The Benibana Museum (The Safflower Museum)
25. All the Fields Covered with Benibana (満地朱をそそぐ)
In 1788, Koshoken Furukawa (古川古松軒) who was followed with an officer of patrol of the Shogunate (幕府) described the impression of looking down over the Murayama Basin (村山盆地) from the ridge of Akahane (赤羽毛), Hasedou Village (長谷堂村) via Kaminoyama (上山) on June 16.
"We look down the villages just below our eyes. The fields are very well cultivated and nurtured as a rice paddy. The season is its highest of benibana flower, all of the ground was covered with red color. The beauty of it is beyond description and nowhere is found all over China and other, western parts of this country".
An officer of patrol here was sent for by the Shogunate to check the situation of the countries and the authority divided the whole of this country into 8 parts and a team consisted of three persons. Koshoken was surprised at the beautiful scene of the basin. The color of benibana is not exactly red, but a field of the highest blooming of benibana gave a deep impression to him.
The main production part of benibana was the most fertile plain along the Mogami River and Kaminoyama and it was the southern limit and the northern limit was Yamagata-Tendo (天童)-Yachi to Higashine(東根) and the western limit was Sagae (寒河江). As benibana has thin thistles, the plucking time must be misty early morning. The districts along the Mogami River were easy to be misty, along where the cultivation was prosperous.
A team of the patrol passed Yamagata and Tendo, and they arrived at Yachi on June 19, and stayed at Goroemon Tamiya (田宮五郎右衛門), Yaemon Shibata (柴田弥右衛門) of Omachi (大町) and Tahe Wada (和田太兵衛) at Kudo Koji (工藤小路).