The World of Apples

Apple varieties, Japan

Fuji

Bred at Fujisaki, Aomori, from a 1939 cross; by a 2025 estimate it makes up 70 per cent of China's apples

History

In 1938 Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry opened the Tohoku branch of its Horticultural Research Station at Fujisaki, Aomori Prefecture, with apple breeding as its chief task; crossing began the next year2. Fuji was raised in 1939 from a cross of Ralls Janet and Delicious1,9, a parentage that SNP data confirm5. One seedling was singled out in the autumn of 1955 for its quality and keeping, though its fruit looked green and coloured unevenly2, and in 1958 it was chosen from 596 fruiting seedlings of the cross as Tohoku No. 71,2. In April 1962 it was named Fuji, after Fujisaki and Mount Fuji, and registered as apple Norin No. 12,3,4. The original tree, moved to Morioka with the station in 1961, was still alive there in 20202,4.

In Aomori poor colour slowed its adoption until growers coloured the fruit by bagging it on the tree, which brought high prices2. It became Japan’s leading apple in 19814 as Ralls Janet and Jonathan declined1, and in 2016 it covered 51.2 per cent of Japan’s apple-growing area4.

In 1966 a Chinese delegation took fifteen young trees to fruit research stations in Liaoning and Shandong2. Statistics gathered in 2001 showed Fuji to be the most widely grown apple in the world4; by one estimate more than 12 million tonnes were grown in 2002, over a fifth of all apples, more than 10 million of them in China2. In December 2025 USDA put China’s 2024/25 crop at 49.3 million tonnes and Fuji’s share at 70 per cent6. Fuji reached the United States in the early 1960s but became popular there only much later1; it made up 9 per cent of the US crop in 2024/257.

The fruit

The fruit is medium to large, about 300 grams and round to oblong, with a slightly rough, brownish-red skin striped with brighter red1,3; the original strain colours poorly, and many redder strains have been found1. The flesh is yellowish white, firm, crisp, somewhat coarse, very juicy and very sweet1,3. NARO gives 14–16 per cent sugar and 0.4–0.5 per cent malic acid3.

Fuji often develops watercore, in which tissue near the core fills with liquid, mostly sorbitol1,8. NARO calls it the world’s first watercored apple with a good texture, its flesh slow to discolour4. Asian buyers pay well for watercored fruit1, and in the United States and Canada watercore in Fuji is not a grade defect, because of the sweetness it brings8; severe watercore leads to breakdown in store1,8.

At Morioka it ripens from late October to early November3. It softens slowly1; NARO gives more than five months in cold storage3, and USDA four months in cold air storage and twelve in controlled atmosphere8.

Growing

The tree is large, spreading, vigorous and productive1,3, and drops little fruit before harvest3. It tends to crop in alternate years and is hard to thin1. It is moderately resistant to Alternaria blotch3 but very susceptible to bitter rot1. In Britain the fruit often fails to ripen fully9.

Uses

Fuji is a dessert apple1. In the United States, 80 per cent of the crop went to the fresh market on average in 2020–20247.

Where the sources disagree

  • When it ripens. NARO gives late October to early November at Morioka3; Yoshida and colleagues give early to mid-November there1.
  • Where it was bred. Yoshida and colleagues place the 1939 programme at the Morioka Fruit Tree Research Station but the crosses and selection at Fujisaki1; the National Fruit Collection names the Horticultural Research Station at Nakahara9. Japanese accounts put the work at Fujisaki until the station moved to Morioka in 19612.

Family tree

Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, as the entries in the atlas record them.

  • Fuji Japan, 1939

Offspring in the atlas

  • Fubrax Italy, 2002
  • Hanfu × Dongguang; China, bred from 1978
  • Hokuto × Rero 11; Japan, registered 1983
  • Huaguan × Golden Delicious; China, by 1990
  • MAIA-1 × Honeycrisp; United States, 1999
  • Plumac × Braeburn; New Zealand, 1998
  • Senshu × Tōkō; Japan, 1966
  • Shinano Sweet × Tsugaru; Japan, 1978
  • Toki × Ōrin; Japan, registered 2004

13 varieties in the atlas descend from Fuji.

Ralls Janet Delicious Fuji
Where Fuji came from. The lines lead to its parents: Ralls Janet (United States) and Delicious (United States).

