Yamae Chestnut

"Yamae Chestnut" is characterized by its intense sweetness. The inherent flavor and fragrance of chestnut are highly recognized by pâtissiers and chefs. Sweets that use Yamae chestnuts are served as desserts in premium cruise trains and to first-class passengers on international flights.
　The perception of Yamae Village as the area of Yamae Chestnut has been anchored among consumers, and the chestnuts are a specialty that supports the tourist industry and the village's economy.

The variety, cultivation methods, shipment control, and sorting of Yamae Chestnut are performed according to the chestnut shipping standards specified by Yamae Guri Shinko Kyogikai (Yamae Chestnut Promotion Association).

About 90% of the entire producing area is mountainous, where wild chestnuts grow naturally. During the Edo period ⁽¹⁾, chestnuts were used to pay taxes.
　Chestnut cultivation in Yamae Village is believed to have started when the village received foundation chestnut seeds from the Kumamoto Prefectural government in the early years of the Showa ⁽²⁾ period and set up orchards to collect seeds to spread superior cultivars.
　In 1963, Yamaemura Kuri Shinko Kyogikai was established. After that, efforts were made to improve cultivation technology and standardized production control to produce the best chestnuts in Japan, and shipping of chestnuts to markets in Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo was started.
　The lengthy efforts to improve cultivation technology have led to the recognition of the high quality of Yamae Chestnut which was selected as the chestnut to be presented to the Emperor and Empress in 1977.
　However, the brand "Yamae Chestnut" disappeared from the market in 1992 due to the amalgamation of agricultural cooperatives and the start of sale under another name.
　On the other hand, because demand from consumers remained high and the chestnuts were at the core of the village's development, momentum for the revival of "Yamae Chestnut" bland gradually grew throughout the village. Responding to the movement, Yamae Co., Ltd., having the major of Yamae Village as representative director, built a new chestnut processing facility and started collecting, processing, selling, and serving Yamae Chestnut in the cafeteria, etc. in around 2008 in tandem with the village's projects on hot spring, hotels, and a commercial museum. The united efforts of villagers to expand sales and rebrand the chestnuts finally resulted in the construction of a system for selling the chestnuts as Yamae Chestnut.
　Today, 80% of all farmers in the village cultivate "Yamae Chestnut". In 2019, the village government set the "Yamae Chestnut Guri Ordinance", positioning Yamae Chestnut as a "treasure" of the village and promoting activities centered on chestnuts.

1. Edo period: An era of Japanese history extending from 1603 to 1867, under the shogunate established in Edo (present-day Tokyo). With Ieyasu Tokugawa as the first shogun, the Tokugawa family ruled the country thereafter under the centralized feudalism.
2. Showa (the Showa period: 1926-1989) is an era in Japanese history.