World of CitrusZairai Satsuma
In 1915 the early-ripening mutation later known as Miyagawa Wase appeared as a limb sport on a Zairai Satsuma tree in Fukuoka Prefecture. Miyagawa was subsequently named and introduced by Dr. Tyôzaburô Tanaka in 1923.
Nishiura (1964) reports that Tanaka’s 1918 pomological studies recognized Zairai among five Satsuma types. Hodgson (1967) describes Zairai as a group including old clones of unknown parentage or origin, not as a named variety; Nishiura says old Zairai trees were no longer propagated or recommended for commercial planting.