Hokkaido Japón by Ace Seeds

Japan has a millenary culture of hemp use that goes back at least 10,000 years of antiquity, having scientific certainty of its culture by all its islands for more than 2,000 years, especially in the northern island of Hokkaido, the prefecture that traditionally has cultivated more hemp in Japan since immemorial times. In fact, cannabis grows wild in Hokkaido, with authorities having to make annual eradications of about one million plants.

There is no cultural or scientific evidence of the psychoactive use of cannabis in Japan, although this cannot be ruled out either. Because while it is true that cannabis has been cultivated in this country mainly for textile uses, cannabis was never regulated in Japan for THC content until after World War II, and cannabinoid analyses conducted over the last 2 decades on varieties growing in Hokkaido (both hemp and wild) confirm that Hokkaido cannabis has low but not zero THC and CBD values, indicating that traditional Hokkaido varieties were probably never intentionally selected to completely eradicate their cannabinoid production.

This cannabis strain from Hokkaido grows with a strong, corpulent, broad-leaved and fat stems, characteristics traditionally associated with cannabis indica in terms of growth. The general appearance and morphology of the leaves of this Japanese variety reminds us of the indica phenotype of our Yunnan China, although the Hokkaido has darker leaves, greater vigor, longer knots and greater branching.

On the other hand, this variety of Hokkaido shows semi-auto-flowering characteristics, so it starts flowering outdoors very quickly after the summer solstice. It has a spiky floral development reminiscent of sativas, producing few trichomes in its ovaries. The flowering develops very quickly, in only 6-8 weeks.

All this makes us think that this variety is probably related to old varieties of hemp cultivated in Hokkaido. Its null or very low hermaphroditism is a sign that there has been human intervention in its development. Genetic analyses carried out to 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, reason why the origins of this variety point out that its origin is more related to Chinese or Korean cannabis varieties.

Although this variety does not have relevant psychoactive or terpenic qualities, it may be of interest to hemp breeders with low cannabinoid content, in search of stable varieties of very fast maturation for medium latitudes (40º-45º), and for cannabis scholars and preservationists, as the HIHA (Hokkaido Industrial Hemp Association) has recently signed an agreement with the French government to introduce new varieties of European hemp with very low THC (less than 0).2 %) in Hokkaido, so the island's old traditional hemp varieties could be replaced and extinguished in the short term.