Hokkaido Japan

[dubi]

RARE JAPANESE HEMP LANDRACE RICH IN CBD FROM THE ISLAND OF HOKKAIDO

Japanese culture has a tradition of cannabis use dating back at least 10,000 years, with scientific certainty of its cultivation on all its islands for more than 2,000 years, and in particular on the northern island of Hokkaido, the Japanese prefecture that has traditionally grown more hemp since time immemorial. In fact, cannabis grows wild in Hokkaido, with authorities having to eradicate nearly a million plants every year.

This cannabis strain from Hokkaido grows with a strong and corpulent bearing, with broad leaves and fat stems, growth characteristics that are traditionally associated with Indica varieties. The general appearance and leaf morphology of this Japanese variety bring to mind the indica phenotype of our China Yunnan, although the Hokkaido has darker leaves, greater vigour, longer node spacing and greater branching.

On the other hand, this variety from Hokkaido shows semi-autoflowering characteristics, meaning that outdoors it starts flowering not long after the summer solstice. It has a spiky floral development that reminds us of sativas, although the flowering develops very quickly, maturing in only 6-8 weeks.

There is no scientific or cultural evidence of the psychoactive use of cannabis in Japan, although this doesn’t mean it can be ruled out completely. Because, although in this country cannabis has been cultivated mainly for textile use, it wasn’t until after WWII that Japan finally regulated cannabis for THC content, therefore the traditional varieties from Hokkaido were probably never intentionally selected in order to completely eradicate their cannabinoid production.

In fact, thanks to a recent study carried out by James Farmer of www.seedsofkismet.com on this second (P2) Hokkaido generation that we offer you in this release, 3 main phenotypes have been identified in this strain according to their different chemotypes on main cannabinoids:

Group A → High CBD content (10 %), moderate THC content (5,5 %), high CBG content (3%) and a 2:1 CBD:THC ratio. Notable increased terpenes in this genotype across the board, with much stronger and appealing aromas than the rest.

Group B → High CBD content (9-12 %), very low THC content (0,4-0,5 %), low CBG content (0,6-0,8 %) and a 22-25:1 CBD:THC ratio.

Group C → Low-moderate CBD content (2 %), extremely low THC content (0,1%), extremely low CBG content (0,05-0,1 %) and a 22-25:1 CBD:THC ratio.

Therefore, this genetics can lead to the development of 3 lines with different purposes, depending on the chemotypes used in their stabilization:

A) Psychoactive strain rich in THC, CBD and CBG.

B) Rich CBD hemp strain.

C) Hemp strain without relevance in cannabinoid content.

Genetic analyses performed on this variety indicate that it is a uniform variety, homozygous and with very little genetic variation, with a rare and unique genotype, not related to other varieties of European or Russian hemp, so the origins of this variety suggest that it is more related to Chinese or Korean cannabis varieties. Its lack of, or very low hermaphroditism is a sign that there has been human intervention at some time in its development.

Hokkaido Japan genotype report at Phylos:

https://phylos.bio/sims/variety/CRT-...hokkaido-japan

A very interesting pure, stable and fast-ripening landrace for the development of new hemp strains (with high or low CBD content) for medium latitudes (40º-45º), and for cannabis scholars and preservationists, since the HIHA (Hokkaido Industrial Hemp Association) has recently signed an agreement with the French government to introduce new European hemp varieties with very low THC content (less than 0.2%) in Hokkaido, meaning that the old varieties of traditional hemp on the island could be replaced and extinguished in the short term.

AVAILABLE IN STANDARD FORMAT
HEMP LANDRACE STRAIN (P2)
50% SATIVA / 50 % INDICA
FLOWERING INDOORS: 6-8 WEEKS
FLOWERING OUTDOORS: AUGUST / SEPTEMBER
YIELD / M2: AVERAGE
RESISTANCE AGAINST SPIDER MITES: AVERAGE
RESISTANCE AGAINST MILDEW: HIGH
RESISTANCE AGAINST BOTRYTIS: HIGH
RESISTANCE AGAINST WHITE FLY: AVERAGE-HIGH
RESISTANCE AGAINST COLD: HIGH
RESISTANCE AGAINST HEAT: AVERAGE
LATITUDE: 0º-50º
THC: 0.1-5.5 %
CBD: 2-12 %
CBG: 0.05-3 %
Terpene profile: Only small amounts of alpha pinene, without relevant presence of other monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, although Seedsofkismet best plant (1A) had seemingly double or more terpenes.

