Japanese name伊万里梨
Imari pears from Saga — harvested August–October, balancing sweetness and juice.
In Imari City, Saga Prefecture, Kosui opens the pear season before Hosui, Akizuki, Kanta, and later cultivars carry it toward autumn; yellow orchard lights, daytime sun, and sorting-floor readings shape the crisp, juicy fruit.
Information last updated 127 days ago
Imari Pear begins with a clear place: Imari City in Saga Prefecture. Its season moves from early Kosui into Hosui, Akizuki, Kanta, Niitaka, and other cultivars, so the fruit is best understood as a summer-to-autumn relay of crisp bite, abundant juice, sweetness, and measured acidity.
Imari Pear is tied to pears grown in Imari City, Saga Prefecture, and the city presents it as one of its local fruits. JA Saga places Imari among the prefecture’s pear-growing areas, while JA Imari operates in the city as part of the local agricultural community.
The place matters in practical, visible ways. At the start of the 2026 season, pears moved through JA Imari’s sorting facility in Okawa-cho, where growers, JA staff, and city-related participants gathered around the first Kosui fruit of the year.
Saga pears center on Kosui, and greenhouse-grown Kosui can begin shipping in late June. For Imari Pear, greenhouse Kosui opens the sequence in early July, followed by Hosui, Akizuki, Kanta, Niitaka, Oshu, Atago, and other cultivars, with harvest and shipment work continuing until around November.
On July 3, 2026, the season opened in Imari City when six farming households brought 1,200 kilograms of Kosui to JA Imari’s Okawa-cho facility. Kosui was expected to peak from late July, after which Hosui and Akizuki would carry the season onward.
Imari City describes Imari Pear through the first bite: overflowing juice and a crisp shaki-shaki texture. That impression changes by cultivar, because Kosui, Hosui, Akizuki, and Kanta each bring different balances of sweetness, acidity, and flesh.
Kosui has low acidity and a refreshing sweetness. Hosui is described through a clean balance of sweetness and acidity. Akizuki and Kanta have high sugar, low acidity, fine-textured flesh, and plentiful juice. Across the season, Imari Pear becomes a sequence of crispness, juice, and changing aftertastes.
At night, yellow lights rise over Saga pear orchards. These insect-repelling lamps are used because insects avoid the light, reducing the work of covering each fruit one by one in individual bags.
The lamps also connect to daytime growth. With less individual bagging, the fruit can receive more sun during the day, so the sensory language around Imari Pear has a concrete orchard scene behind it: yellow light after dark, sun on the fruit by day, and pears growing through that repeated rhythm.
Before Imari Pear leaves the local handling flow, it passes through sorting. During the first sorting in 2026, JA Imari looked at Kosui for visible damage, shape, and sugar content; at the Imari Pear collection, shipping, and storage facility renewed in 2021, optical sensors measure sugar content and ripeness as numbers.
Those readings turn eating qualities into standards the sorting floor can use. Wide-area collection and unified sales bring fruit from multiple growers into one handling system, so successive cultivars such as Kosui, Hosui, Akizuki, and Kanta share a common way of measuring sweetness and maturity.
The continuity of Imari Pear is most visible in seasonal work rather than in an old-origin tale. In 2026, about 40 JA and city-related participants attended the opening prayer ceremony, and six farming households brought Kosui for first sorting at the JA Imari facility.
When speaking of local tradition here, the concrete meaning is the work that repeats in Imari City: early July Kosui, cultivars that carry the season into autumn, yellow insect-repelling lights, optical sensor readings, and the growers and JA network that keep the fruit moving from orchard to sorting floor.
Imari Pear is easiest to understand through its crisp juice, then through the place and work behind that bite: Imari City orchards, yellow night lights, cultivar-by-cultivar seasonality, and sorting-floor readings for sugar and ripeness. From Kosui to Hosui, Akizuki, Kanta, and Niitaka, the fruit turns Saga’s summer and autumn into a relay of texture and taste.
Compiled from public records and official sources; see the recognition links below. Details may change over time.
Where this product is officially registered, designated, or recognized in Japan.
Regional collective trademark
Registered as a Regional Collective Trademark with the Japan Patent Office.
Sources1
It is written as 伊万里梨 in Japanese. Search Rakuten and other Japanese sites with that spelling — the English name will not bring up the listings.
Imari pears are pears produced in Imari City, Saga Prefecture. The season begins with Kosui and continues through Hosui, Akizuki, Kanta, Niitaka, Oshu, and Atago until around November. The fruit has a crisp texture, abundant juice, sweetness, and acidity that differs by cultivar.
Kosui has low acidity and refreshing sweetness; Hosui balances sweetness and acidity; Akizuki and Kanta have high sugar, low acidity, fine flesh, and plentiful juice. On July 3, 2026, Imari’s season opened with six farming households bringing 1,200 kilograms of Kosui for first sorting. JA Saga places Imari among Saga Prefecture’s pear-growing areas and lists JA Imari among main production districts. Yellow insect-repelling lights are used in Saga pear orchards to reduce pest pressure and the work of individual bagging, so fruit can receive more daytime sun.
Imari pears are eaten as fresh fruit from summer to autumn, with taste and texture changing by cultivar. Comparison tasting can focus on crispness, juice, sweetness, and acidity.
Fresh produce doesn't keep, so start with the grower's note in the box. Most fruit ripens best at room temperature and is at its most fragrant when it is ready to eat; refrigerate only once it is cut or fully ripe, and eat it soon after. Chilling too early stalls ripening and flattens the flavour. Follow the listing and the enclosed note for the specific variety.
Most options are shelf-stable, boxed, and travel well, so they suit gifting or bringing home. Confirm the final storage and delivery terms on the Rakuten listing.
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