Marutou wasabi Farm is a small wasabi farmer in the back of the mountain in Izu.

Thoughts on Wasabi

As its Latin name wasabi japonica suggests, wasabi is a plant that has grown naturally in Japan since ancient times. It is said to have been used for medicinal purposes since the Asuka period (552 to 645 AD), and is a condiment that is indispensable to Japan’s food culture, but just how much do you really know about it.

We have created this website in the hopes that people will be able to deepen their knowledge of wasabi, which has been held in great affection by the Japanese people since ancient times.

Wasabi is thought to have first been cultivated in the upper reaches of the Abe River in Shizuoka Prefecture. From there the cultivation method spread to the Amagi Mountains and then over the mountains to the Izu peninsula.

The history of wasabi is actually far more complicated, but I shall leave the details for another day.

I am the fourth generation of my family to work as a wasabi farmer, since our wasabi beds were created by my great-grandfather. It is now thirty years since I took over the running of the farm.

Compared to the upper reaches of the Abe River, which is situated in the Southern Alps, the foothills of Mt. Fuji, and the Amagi Mountains, here in Shimoda the drainage pattern and the water quality are slightly poorer, and the mountains are not as high, so conditions for wasabi cultivation are hardly ideal.

Wasabi cultivation is greatly influenced not only by human endeavour, but also by the surrounding natural environment, such as local geology and crops being cultivated nearby.

It is by no means an easy task, but I raise my wasabi with affection, in the belief that “I will produce good quality wasabi capable of competing with that produced by other regions.”

As the years have passed I have managed to create a good quality product, to the extent that we now receive orders from restaurants around the country. I intend to continue my efforts in this regard, as well as to engage in further promotion of our farm’s work.

If through this website you come to appreciate the attraction of real wasabi, a condiment that has been indispensable and much loved by the Japanese for many generations, then I will have succeeded in my mission. Marutou Wasabi Representative Tomohiro Iida

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