Before the name unshu mikan was established in Japan, it was called nakajima mikain or nagashima mikan after the place name of Nishi-Nakajima in Amakusa District of the Higo Province (later Nagashima, Kagoshima), where the species is said to have been born.

[3][7][8] According to the Japanese origin theory, several species that would serve as the parents of Citrus unshiu were introduced from China, and in the 1600s, they were born in Nishi-Nakajima, Higo Province (later Nagashima, Kagoshima) in Japan.

In both languages, the name means "honey citrus of Wenzhou" (a city in Zhejiang province, China).

[13] Under the Tanaka classification system, Citrus unshiu is considered a separate species from the mandarin.

[14] Genetic analysis has shown the Satsuma to be a highly inbred mandarin-pomelo hybrid, with 22% of its genome, a larger proportion than seen in most mandarins, coming from pomelo.

[18] The rind is often smooth to slightly rough with the shape of a medium to small flattened sphere.

[20] They can be grown from seed, which takes about eight years until the first fruits are produced, or grafted onto other citrus rootstocks, such as trifoliate orange.

The groves were later re-cultivated farther south in Plaquemines Parish to provide greater protection from harmful frosts, and have continued to the present day.

In 1878 during the Meiji period, Owari mikans were brought to the United States from the Satsuma Province in Kyūshū, Japan, by Anna Van Valkenburgh,[23] the spouse of the US Minister to Japan, General Van Valkenburgh, who renamed them satsumas.

[3][24] Between 1908 and 1911 about a million Owari mikan trees were imported throughout the lower Gulf Coast states.