GENETICS: Second generation pure hemp landrace from Hokkaido, Japan.

STRUCTURE: Strong and corpulent bearing of indica appearance, vigorous growth, with thick stalks, medium-long internodal distance, strong branches and large, wide and dark leaves.

BOUQUET: Rough and wild aromas reminiscent of geranium and wild mountain spices. Unrefined and without evidence of terpene relevance on most plants, producing only alpha pinene among the different and most common main terpenes, although best plants from group A produce much stronger and appealing terpenes.

HIGH: Very low psychoactivity, although not completely negligible, producing slight relaxation and hilarity.

CULTIVATION TIPS

It can be easily grown indoors. Outdoors it can be grown up to latitude 50º, both in hot climates and in climates where the flowering takes place with rain and low temperatures.

We recommend moderate levels of nutrients for the whole cycle.

Allow plants to reflower if searching for higher cannabinoid count. Most plants seedsofkismet grew were harvested in week 10-11 of flower.

NEW UPDATED STRAIN DESCRIPTION JULY 2021

 

[dubi]

Hokkaido Japan cannabinoid and terpene analyses

Hokkaido Japan cannabinoid and terpene analyses

Hokkaido Japan cannabinoid and terpene analyses

 

[CannaZen]

Cool Dubi! Thanks for sharing this acquisition. Interesting, they're growing imported european hemp over their own fields. I wonder for what purpose perhaps for CBG/CBD concentration. Do you think the CBG content may be minute because of selective breeding or natural selection? interesting parallel here regarding the CBGA content in cannabis and how and why it arose.

 

[newGroath]

Just picked up these seeds. I'm excited to try a new strain of hemp, especially from Japan, to smoke as the local varieties of hemp still run a little hot in the levels thc content.

 

[HIMALAYAN GANJA]

HI newgroath youu intend to smoke hemp? whaaaaaaaat?

 

[newGroath]

HI newgroath youu intend to smoke hemp? whaaaaaaaat?

I tried some 5% thc 5% cbd buds and it was kinda strong for me. I get anxious pretty easily.
And when I smoked cbd hemp flower which is supposed to be .03% thc 8% cbd(I think it was higher in thc than they claimed) I still felt a little anxiety/ po paranoia. But even if not to smoke I make pretty nice butter out of the hemp.

 

[Bleiweis]

Can you somehow make hemp taste like kali china or panama and have low THC content? That would be simply amazing!

 

[farmerlion]

Hello all, I have one pack now and will buy some more before spring. I want to introduce these around the area I live. Hikers can come across random thickets.
Peace

 

[romanoweed]

Is birdfood the same? Is birdfood of China?
Nice mango , peppermint smelling birdfoodplants i had once. After 6 months they had a nice satain-smell. But i think im personally more a fan of Thc-only Plants. But it even had a interesting touch if smoked. Jes i smoked hemp, hahaha.

 

[therevverend]

Cool Dubi nice work on your new releases. I can fill in a bit of info on Japanese Indica varieties like this one.

We all know there's two types of cannabis, Sativa and Indica. Using modern genetic testing methods the definitions are different from what we've believed.

Cannabis Sativa is narrow leaf European Hemp. Flowers early in August and September or even automatically(In modern cannabis botany Cannabis Ruderalis doesn't exist. It falls under Cannabis Sativa). It originated near the Caucasus Mountains in eastern Europe and Asia Minor.

Cannabis Indica is almost all drug varieties, including narrow leaf tropical ones. Indica evolved far to the east near the Chengdu Mountain region of China. All East Asian, SE Asian, and Indian varieties are Indica. All eastern hemp and seed strains, including Ace's Hokkaido strain, are also Cannabis Indica. Very different genetically from western hemp strains.

It's off topic but what we consider Indica, wide leaf central Asian drug cannabis, is Cannabis Indica Afghanica. It is likely South Asian drug cannabis that has been hybridized with Cannabis Sativa that drifted south and east from Eastern Europe/Kazakhstan and Iran.

