Odawara Kankitsu Club

Odawara Kankitsu Club's roots are in the "Kataura Mikan Project" started in 2010. To support farmers in Odawara City's Kataura district, Akihisa Kusayama — head priest of Hotoku Ninomiya Shrine — and Nobuyuki Suzuki — representative of FM Odawara Co., Ltd. and a Kataura mikan farmer — became co-founders, starting initiatives to protect regional agriculture while creating new value.

With Hotoku Shiho Co., Ltd. — funded by Hotoku Ninomiya Shrine — as the parent body, advancing planning and sales of processed goods using regional agricultural products including citrus, cooperation with local farmers and merchants gradually expanded. In 2015, with investment from 14 local companies sympathetic to this purpose, "Odawara Kankitsu Club Co., Ltd." was established — also fully entering agricultural production through clearing abandoned farmland and citrus cultivation.

Today, starting with the Regional Revitalization Cider using Kataura lemon, Odawara mikan, and Soga plum, collaboration products including drops, raw yokan, gelato, and craft chuhai are successively born. Teaming up with local manufacturers, confectionery shops, and beverage makers under the slogan "manufacturing possible only because we're local," the brand continues to create region-born brand products.

At the same time, steady activities connecting to agricultural generational succession also continue — contract cultivation supporting processing-use demand for lemons including Kataura lemon, and clearing abandoned and fallow land through cooperation with young farmers. Sourcing over 10 tons of citrus from the region annually, the brand has been shaping — together with hotoku spirit — a system where "people, things, and money" circulate within the region.

Odawara Kankitsu Club will continue — keeping Ninomiya Sontoku's teachings in mind — to polish the appeal of the Odawara and western prefecture area and advance regional mutual-benefit creation through citrus-centered product development and agri-commerce-industry collaboration.

A regional-circulation citrus brand applying Ninomiya Sontoku's hotoku philosophy to modern times

Odawara Kankitsu Club learns from the teachings of Odawara-born Sontoku Ninomiya — "shisei (sincerity), kinro (labor), bundo (limits), and suijo (transfer)" — pursuing a business model where "people, things, and money" circulate within the region under the spirit of "one-circle integration." Rather than aiming only at right-shoulder-up growth, the brand applies to craftsmanship and distribution the "hotoku spirit" of thanking the heavens and earth, maintaining limits matched to one's size, while returning surplus to the region.

"Regional Revitalization Cider" leveraging Kataura lemon, Odawara mikan, and Soga plum

The brand's representative item is "Regional Revitalization Cider" using Kataura lemon, Odawara mikan, and Soga plum. Locally grown citrus and plum become a refreshing local cider — loved at retailers and Cafe Odawara Kankitsu Club in the Odawara-Hakone area. Since launch, over 1.3 million bottles cumulatively have been sold — becoming a standard for local gifts and souvenirs.

Product development extending to drops, raw yokan, gelato, and craft chuhai

The brand also focuses on processed goods using farmer citrus. Many products born from cooperation with local businesses — retro drop cans using Kataura lemon and Odawara mikan juice, raw yokan leveraging Kataura lemon juice and peel, Kataura lemon gelato, regionally limited craft chuhai of Odawara lemon and Odawara plum. Through raw material supply, package design, and channel expansion, the brand grows alongside regional makers.

Supporting agricultural generational succession through processing-lemon contracts and clearing abandoned farmland

Odawara Kankitsu Club works on individual contracts with farmers to support processing-use demand for Kataura lemon and lemons grown in the Odawara / western prefecture region. Preventing demand-supply mismatches and buying with responsibility at fair prices, the brand aims to be a reliable supporter for farmers. Furthermore, by clearing and inheriting farmland from retiring farmers and abandoned land in cooperation with young farmers, the brand connects citrus cultivation environments to the next generation.

Cafe Odawara Kankitsu Club — "everyday with citrus" enjoyed near Odawara Castle

Born as the brand's first cafe, "Cafe Odawara Kankitsu Club" is on the grounds of Hotoku Ninomiya Shrine — enshrining Kinjiro Ninomiya. Serving products using regional revitalization cider, citrus drinks, local citrus, and vegetables, it has become a place where tourists and locals can casually touch the appeal of citrus — a spot where you can "taste and experience" Odawara's climate and hotoku spirit alongside the shrine grove's atmosphere.