290 years ago, it is generally known to be about 200 years. Pear production in Ichikawa was first made known by a primary education master named, Zenroku Kawakami. In the past, pears were cultivated in the sandy hilly areas around Yawata and Nakayama where pears, peaches, and other fruits were harvested abundantly. However, the opening of the Sobu Train Line and the advent of urbanization in the area have shifted pear cultivation gradually to the northern district. Presently, pears are cultivated in about 277 hectares of land, mainly around Omachi, Ono-machi, Kashiwai-machi and in some parts of Miyakubo, Soya, Inagoshi-machi, Kitakata-machi, Kita Kokubun, and others. In August 2007, "Ichikawa's pears" was granted by the Patent Office a certification for Regional Associations Registered Trademark title of, "Region's brand". Ichikawa's pears are highly regarded for their taste and smell, and have a very high reputation.

There was a time when a pear variety produced by Ichikawa growers became the most popular among all the varieties of pears nationwide, and even now the source tree that preserves this variety of pears still exists. This variety is called, Ishiiwase. It is a variety produced through artificial breeding method conceived by the late Mr. Kenkichi Iwase who lived in a village now known as Ono-machi 2-Chome, in April 1916. After realizing that there were no early maturing (Wase) variety existed at that time, Mr. Iwase, who was a farmer, cultivating pears himself, discovered this variety after acquiring the knowledge of the cultivation technique using hybrid method, while attending the Chiba Prefecture Agricultural Experiment Institution. In April 1916, the 20th century pear was cross-bred with German pollen, then took the seed from its fruit, and grafted the seedling to make it bear a new fruit. This experiment was very successful that it was touted by the Agricultural Experiment Institution as a very promising new variety, and named it, "Ishiiwase". Ishiiwase was recognized as a superior variety compared with other conventional pear varieties at that time. This new variety caused a ripple effect across the country. There was a period when this variety was widely cultivated across the country but with the passage of time, more superior varieties have been discovered, and the land allotted for cultivation of this variety was reduced gradually. Presently, the Iwase variety is no longer produced.

Presently, the most cultivated variety of pears in Ichikawa is the Wase (early maturing) variety called Yosui, covering a land area of about 123 ha.. This is followed by Bansei (late maturing) variety called Niitaka, covering a land area of 3 ha. The characteristics of the main varieties being cultivated in Ichikawa are as follows:

Variety	Blooming Season	Harvest Season	Characteristics
Kosui (Early Maturing)	April 17 - April 25	Mid to Late August	The fruit skin has a yellowish brown color and the texture is rather coarse. The fruit is spherical in shape. The flesh of the fruit is close to color white, and is crisp and succulent when eaten. It has a stronger sweet taste and only a minimal sourness. The taste is delicious and highly popular, but lacks some flavor. The length of preservation is not so long.
Hosui (Middle maturing)	April 14 - April 22	Early to mid September	The skin is reddish brown in color while the texture is rather rough. It is bigger in size, about 400g-500g with a spherical shape. The flesh is close to white and softer, and juice can be both sweet and sour. It has a rich and delicious taste. The weakness of this variety is that it has a short harvest period and can get easily spoiled when overripe. Preservation period is short.
Niidaka (Late maturing)	4月10日～18日	9月下旬～10月中旬	果实非常大，可达500g～700g，果皮为漂亮的褐色，很光滑。果肉白色细腻、柔软，甜味多，酸味少、具有独特的芳香。作为一般上市品种，销量最大，其中，还有越过1㎏的产品。由于贮藏性非常好，可以保存到正月，因此，最近作为馈赠礼物，非常受欢迎。

Cultivation of another variety called, AKIZUKI is also increasing.