Even though this Hokkaido strain is a wide leaf Indica it is closer to the Yunnan Indicas as Dubi mentions, and also SE Asian varieties. It could have dispersed to Hokkaido from Korea via Japan to the south. During the Last Glacial Maximum Hokkaido was connected to the mainland through the Sakhalin Peninsula it could have dispersed naturally. Feral hemp grows naturally on Hokkaido. Cannabis may have grown in Japan for 18,000 years.

Ancient hemp seeds more then 10,000 years old have been found in Central Japan in association with early Jomon Culture pottery. Hemp seed belonging to the Satsumon culture (700-1200 CE) were found along with many cultivated grain crops in Sapporo, Hokkaido. At the prehistoric Ezo-Haji Ainu hamlet site where the campus of Hokkaido University stands today. Ethnohistoric records of interviews with Ainu elders in the early 20th century indicates the Ainu grew hemp along with other traditional and more recently introduced crops.

 

[dubi]

Hi CannaZen,

CBGa is the chemical precursor of THCa and CBDa, which both after decarboxylation process produce THC and CBD. For some reasons that are not clear yet (as far as we have studied, higher CBG contents can be found in more remarkable content mainly in central american sativas like Panama or Tikal, and also in some african sativas in lesser quantities, and in some hemp strains as well), some strains don't transform most of their CBGA content into THCa and CBDa so the final flowers also contain a remarkable CBG content, and although it seems CBG is not psychoactive, it could have medicinal properties or it could modulate in some waythat we don't know clearly yet the effects of the rest of the cannabinoids and terpenes of a sample.

That's why we also state the CBG content of our strains in our strain descriptions when they are analyzed for cannabinoid content.

Cool Dubi! Thanks for sharing this acquisition. Interesting, they're growing imported european hemp over their own fields. I wonder for what purpose perhaps for CBG/CBD concentration. Do you think the CBG content may be minute because of selective breeding or natural selection? interesting parallel here regarding the CBGA content in cannabis and how and why it arose.

 

[dubi]

Hi newGroath,

Sounds like you are extremely sensitive to the undesirable effects that THC can produce in some users. This is not rare, with the new CBD scene, many marijuana users are realizing that they cannot tolerate THC anymore and they are moving towards rich CBD strains with low THC content ... even certain smokers that have been smoking rich THC cannabis for decades suddenly cannot longer tolerate THC anymore, especially after having psychological issues like going through a depression process.

To have undesirable sensitivity to THC is not good or bad, each person is different and has a different body chemistry, just choose what works best for you.

I tried some 5% thc 5% cbd buds and it was kinda strong for me. I get anxious pretty easily.
And when I smoked cbd hemp flower which is supposed to be .03% thc 8% cbd(I think it was higher in thc than they claimed) I still felt a little anxiety/ po paranoia. But even if not to smoke I make pretty nice butter out of the hemp.

 

[dubi]

Cool Dubi nice work on your new releases. I can fill in a bit of info on Japanese Indica varieties like this one.

We all know there's two types of cannabis, Sativa and Indica. Using modern genetic testing methods the definitions are different from what we've believed.

Cannabis Sativa is narrow leaf European Hemp. Flowers early in August and September or even automatically(In modern cannabis botany Cannabis Ruderalis doesn't exist. It falls under Cannabis Sativa). It originated near the Caucasus Mountains in eastern Europe and Asia Minor.

Cannabis Indica is almost all drug varieties, including narrow leaf tropical ones. Indica evolved far to the east near the Chengdu Mountain region of China. All East Asian, SE Asian, and Indian varieties are Indica. All eastern hemp and seed strains, including Ace's Hokkaido strain, are also Cannabis Indica. Very different genetically from western hemp strains.

It's off topic but what we consider Indica, wide leaf central Asian drug cannabis, is Cannabis Indica Afghanica. It is likely South Asian drug cannabis that has been hybridized with Cannabis Sativa that drifted south and east from Eastern Europe/Kazakhstan and Iran.