Sources

  1. 'Fuji' Apple, Yoshio Yoshida, Xuetong Fan and Max Patterson, Fruit Varieties Journal 49(4):194–197, American Pomological Society, 1995. Supports: Tohoku No. 7 selected in 1958 "from 596 fruit bearing hybrids" of Ralls Janet (female) and Delicious (male); named and registered in 1962; the name after Fujisaki, "where the crosses and selections were made"; ripening "in early or mid-November in Morioka"; the fruit (medium to large, round-oblate or oblong, firm, crisp, very sweet, very juicy, slightly rough skin, poor colour in the original strain and many redder strains); watercore liked by Asian consumers and poor storage of watercored fruit; slow softening; a large, spreading, vigorous, productive tree, prone to biennial bearing and hard to thin; very susceptible to bitter rot; very good for dessert; the decline of Ralls Janet and Jonathan in Japan; introduction to the USA in the early 1960s and wide popularity there only in recent years.
  2. One hundred innovations of postwar Japan: the Fuji apple, how it came about (in Japanese), Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation. Supports: the Tohoku Branch of the Horticultural Research Station opened at Fujisaki in 1938 with apple breeding its chief task; crossing from the following year; the selection singled out in autumn 1955, greenish and unevenly coloured; Tohoku No. 7 presented in 1958; the move to Morioka from 1961, with the original tree; naming as Fuji and registration as apple Norin No. 1 in April 1962; poor colour slowing the change to Fuji in Aomori until growers coloured the fruit by bagging, which brought high prices; 15 young trees taken to Liaoning and Shandong in 1966; world production over 12 million tonnes, more than 20 per cent of all apples, with over 10 million tonnes in China (2002 figures).
  3. Cultivars bred by NARO: Fuji (in Japanese), National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Institute of Fruit Tree and Tea Science. Supports: the name after Fujisaki and Mount Fuji; maturity from late October to early November at Morioka; little early or pre-harvest drop; fruit about 300 g, brownish red with bright red stripes; flesh yellowish white, firm, somewhat coarse, juicy and very sweet, with 14–16 per cent sugar and 0.4–0.5 per cent malic acid, and watercore; more than five months in cold storage; a spreading, vigorous, productive tree, moderately resistant to Alternaria blotch.
  4. Apple studies to enjoy (in Japanese), National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), 2020-12-24. Supports: registration in 1962 as apple Norin No. 1; the name after Mount Fuji and Fujisaki; Japan's leading apple from 1981 and 51.2 per cent of Japan's apple area in 2016 (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries); identified in 2001 as the most widely grown apple in the world; the original tree still alive at Morioka; the first watercored apple to keep a good texture without discolouring.
  5. Using whole-genome SNP data to reconstruct a large multi-generation pedigree in apple germplasm, Hélène Muranty and others, BMC Plant Biology 20:2, with Additional files 1 and 3, 2020. Supports: the documented parentage "'Fuji' (= 'Ralls Janet' x 'Delicious')" in agreement with the SNP data; Fuji diploid.
  6. Fresh Deciduous Fruit Annual: China (CH2025-0220), USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Beijing, 2025-12-02. Supports: China's apple production estimated at 49.3 million tonnes in 2024/25; "Fuji still dominates cultivation, constituting 70 percent of the total production".
  7. Industry Outlook 2025, Christopher Gerlach, U.S. Apple Association, 2025. Supports: Table 6: Fuji 9 per cent of US production in 2024/25; Table 9: 80 per cent of the US crop sold fresh, 2020–2024 average.
  8. Apple, in The Commercial Storage of Fruits, Vegetables, and Florist and Nursery Stocks (Agriculture Handbook 66), Chris B. Watkins, Eugene Kupferman and David A. Rosenberger, USDA Agricultural Research Service, 2016. Supports: Table 2 (pp. 181–182): "4" months at 0 °C in air and "12" in controlled atmosphere; watercore (p. 177), tissue filled with liquid that is mostly sorbitol, not a grade defect for Fuji in the United States or Canada "due to the sweetness it imparts", severely watercored fruit breaking down in storage.
  9. Fuji (accession 1963-019), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent. Supports: "Raised in 1939 by H. Niitsu at the Horticultural Research Station, Nakahara, Japan"; named in 1962; parentage "Ralls Janet x Delicious"; "Fruits often fail to mature fully in the UK".

All 37 varieties from Japan