I didn’t like just what amounted to a fish head on a stick. This custom isn’t practiced much in Kyoto, and I can see why. A leftover grilled fish head on a stick isn’t very elegant.

It was no matter for me because my sardine head disappeared within a few days. I assumed that the always troublesome ‘karasu’ ravens, that often rip bags of garbage open on garbage day and are responsible for a street strewn with garbage – usually to be discovered after the garbage truck has passed, was the culprit in the case of the missing fish head.

D.I.Y. Home Construction Project Japanese Setsubun

The sardine head on a holly stick is called ‘hiiragi iwashi’ in Japanese. The characters are 柊 holly (hiiragi) and 鰯 sardine (iwashi). It literally means ‘sardine holly’. It is an ancient custom in Japan and one I have been fascinated with since I first saw it in Nara many years ago.

Well, I am a designer, and an architect. I believe that designers identify and solve problems, not just pretty things-up. Since last year, usually when I was riding my bicycle, I had been designing a new kind of Hiiragi Iwashi, in my mind. It had to be attractive, more sophisticated than just a fish head on a stick, it would have to pass muster for Kyoto. And, very importantly, it had to be raven-proof.

This was a real Japanese-style D.I.Y project. My materials and tools came from the home center, the fish monger and the riverside. I tried to keep my design as Japanese as possible; it should be simple and naturally attractive. I decided to use a whole sardine, uncooked. The sardine is fastened to a piece of slender bamboo for rigidity and a generous amount of holly branches and thorny leaves cover up the sardine from being easily spotted by the omnipresent and brutish ravens.

However, this design isn’t weasel or mink proof and you would be surprised at the number of weasel and mink you see scurrying around the quiet streets of Kyoto at night. They can just dash up a tsuchi-kabe (mud-plastered) wall and I guess this year I am just hoping that none will discover it.

The Final Product: KyotoFoodie-style Hiiragi Iwashi - Frontal View

KyotoFoodie-style Hiiragi Iwashi - detail

The History and Meaning of Hiiragi Iwashi
Apparently this custom is so old in Japan that no scholars have been able to pinpoint its origins. It is first mentioned in a diary called Tosa Nikki written by Kino Tsurayuki in 935. At this time mullet was used rather than sardine and it was a part of New Year’s shimenawa decoration. (At that time, Japan celebrated the Chinese lunar new year, the exact date changes every year falling between late January to mid February. Now Japanese celebrate the new year according to the Western calendar, on January 1st.)

Setsubun is the day before spring begins in Japan. Simply speaking, it is a kind of new year’s celebration and the ‘Oni’ demon is a troublemaker, so at the beginning of the new year, you want to drive him away. There are several Setsubun customs that all involve food and driving out illness and misfortune and inviting in happiness.

Oni are said to dislike the strong, penetrating and lingering smell of sardines. So, you want to cook and eat sardines on Setsubun. Then, to keep the Oni from entering your home, put the leftover grilled sardine head on or around your front door. Next, Oni are afraid of getting their eyes poked so the thorns on the holly leaf are very frightening to them. Put these two together, you have a double whammy, an oni-ni-kanabo.

Hiiragi Iwashi Just Installed on Setsubun

My Design
I like the idea of the sardine being front and center to the design, it is quite primitive, which I find charming. But, Oni dislikes the smell, not the sight of sardines. So, the sardine doesn’t really have to be readily visible. The most important thing is the odor. So, the sardine can be largely covered by the holly leaves and the hiiragi iwashi out to still be fully effective against the trouble making Oni.

The traditional hiiragi iwashi usually only has a few leaves on it, my design has a lot – 5 branches! Using a whole, large sardine allows for a lot more holly. If Oni are afraid of getting their eyes poked by the holly thorns, then the holly leaves should definitely be at the forefront. I am assuming that Oni sees the thorns and backs off rather than bumping into them first. Either way, I’ve got him with this design. The thorns are many, and out front.

Next come the form follows function aspects of the design. A big, stinky raw sardine on the front of a house is the equivalent of an ‘Eat Me’ sign to those pushy and unmannered ravens. So, this decorative talisman needs to have some self-defense. The sardine is nearly hidden from view head on. From below and up close, the head and eyes of the sardine can be seen, but I think you have to know what to look for. From a few meters away about the only thing seen is those holly leaves full of thorns.

The sardine is trussed and well-tied to a slender but sturdy piece of bamboo.

I thought about covering it up and wrapping it in plastic, that would make the contents visible but nearly in-penetrable to vermin but I really hate that. A lot of shrines now use plastic, transparent tape and other unnatural materials for the charms and talismans. It is a pity and very un-Japanese. My designs doesn’t cut any corners, it is 100% natural – and maybe a bit vulnerable. If it does get eaten, I will employ another Japanese tactic – kaizen; the philosophy of continual improvement and make a better design next year.