Even though this Hokkaido strain is a wide leaf Indica it is closer to the Yunnan Indicas as Dubi mentions, and also SE Asian varieties. It could have dispersed to Hokkaido from Korea via Japan to the south. During the Last Glacial Maximum Hokkaido was connected to the mainland through the Sakhalin Peninsula it could have dispersed naturally. Feral hemp grows naturally on Hokkaido. Cannabis may have grown in Japan for 18,000 years.

Ancient hemp seeds more then 10,000 years old have been found in Central Japan in association with early Jomon Culture pottery. Hemp seed belonging to the Satsumon culture (700-1200 CE) were found along with many cultivated grain crops in Sapporo, Hokkaido. At the prehistoric Ezo-Haji Ainu hamlet site where the campus of Hokkaido University stands today. Ethnohistoric records of interviews with Ainu elders in the early 20th century indicates the Ainu grew hemp along with other traditional and more recently introduced crops.

Hi therevverend,

I concur with you in most of what you said. As i pointed out in the official description of this strain, i also believe that this japanese hemp strain is probably more related to chinese and korean hemp rather than european or russian, but that's my 'intuition' and there are no scientific proofs about it as far as i know) to prove it.

I'm not a taxonomist but in my opinion clearly both the old sativa/indica/rudelaris taxonomy and the new nld/wld/etc taxonomy both fail to classify properly all the cannabis diversity we know of nowadays.

The old sativa/indica/rudelaris taxonomy failed to differenciate properly non psychoactive hemp and non psychoactive wild cannabis vs psychoactive cultivars. While the new nld/wld/etc taxonomy is based on leaf traits which in my opinion is an unaccurate and childish way to classify properly cannabis, especially considering most of the hybrid genepool available nowadays to marijuana growers, and also doesn't classifies properly autoflowering or rudelaris genetics.

That''s why i never have used the new taxonomy although it is being promoted by big breeders and influential scholars in the cannabis/marijuana scene. If a new taxanomy that tries to replace a previous one still fails to classify properly all the cannabis diversity, then there's no point for me to start to using the new one and i still will be using the old sativa/indica/rudelaris until taxonomist find a new and more accurate way to classify cannabis genepool, which in my opinion will need to consider both: specific and relevant genetic markers as well as chemotypes, and not just geographical origin or leaf traits.

Anyway, i repeat: i'm not a taxonomist and i would prefer to discuss this in another thread and focus this thread mainly about this new japanese hemp line.

 

[therevverend]

You can't classify cannabis by chemotypes because as you suggest because both Cannabis Sativa and Cannabis Indica can produce the same Chemotypes. As you move closer to the equator a Sativa strain will produce more THC, as you move a tropical Indica strain north it'll lose THC and increase CBD.

This is why cannabis botany before genetic testing was such a headache. Old Jamaican Lambsbread may very well be a European Hemp variety (or Cannabis Sativa) while new Lambsbread would be a tropical Sativa (Cannabis Indica). Or this Hokkaido strain, by chemotype it's more similar to European hemp while genetically it's closer to tropical drug strains. But of course I'm talking about the two primary types of ganja. If you break it down to genetic plus chemotype you've got some idea of what you're talking about.

As for what you use, of course you and I will both use the old narrow leaf plants are sativas and wide leaf plants are Indicas because everybody else does. At least in vernacular, I know when you're 'working' you understand the genetic botany stuff.

Hopefully this will change as people get educated, especially breeders. It makes something like this Hokkaido strain a pain because technically it's Cannabis Indica Chinensis but try explaining to someone that even though it's an Indica and has wide leaves it's much more closely related to Thai varieties then Afghan..


My guess is the conditions in Hokkaido 10,000 BP were too harsh for cannabis. Even though there might have been an older wild Sativa variety from Siberia the Indica strains brought from China and Korea are the ones that stuck.

One strange thing I noticed is that cannabis doesn't play a role in Ainu religion. In Japan cannabis plays a huge role in Shinto religion even to the present day. One reason could be that the Ainu never discovered the drug properties of the plant, by the time it reached Hokkaido the THC levels were already too low.

The Ainu made heavy cloth from fibers extracted from native elm trees and fabric for finer cloth from various species of nettles. They may have used hemp for cordage and maybe for some clothes but the most important use was probably as food and oil. The plants don't look like fiber plants to me, they look more like seed plants.

