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The non-native species Seitaka Awadachiso takes center stage!
It is a product born from the first initiative in Japan to change the perspective and change the hated into a new value for the community.
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This series was born from a project [SANBEBotanicals] to make an aroma oil from the non-native species of Seitaka Awatachiso, which grows in clusters on Mt. Sanbe in Shimane National Park and abandoned farmland. The hated plant in the region has been popular as a medicinal herb for a long time, and essential oils are distributed overseas as having anti-inflammatory effects. It is a product that was born as the first initiative in Japan to change the perspective and turn the hated into a new value for the community.
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◆ Oyama Oki National Park Sanbeyama (Ota City, Shimane Prefecture) A new initiative to disseminate in the area
SANBE Botanicals bath salts 30g / 1 serving (1 bag).
Bath salts have a soft and gentle scent and a "chamomile tea-like" scent.
The bath salt ingredient "Baekjeura algae salt" is a popular salt that is also used in the kitchen of "Mountain Station Sanbe" in the west of Sanbe, where we are based.
It is salt that is burned from the seawater of Daejeon City by burning wood for two days.
In this project, we have realized the utilization of "coarse salt" that is generated by tens of kilograms per year in the salt firing work.
We have developed an aroma product using the non-native species "Seitaka Awadachiso" that is rampant in national parks and abandoned farmland.
Asteraceae is a plant of the Asteraceae family native to North America, and yellow flowers bloom in autumn on abandoned farmland and roadsides. For a long time, it was abhorred as a cause of allergies, but in recent years, it has become known that its pollen is an insect-borne flower that does not fly heavily, and that it has been misunderstood because the flowering time overlaps with ragweed, which is a wind-borne flower.
Essential oils are distributed in Europe and other countries, and they have been used as medicinal herbs since ancient times.
With the cooperation of local people such as the local organization "Ota City Forestry Friendship Association", we carried out everything from harvesting to distillation, and completed a series of aroma products using Seitaka Awadachiso essential oil.
In order to make this first initiative in Japan, crowdfunding was also conducted, and we received support from many people from inside and outside Ota City.
The western field of Mt. Sanbe, where we are based, is located in a national park, so we have received feedback from environmental protection groups active in the neighborhood and the curator of the Sanbe Nature Museum Sahimeru
We are grateful for your help.
〈Ota City Forestry Friendship Association〉
A group of mountain lovers who are engaged in activities to deepen their interest in forestry and wild mountains through forest learning. He organizes forest learning, donates study desk tops made of locally grown wood to schools, and is engaged in activities to protect the Yoroi pine, which is rare in the city.
〈NPO Green and Water Liaison Meeting〉
It is a non-profit organization that is active not only in the natural environment but also in a wide range of fields such as welfare and international exchange, and is promoting activities to preserve the grassland landscape of national parks through mowing and burning, especially around Mt. Sanbe. The extermination of invasive species, which began several years ago, is part of this effort.
〈Daejeon Nature Protection Association〉
It is a nature conservation organization that is active in various parts of Ota City, such as the national park Mt. Sanbe, and is engaged in a wide range of activities to protect rare wildlife and conserve biodiversity. In particular, Mt. Mikame is energetically engaged in activities such as the conservation and propagation of endangered species such as Okinawa and Yuusuge, the conservation of the Japanese leopard modoki by proliferating the herb and the propagation of food plants, and the conservation of the oyster butterfly that grows wild in the Hime Pond.
While keeping in mind that it is subject to extermination in national parks and that it preserves the landscape of abandoned farmland in various parts of the city, it is a souvenir of a new Ota City that changes the perspective and turns the local nuisance, Seitaka Awadachiso, into value.
【Characteristics of Seitaka Awadachiso Essential Oil】
Immediately after distillation, the essential oil has a scent and smell like the Asteraceae family, spring chrysanthemums, and needs to be left to rest until the scent settles. I was surprised when I put it to bed. It has a refreshing scent similar to tea tree and eucalyptus.
And if you put some time from there, it will gradually become a sweet scent. When we analyzed the ingredients, we also found that those that contain a large amount of limonene, a component contained in citrus fruits, and that have been left for more than one year, have an increased amount of limonene.
[Tamotsu Fujii, a photographer from Ota City, is in charge of the photos of the project]
Mr. Tamotsu Fujii, a photographer from Ota City, Shimane Prefecture who has worked on many advertising photos for JR East Japan and MUJI, sympathized with this initiative.
He was in charge of the main visuals.
The package design is by 6B (Rokuby), a design office that moved to Omori-cho, Ota City last year.
In this way, SANBE Botanicals is a product that was created with the cooperation of many people living in Ota City.