Since ancient times, the "Tachibana," or mandarin orange, has been widely appreciated as a fragrant citrus, and has also had deep ties with the ocean and imperial family. While they have grown in the wild for many years, ancient texts document the importation of the fruit, giving rise to many different theories as to its origin. After taking into account all the factors we can infer from traditional lore, the fruit's actual distribution, the presence of variant species, as well as the successes of recent research on gene mapping, we believe it likely that the Tachibana in its current form entered the Japanese archipelago through both human means and from natural propagation.