Yamauchi Kabura

　Yamauchi Kabura is a turnip cultivated using a variety, Yamauchi kabura, in the Wakasa Yamauchi district of Fukui Prefecture. While common turnips are round with smooth skin, Yamauchi Kabura is conical, and has many depressions and fibrous roots on the skin. The flesh is dense and hard, and the leaves are large loquat-shaped (long elliptic) and notched. The leaves may grow as large as 60 to 70 cm, look like "nozawana", and are suitable for use as turnip leaves in cooking.

　As a typical cooking method, both flesh and leaves are added to miso soup; whereas ordinary turnips would boil down to pulp, Yamauchi Kabura do not disintegrate. Also, preserved turnips, in which the minced leaves and fan-shaped cut flesh are pickled in salt, bring out the goodness of Yamauchi Kabura, especially the crunchy flesh.

　The cultivar Yamauchi kabura is not cultivated outside this area. Seeds are collected jointly by farmers involved in its production within the area.

　In around December, turnips that have met the specified conditions are selected for the purpose of seeding and replanted in the field. The required conditions include following: a good conical shape with a diameter of 80 mm or more, a high bulb, square shoulders, a large number of fibrous roots, and a slightly greenish appearance from the shoulders to the bulb. It is grown in the enclosed field with an insect repellent net to avoid cross-breeding with other turnips, and around the end of May, seed production is carried out for Yamauchi kabura seeds.

　The variety Yamauchi kabura is a conventional variety in the Yamauchi area. According to the local document, Toba Village Magazine of 1916, it is written that "Good quality vegetables (leafy vegetables) are raised, and the name of Yamauchi Kabura is widely known from long ago", from which it is inferred that it was cultivated at least from the Meiji era (1868-1912).

　According to recent producer reports, in the late 1950's, it appears that some producers did their own seeding and cultivated it on a small scale. In 1987, cultivation was temporarily ceased due to the old age of the growers. Thereafter, traditional vegetables began to become popular again. As a result, from 1996, cultivation re-started centering around the current producers, and its area of cultivation has steadily expanded up to the present day.