Hiiragi Iwashi in Daylight

In Need of Kaizen: Last Year's Hiiragi Iwashi

I will be working on my new and improved design for next year. We have had a number of people say that they want to do Japanese New Year’s Osechi Cuisine in their country. That is a major project. While I don’t know how many Oni are living overseas now, Hiiragi Iwashi would be easy to make and certainly get you talked about in your foodie community. Give it a try!

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Aburi Sanma Bozushi 炙りさんま棒寿司
From last week or so, I have noticed in the fish and sushi section of a few stores a bozushi like sabazushi (pickled mackerel on sushi rice) that is made with the seasonal sanma, or Pacific saury. The saury is quite a bit smaller than the mackerel, so I imagine that it is quite difficult to make pressed bozushi sushi with. I bought this one at the food court of Takashimaya department store.

Sanma Aburi Sushi: Seared Saury Pressed Sushi

Depachika デパ地下: Department Store Food Court
This article is in our series (with too few articles) called depachika. Depachika means department store (underground) food court; depa (department store) and chika (underground). If you are in Japan and hungry, it is hard to go wrong with depachika food. While department stores used to be very expensive in Japan they are much more reasonably priced now. Generally, shopping at the department store food court will cost you only a bit more than an average priced supermarket. Shopping depachika-style is a lot of fun because the food courts are just SOOOOO over the top. If you are staying at a hotel near a department store you can always buy a lot of depachika food and eat it in your room. That would be cheaper than eating out at even a moderately priced restaurant.

Sanma Aburi Sushi: Seared Saury Pressed Sushi

How did it taste?
This was really great! The sanma was very rich and oily, even more than mackerel. I realized that this must be the most oily aozakana of them all. Before pressing on sushi rice, the fish is lightly seared with a flame. This is aburi. The sushi rice was pretty good, not too sweet, not too sour. There was a thin layer of pickled ginger between the fish and the rice.

I think that I have only had this sushi once before, I can’t remember exactly. So, it is rare. If you see it, it is worth a try. I have seen both seared and non-seared, if you have a choice I would go for the seared variety as the taste is more complex and the searing contrasts well with the fattiness of the fish.

Sanma Aburi Sushi: Seared Saury Pressed Sushi

Kanji (Chinese Character) Lesson
Sanma 秋刀魚: 秋 autumn, 刀 sword, 魚 fish (the fish really looks like a dagger in shape and color)
Aozakana 青魚: 青 blue, 魚 fish
Abura ga notteiru 脂がのっている: There are two similar characters that can be read as ‘abura’; 油 oil and 脂 fat. Some Japanese may be mistaken about the proper character I have heard.

Sanma 秋刀魚: The Autumn 'Sword' Fish

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Learning to Make Kyoto-style Sushi from Chef Tanigawa

About Helena Chlepnac and Sushi Fusion
Helena is lives in Switzerland and does Sushi Fusion, a sushi catering company and now offers sushi classes which are very popular. Helena has over 300 students learning to make sushi in Switzerland!

Prelude to Sushi Lesson: Furosen Sake and Funazushi Day Trip
Before learning to make Kyoto-style sushi from the Iron Chef defeater, we went up to Shiga Prefecture for a day to experience a bit of Shiga’s culinary culture.

First we visited Uehara Sake Brewery to see the how they make the world’s greatest sake: Furosen. We were given a tour of the brewery and a generous tasting. Uehara Sake Brewery revived the tradition of using wooden barrels for brewing sake and Helena remarked that her favorite champaign maker is the only one that continued to use wood while everyone else changed to stainless steel. Now, how is that for good taste!

Uehara Sake Brewery and Sixth Generation Owner Mr Uehara

Uehara Sake Brewery Tasting Furosen Sake

This is the greatest sake in the world.

Two Year Old Funazushi

In the afternoon we visited a tsukemono maker called Marucho that has been making tsukemono with Shiga vegetables since the Edo era to see how they make their pickles and Shiga’s meibutsu (famous product): funazushi. Funazishi is made from a special variety of carp from Lake Biwa that has been salted and fermented with rice for 2 years. It is a variety of narazushi (fermented fish ‘sushi’) which is the origin of modern-day sushi. Fermented fish is not popular even among many Japanese foodies for reasons that you can imagine. It is not bad though.

