Picking wild mushrooms in Northern Gunma

From August to November, one of the many pleasures of Northern Gunma is picking mushorrom in the nearby woodland.

What to pick

Start your fungi expert career in Japan with a few easy picks:

Find the expert

Compared to Europe, very few people in Japan are picking mushrooms as they are afraid of food poisoning. In France, the amateur mushroom picker would turn to its local pharmacist as he is generally the "fungi" expert. In Japan, I would strongly recommend to start picking a few, easily identifiable, mushrooms, and have the locals helping you to confirm the variery of the mushroom that you picked. Generally, I have found that the local experts ("Kinoko Hakase") were very often found managing a local "soba restaurant" (buckwheat noodle), as it serves many dishes with mushrooms and other "sansai" (wild vegetables) on their menu.

Learn about Japanese trees to know about mushrooms

Know the differences between the momi-no-ki (Japanese fir), the karamatsu (Japanese larch), the akamatsu (red pine), etc.

Beware of bears

There are many bears in the Northern Gunma woodland, and you may encounter them in early spring, just after hibernation, or in late autumn, when food is becoming scarse and when they approach the nearby farms for eating apples, chesnuts or kakis. You may put a bell on your mushroom basket, carry a small radio (not exactly what you might prefer for the quiet of the area), or just like I do, hit from time to time trees with a stock to notify your presence.

Wear

Dress with long sleeves. Avoid the short pans and prefer walking shoes to tennis shoes. Japanese forests are usually not so well maintained as they could be in Europe and they are many thorny bushes around.

Equipment

Usual golden rule, do not mix mushrooms unless you are certain of their identification. Invest a few thousand yen in a handicraft mushroom basket ("Kago"). There are of various size and very convenient, with holders for shoulders on both sides. The landscape in Gunma can vary very quickly and unless you have such basket you will be adapted for ascending and descending the very steepy slopes that you will encounter in the forest.