May 31st- June 4th, 2024 is Summer – SHOMAN (Lesser ripening) -24th KOU “Wheat ripens and is harvested.”
The wheat seeds sown in the fall are now ready to be harvested. Some people call this time of year “Wheat-autumn” after the autumn of rice harvest season.
Wheat was cultivated as a second crop after rice harvest, but recently it seems that an increasing number of farmers are cultivating wheat as a replacement for rice.
Nagano Prefecture grows its own varieties of wheat, such as YUMESEIKI, HANAMANTEN, and YUMEKAORI, which have formed a unique food culture of Nagano.
In the HOKUSHIN area, “OYAKI” (a baked/fried round wheat cake with various fillings) and “OSHIBORI-UDON” (Japanese noodle with squeezed juice of a Japanese radish) are very popular traditional local foods.