 

[frassekongo]

Apparently japanese cannabis from Tochigi has measured 4 % THC

https://apjjf.org/2014/12/49/Jon-Mitchell/4231.html

 

[newGroath]

It definitely started after a long spell of depression and stress. Hopefully one day I'll be able to work my way up to handle the more Sativa strains again. They're honestly my favorite to grow and kind of rare these days. But I think with good diet, exercise, and order in my personal life I'll be sturdy enough to not be knocked around by high thc effects.

Hi newGroath,

Sounds like you are extremely sensitive to the undesirable effects that THC can produce in some users. This is not rare, with the new CBD scene, many marijuana users are realizing that they cannot tolerate THC anymore and they are moving towards rich CBD strains with low THC content ... even certain smokers that have been smoking rich THC cannabis for decades suddenly cannot longer tolerate THC anymore, especially after having psychological issues like going through a depression process.

To have undesirable sensitivity to THC is not good or bad, each person is different and has a different body chemistry, just choose what works best for you.

 

[HerbBert]

newGroath have you tried using other herbs like damiana? it might be of benefit to you.

 

[newGroath]

Thank you, I have not heard of it but I will look into it. I've recently been using microdoses of psilocybin to great benefit.

 

[ULMW]

Greetings Dubi and All at Ace Seeds. It is nice to see this Japanese Hokkaido Hemp vars offering. As I wrote youlong ago I lived and grew in Japan during the 90s. Hash imported from Iran and Afghanistan /Pakistan was been shot at Tokyo for stupidly highprices 5000yen a gram . Little herb was available on street. Private growers had early Tokyo Hands homehydro gardens for tonatoes to grow some early dutch strains in Tokyo those times In Yokohama we had the US military base and so it was possible to score kilos every so often from guys coming in from US mainlands or Hawaii. That was good but you needed base links. Then I discovered Japanese Hippies who gladly sorted me with local plant cuttings and herb. I was taught of Hokkaido Hiippie island where many families exiled themselves from mainstream Japanese stiffneckedness and anti hippy viewpoint. So in Hokkaido island many Hippies lived and grew and used herb recreationally. My friends would visit Hokkaido each harvest season and seek out local landrace herb from Hokkaido and their parents old grow areas.
It was wild herb not always the strongest but still a pleasant smoke and a blessing as it grew wild in abundance too.
Good times and why it also interests me with these Ace Hokkaido hemp offerings. Bless up Dubi. Itsumo Arigarou gozaimasu!

 

[PandyFackler]

Greetings Dubi and All at Ace Seeds. It is nice to see this Japanese Hokkaido Hemp vars offering. As I wrote youlong ago I lived and grew in Japan during the 90s. Hash imported from Iran and Afghanistan /Pakistan was been shot at Tokyo for stupidly highprices 5000yen a gram . Little herb was available on street. Private growers had early Tokyo Hands homehydro gardens for tonatoes to grow some early dutch strains in Tokyo those times In Yokohama we had the US military base and so it was possible to score kilos every so often from guys coming in from US mainlands or Hawaii. That was good but you needed base links. Then I discovered Japanese Hippies who gladly sorted me with local plant cuttings and herb. I was taught of Hokkaido Hiippie island where many families exiled themselves from mainstream Japanese stiffneckedness and anti hippy viewpoint. So in Hokkaido island many Hippies lived and grew and used herb recreationally. My friends would visit Hokkaido each harvest season and seek out local landrace herb from Hokkaido and their parents old grow areas.
It was wild herb not always the strongest but still a pleasant smoke and a blessing as it grew wild in abundance too.
Good times and why it also interests me with these Ace Hokkaido hemp offerings. Bless up Dubi. Itsumo Arigarou gozaimasu!

ULMW, youre quite the globe trotter. Sounds like you have had some intriguing and diverse life experience. I have a huge interest in Japanese culture and always wondered about the cannabis culture. I heard it’s pretty sparse but it’s good to hear that there are still those who are passionate enough to take the risk to cultivate it. As Jeff Goldblum once said - life, errr, finds a way.

I’d love to visit some day. Im particularly interested in the ways that traditional culture merge with modern culture. I’m sure as a westerner my view is skewed so I really want to experience it myself.

Peace