At Marucho they make the real deal; funazushi that has been made with the finest wild carp from Lake Biwa and fermented for 2 years. (The cheaper funazushi is made with aqua-cultured carp and only fermented 1 year.) This proper way of making funazushi is called hon-jikomi (authentic production). This requires frequent washing and changing of the rice. This is what separates the good funazushi from the bad. Additionally, the bones of the carp are quite robust and the two year fermentation process softens them to nearly the same as the meat.

Marucho generously offered us a sample of their best, hon-jikomi funazushi. Helena remarked that if she didn’t know that it was fish, she wouldn’t have known from the taste. Funazushi made the old-fashioned way is not fishy and is surprisingly sour. If you like cheese, you would probably like funazushi. The best funazushi is nearly bursting with eggs. The taste of the eggs really reminded me of mimolette cheese, both in flavor and in texture.

It was a fun and interesting day, but I sensed that Helena was really looking forward to her sushi day!

The Main Event: Sushi Lesson at Kichisen

Helena went to the Kyoto Central Wholesale Market with Chef Tanigawa bright and early and selected fish with him. From mid-day the lesson began in the kitchen. Helena learned how to make most all the summertime Kyoto sushi styles from Chef Tanigawa. Miwa translated and I only joined the party late in the afternoon, just in time to eat.

This is what Helena learned:

1. How to Clean and Prepare Fish

• Ayu (Sweetfish)
• Tai (Sea Bream)
• Saba (Mackerel)
• Hamo (Pike Eel)
• Ika (Squid)
• Akagai (Red Shellfish)

2. How to Make Kyoto-style Sushi

• Hamozushi
• Sabazushi
• Sasamaki Zushi
• Ayuzushi
• Isomaki Zushi
• Ryuhimaki
• Temarizushi (ball-shaped, similar to nigiri sushi)
• Kikuzushi (chrysanthemum flower-shaped, similar to nigiri sushi)
• Komakizushi (Kinzanji Miso, Shiso and Cucumber)
• Tsukemono Sushi (also nigiri sushi)
• Inarizushi (deep fried tofu pockets stuffed sushi)

Cleaning Fish at Kichisen

Sea bream ‘tai’ for several kinds of sushi.

Cleaning Fish at Kichisen

After cleaning the tai for sushi, the head is split for soup or rice. Nothing is discarded.

Making Sushi Rice

Chef Tanigawa kindly gave Helena his recipe for sushi rice — I got a copy of it too.

Helena Shaping Rice for Hamozushi

Chef Tanigawa Demonstrating Cutting Hamozushi

Chef Tanigawa Demonstrating Cutting Sabazushi

Finishing-up in the Kitchen

Epic Sushi Plate One

From top to bottom; hamozushi, sabazushi, inarizushi, sasamaki.

Epic Sushi Plate Two

From top to bottom, left to right; ayuzushi, kikuzushi, temarizushi, isomaki, komakizushi, tsukemono (nigiri) sushi, ryuhimaki sushi.

Assortment of Kyoto-style Sushi

My fav was the one on the bottom right, it is called ryuhi maki. It is a ‘bozushi’ made with tai on rice with sansho leaves wrapped in soft and chewy kombu and has slices of raw green yuzu between each piece. At the back right is one of Kichisen’s exquisite homemade umeboshi. On the lower left is ayuzushi.

Hamozushi (Pike Eel Sushi) – detail

Hamo is only eaten in Kyoto.

Sabazushi (Mackerel Sushi) – detail

Sabazushi is perhaps Kyoto’s most common and popular sushi.

Sasamaki (Sasa Bamboo Leaf Wrapped Sushi) – Wrapped

Sasamaki (Sasa Bamboo Leaf Wrapped Sushi) – Unwrapped

This is kodai, literally ‘small tai’ (young sea bream).

Temarizushi (Ball-shaped Sushi) – detail

This is squid (ika), notice the sprig of green kinome sansho leaf under the squid.

Q&A with Chef Tanigawa after the Feast

Chef Tanigawa said that he is open to doing such lessons occasionally for chefs from abroad. If you are a chef and going to be in town and want to learn from a Kyoto master chef, feel free to send us an email.

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Sansho Chirimen Jako is a condiment in Japan that is usually eaten with, or sprinkled on rice. It is made by simmering dried sardine fry (jako) and fresh sansho pepper fruit (sansho-no-mi) in soy sauce, cooking sake and mirin. I got this much sought after sansho chirimen jako from Tanigawa-san at Kichisen. Kichisen only serves it at the restaurant and sometimes gives it as a gift to customers to take home.

Many households make their own sansho chirimen jako and it can be purchased at any supermarket or department store food court. There are a number of companies in Japan that just make sansho chirimen jako. Of course there are many grades of this condiment available. Tanigawa-san says that Kishisen’s sansho chirimen jako is different from other stores and restaurants because with his technique the dried fish doesn’t get ‘soggy’ while cooking.

