Okayama Momotaro Airport, Momotaro Boulevard, the Momotaro Line (Kibi Line), Momotaro grapes…
Okayama Prefecture is so full of things associated with Momotaro that it is easy to think, “When you think of Okayama, you think of Momotaro.”
Okayama Prefecture is a major peach-producing region, and “kibidango” rice dumplings, an essential item for Momotaro, are a classic souvenir. As someone from Okayama Prefecture, I too took it for granted that “when you think of Okayama, you think of Momotaro,” and had never given it much thought.
But there is a reason behind everything.
Why are peaches and Momotaro so deeply woven into everyday life in Okayama Prefecture?
Yuko Ban, a researcher at the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum, part of the Ohara Art Foundation, explained the mystery.
The information provided was accurate when this article was published in October 2025. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Okayama’s Peaches in Japan Heritage
Momotaro, born from a peach, sets off to defeat the ogres on Onigashima, accompanied by a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant.
This is the story of the famous “Momotaro legend.”
Okayama is considered the birthplace of the Momotaro legend, and the Japan Heritage story Okayama, Birthplace of the Legend of Momotaro is registered as a Japan Heritage site.
Before discussing the Momotaro legend, let’s briefly introduce Japan Heritage.
Japan Heritage refers to stories that convey Japan’s culture and traditions through the historical appeal and distinctive features of a region, and that the Agency for Cultural Affairs has certified as “Japan Heritage.” Its aim is to revitalize regions by making use of and promoting heritage sites scattered throughout an area as a whole.
In other words, a defining feature of Japan Heritage is that it connects individual cultural properties and presents their appeal as a single story.
Three stories in Kurashiki City have been registered as Japan Heritage.
The Momotaro Legend
The “Momotaro legend,” which also involves Kurashiki City, consists of 29 component cultural properties.
The figure said to have inspired Momotaro is Prince Kibitsuhiko.
Long ago, in the land of Kibi, which corresponds to present-day Okayama Prefecture and eastern Hiroshima Prefecture, there lived an ogre called Ura. He built a castle on a mountain, attacked villagers, and committed many misdeeds. Prince Kibitsuhiko, sent by the Yamato court to govern the land, was ordered to defeat Ura.
The following account of Prince Kibitsuhiko’s defeat of Ura (the ogre) is quoted from the Japan Heritage portal site.
Prince Kibitsuhiko arrived in Kibi and set up camp on Mount Kibi. On the summit of a small hill to the west, he built a giant stone shield to protect against Ura’s arrows. A skilled archer, the prince placed an arrow on his bow and shot at Ura. Ura fought back, shooting arrows from his castle, but the arrows they fired at each other repeatedly collided and fell. At last, however, the prince put all his strength into an arrow and pierced Ura’s left eye. Blood gushed from Ura’s eye and flowed like a river. Ura, unable to bear it, transformed into a pheasant and fled, pursued by the prince, who had turned into a hawk. Ura changed from a pheasant into a carp and escaped into the blood-filled river, but the prince transformed from a hawk into a cormorant, caught the carp, and successfully defeated Ura. He displayed Ura’s head at the head mound at Hakusan Shrine.
Things that appear in this story have also been recognized as component cultural properties of Japan Heritage in Kurashiki City.
- Tatetsuki Site
The remains of “a giant stone shield built on the summit of a small hill to the west to protect against Ura’s arrows” - Koikui Shrine
The place where the carp was “caught and lifted up”
What makes the Momotaro legend fascinating is how it connects the legend with things that actually exist.
So why is he called “Peach” Tarō?
What would you like to know about Kurashiki?
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