Ume Plum Koan We are the only smoked plum manufacturer in Japan that continues to make smoked plums without changing the manufacturing method handed down to Nara Tsukigase about 700 years ago. Smoked plum is a processing of Ume plum fruit, which was introduced to Nara as a medicine by the Sui and Tang envoys about 1,300 years ago. It was introduced to Tsukigase as a mordant for safflower dyeing during the Nanboku Dynasty about 700 years ago. From the late Edo period to the early Meiji period, it was peak season as a mordant for red for cosmetics, and as many as 400 smoked plum manufacturers and it, but the demand for smoked plum plummeted due to the invention of chemical dyes. In the early Showa period, there were only a few manufacturers, and after the end of the war, Ume Plum Koan became the sole manufacturer. At Ume Plum Koan, we Cultivation Ume Plum, Rice, vegetables, and food processing in a vast land area of 30,000 square Rice meters and a rich Nature full of greenery. This area, the Ume Plum of Tsukigase, was originally planted for the purpose of smoked plum cultivation, but the beauty of the Ume in full bloom shining on the Valleys of the Satsukigawa river and the river surface Fascination people, and it became the first scenic spot in Japan. During the Ume Plum Festival period from February ~ the end of March, you can Fun Meals and cherry blossom viewing at Our stores at the pier seats with a superb view of the scent of Ume Plums. In the sixth year of Reiwa, we built a new Nara Beni Workshop. It is a Japan building that incorporates Japan craftsmanship everywhere. You can experience safflower dyeing using smoked plum in a workshop where you can feel the delicate and advanced technology and Japan beauty. We hope that this experience will be an opportunity for you to rediscover the wonders of Japan culture. When you look at the colors of the Nature that change every day and the sea of clouds in the early morning that spreads across the Tsukigase Valleys, you feel as if you are in the Ume Plum Minamoto Township. Early Spring light, quiet fresh greenery, fruitful autumn and winter aroma. At that time, I work seasonally, and live in the harsh but warm Nature of Tsukigase.