'Koshihikari,' The Most Popular Rice Variety in Japan: 50-Year History in Terms of Planted Area

摘要

The rice variety most widely cultivated in Japanese paddy fields is "Koshihikari." The planted area of Koshihikari now exceeds 600,000ha, almost 40% of the total acreage of paddy fields in Japan that is about 1.50 million hectares. In addition, it isdistributed in all of the prefectures in Japan, excluding Hokkaido and Aomori Prefecture in the country's northern part. Over 50 years have passed since Koshihikari first appeared in paddy fields in Japan in 1956. A total of 1,035 rice varieties have been grown in these years; while the cultivation of some of the varieties have been continued for these 50-plus years, no other variety has recorded such a broad range of producing regions and such a large planted area as Koshihikari.