Fukuba Strawberry Project
The ancestor of Japanese strawberries, "Fukuba strawberry," which was born in Shinjuku Gyoen, is cultivated at our university.
In 2024, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology will celebrate its 150th anniversary. In addition, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology The place of creation was Shinjuku Gyoen. To commemorate this, the university is holding various joint events with the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden Management Office. In order to make the connection between Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and our university widely known, we tried to cultivate Fukuba Strawberry, the ancestor variety of cultivated strawberries in Japan preserved in Shinjuku Gyoen, at our university.
What is Fukuba strawberry?
This superior variety was created by Fukuba Hayato* through selection and cultivation of the "Général Chanzy" variety, which he ordered from a seed dealer in Paris. It was created in 1900 and is the ancestor of the Japanese strawberries currently in circulation, such as "Tochiotome," "Amaou," "Meiho," and "Toyonoka." At the time, it was a secret fruit reserved for presentation to the Imperial Family, but during the Taisho era, it became popular throughout the country as a high-quality variety for forced cultivation. It is a large, long, oval-shaped strawberry with excellent color, shape, taste, and fragrance, and has become so famous that it has gained fame worldwide, but today it is hardly cultivated anywhere.
*Fukuba Hayato (1856-1921): A man who built the foundations of modern horticulture in Japan. As Section Chief Shinjuku Gyoen, he completed the imperial garden "Shinjuku Gyoen" in 1906 (Meiji 39).
Cultivation of "Fukuba strawberries"
In August 2022, 10 seedlings were acquired from Shinjuku Gyoen and Faculty of Agriculture Department of Biological Production cultivated by Sakae Suzuki Associate Professor and Sakura Takahashi Assistant Professor of the Horticulture Laboratory and Student University-Promoter at the Global Fruit Factory on the Fuchu Campus with the guidance of the laboratory's students. Compared to newer varieties grown in recent years, there were various difficulties in cultivation, such as susceptibility to disease and pests, and smaller fruit and lower yields, but in the spring of 2024, approximately 17 kg of strawberry fruit were harvested from the 140 seedlings grown.
Use in commemorative events
The harvested strawberries were processed at the Faculty of Faculty of Agriculture 's Field Science Center to make 500 bottles of Fukuba strawberry sauce. The Fukuba strawberry sauce was distributed to participants in a joint event with Shinjuku Gyoen, and is being used as an opportunity to get many people to look back on the roots of our university and take an interest in the various initiatives being undertaken at the university today.
Contributing to the conservation of Fukuba strawberries
Even after the 150th anniversary project is over, we plan to continue cultivating "Fukuba Strawberry" in the Horticulture Laboratory. Since cultivating rare plant species in multiple locations helps to spread the risk of extinction, we hope that this initiative will contribute to the preservation of the "Fukuba Strawberry" species.
