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Joshin’etsukogen NP, Gunma
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Tsumagoi’s “419” (Reihō) is prized for its soft, lettuce-like crunch—but its delicate leaves split easily, making it tricky to grow and ship. It rarely travels far, earning the nickname “phantom cabbage.”
During the roughly 3-month peak, cabbage work can begin around 3 a.m. and stretch to 6 p.m. Locals call this intense season the “100-day war”—a memorable name for the effort behind the green landscape.
At Aisai-no-Oka, a hill surrounded by cabbage fields, Tsumagoi’s “Capetchu” event invites people to shout words of love and thanks toward the landscape. It grew from the simple idea of saying aloud what can be hard to say at home.
At a cooking session, JA Tsumagoi’s women’s group turned the local harvest into cabbage-roll cutlet and soup made with the core. Their recipes give even the sturdy center a place at the table.
In the early 1930s, village leader Tobe, farm adviser Tsukada, and produce dealer Aoki each brought something crucial: roads, growing know-how, and buyers. Cabbage farming took off around 1932 in a village then facing hardship.
After harvest, boxed cabbages can be cooled to their centers in under 20 minutes in a pre-cooling unit. It’s a quick, mostly unseen step that helps keep this highland crop crisp on its journey to market.
The tourism association estimates that about 160 million cabbages grow here from late June to early November. JA cites 2023 Ministry of Agriculture data ranking Tsumagoi first nationwide for summer-autumn cabbage shipments.
The green fields are not all one kind of cabbage: Tsumagoi grows roughly 35 varieties, choosing types to suit different elevations and seasons. Some are tender for eating fresh; firmer ones suit simmered dishes.
The dark earth beneath the fields is volcanic-ash soil called “kuroboku.” Though it drains well, it was once considered poor farmland; generations of growers improved the soil and found crops suited to the cool highlands.
The broad cabbage-field landscape was helped along by national agricultural development projects, which created 982 hectares of farmland in Tsumagoi. The new plots helped build the foundation for today’s major growing area.
In Tsumagoi, cabbage is affectionately called “tamana” (玉菜). Planting and harvesting have their own local names too: “tamana-ue” and “tamanagiri”—literally, planting and cutting the tamana.
