Island News

1/11 The Omato Hajimeshiki Every January 11th there is a special festival in Nishinoomote that marks the beginning of the new year on Tanegashima. Held in the kyudo-dojo adjacent to the Seirin Shrine, the festival has been held on Tanegashima for over 500 years. The preparations start long before the actual event, with the 6 shooters practicing everyday for at least a week before. On the day of the event the archers gather together in the afternoon to get dressed in their traditional robes and prepare their bows. The 6 archers will each shoot 6 arrows for the festival, doing so in a ritual way. According to tradition, one of the 36 total arrows must miss the target. Ideally this will be the final arrow, but that is not always the case. The reason that only 35 of the 36 arrows actually hit the target was explained to me like this. If all the arrows are successful, then the there is no room for improvement in the next year. So for the year to be a good as possible, but also...

Tea on Tanegashima Tanegashima is a secret haven for tea in Japan. It's climate matches that of Shizuoka and the rest of Kagoshima,  the two main tea regions of Japan. But because Tanegashima is a bit more south than the others the tea grown here matures faster than its counterparts on the mainland. In fact tea grown on Tanegashima has a special name, 極早生種(gokuwaseshu) meaning a very fast growing varietal. It is sometimes also called 早葉(hayaba) meaning fast or quick leaf. The earliest teas to be made in Japan often come from Tanegashima and its sister island Yakushima. They are valued as an indicator of the quality of year to come. Most of the tea produced on Tanegashima is 煎茶(sencha) which is actually broken up into more distinct groups. The three types that we are concerned with today are 浅蒸(asamushi), 普通蒸(futsuumushi), and 深蒸(fukamushi). In Kagoshima proper fukamushi reigns supreme. Most of the tea in this region has been deeply steamed to maintain a verdant green color in...

Pines On Tanegashima There is a type of pine cultivar only found on Tanegashima and Yakushima.  It is called the 屋久種子五葉松 (Yaku-Tane-Goyoumatsu) Or the YakuTane Five Needle Pine. It is a smaller tree often used in Bonsai and is known for its unusual number of needles. Most pine trees in Japan have bunches of 2 or three needles, but the YakuTane pine has five needles per bundle making it a rather unusual type of white pine.   The Yakutane hozenkai is based out of Nishinnoomote, and is currently working to protect the remaining Yakutane pines and the Japanese black pines that are still on the island. Recently a good number of these trees have be downed due to Pine Wilt caused by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus a nematode also known by the name Pine Wood Nematode (PWN). Native to North America, the nematode is an invasive species in Japan. In fact, wood from America and Canada has been banned from import to Japan unless it has undergone significant disinfection processes...