YAMAGATA, June 7 — Yamagata Prefecture, known as a major fruit growing region and the country’s top producer of cherries, held a memorial festival in the city of Yamagata on June 6 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of cultivating fruits in the area and the start of this year’s harvesting season of cherries.
More than 200 people, including those from the prefectural assembly, local municipalities and agricultural cooperatives, attended a ceremony held on the first day of the two-day event.
At the ceremony, Yamagata Governor Mieko Yoshimura said, “Cultivating areas are facing difficulties such as the decline in the number of farmers and climate change, but we are determined to pass on Yamagata’s delicious fruits to the future by working together with a variety of industries.”
Keiichi Orihara, head of the Central Union of JA Yamagata, a local farm coop, said, “We will succeed our predecessors’ efforts and hardships, and will continue to produce delicious cherries that will make everyone happy.”
Various events, including nagashi sakuranbo — catching cherries flowing down a stream of water on a bamboo pipe — and selling products containing fruits, proved popular and organizers hope to attract 2,000 visitors in two days.
Fruit cultivation in Yamagata Prefecture is said to have started in 1875 in the early Meiji Period when the prefecture was presented with seedlings of cherries and other fruits by the Meiji government and planted them on the premises of the prefectural government office.
Children enjoy catching cherries flowing down a stream of water during a festival held in the city of Yamagata on June 6.