Kichisen Sansho Chirimen Jako – Wrapping

Kichisen’s sansho chirimen jako comes in a beautiful wooden box, branded with the Kichisen logo on the cover. Tanigawa-san says that they use only the freshest sansho pepper fruit, his apprentices then handpick out the best. It is surprisingly high powered for Japanese cuisine.. If you have had Szechuan pepper you know this tongue and lip numbing sensation. In Japanese cuisine, sansho is used green, not ripened and dried and I think that it is even more numbing than the Chinese variety. So, a little goes a long way, especially in Japanese cuisine.

Kichisen Sansho Chirimen Jako – Unwrapping

Kichisen Sansho Chirimen Jako

To do justice to this excellent sansho chirimen jako, I made white rice in a gohan nabe, not the electric rice cooker. Miwa made this side dish with some interesting vegetables that I got at the Kyoto Central Wholesale Food Market; they were a traditional Yamato (Nara) vegetable and a traditional Naniwa (Osaka) vegetable. The Nara vegetable I had never seen or heard of before. It is very long and slender Japanese togarashi peppers, called Himo Togarashi, or yarn peppers. Like other Japanese peppers, they are not very hot and spicy. They were rather bitter, which I found interesting and unexpected. The Naniwa vegetable is a kind of eggplant that is fairly common but is usually used to make tsukemono pickles.

Gohan Nabe Rice

Gohan Nabe Rice

Gohan Nabe Rice

The slightly burned rice at the bottom of the gohan nabe is called o-koge and is usually considered a treat to Japanese. O-koge is proof that the rice was cooked the old fashioned way.

Kichisen Sansho Chirimen Jako

Kichisen Sansho Chirimen Jako – Served on Rice

Kichisen Sansho Chirimen Jako – Served on Rice

Kichisen Sansho Chirimen Jako and Summer Vegetables

Heirloom Nara Vegetable: Himo Togarashi (Yarn Pepper)

Chirimen Jako – Uncooked

This is what the dried sardine fry look like before simmering. (image from this OpenKyoto article)

Sea of Japan Heshiko Furikake へしこ ふりかけ
Heshiko is a specialty of the Sea of Japan side of Japan, the other side of the island from Kyoto. It is a preserved dish made of fish, usually mackerel or sardine. It is preserved in salted rice bran for at least a year. It is usually very salty and goes well with beer or sake.

I recently made blog friends with a blogger who is the okami-san, or proprietress, of a nice ryokan inn and restaurant in Fukui prefecture, on the Sea of Japan. They make handmade furikake from their local meibutsu (famous product), heshiko.

I ordered several bags and they arrived this morning. I opened on up and had a sniffy-sniff, and wow, it was high powered stuff! My first reaction was ‘Sea of Japan!’, their culinary culture is really different from Kyoto. It is still pretty close to Kyoto, so we have quite a bit of heshiko in Kyoto. This is preserved, not fermented fish, but it is pungent, but not in an overly challenging way. I think that most Western folks, especially foodies could handle this.

I decided to cook up some rice for lunch. To go with gourmet furikake, I knew that it had to be excellent rice cooked in the donabe earthenware pot, which tastes better than made in an electric rice cooker.

The main ingredients are: mackerel heshiko powder, daikon radish leaf powder, sesame seed, katsuo powder, shiitake powder and ichimi chili powder.

Heshiko Furikake

Iwashi Heshiko

This is what heshiko looks like when you buy it. This is sardine heshiko. To prepare heshiko, you simply wash the rice bran-salt mixture off and saute it in a bit of oil. It is very salty and pungent, so a little goes a long way. It can be put on plain rice or used as the flavoring for ochazuke. It is also a favorite tsumami (hors d’oeuvres) for drinkers.

Furikake on Rice Cooked in Donabe

Furikake on Rice Cooked in Donabe – detail

Izuju: The Best Kyoto Style Sushi in Kyoto 祇園いづ重 京都寿司
I went to Izuju this morning and met the owner, Kitamura-san and heard all about their authentic Kyoto style sushi. It was quite an experience! Izuju has been in business for almost 100 years and is located on the corner of Shijo Street and Higashi O-ji, right across from the bright orange gate of Yasaka Shrine.

Izuju only makes Kyoto style sushi. The ‘edomae’ Tokyo style nigiri sushi, the kind we are most used to seeing abroad, is not available.

Famed Gion Izuju Owner Chef Kitamura-san

Some of Izuju’s greatest Kyoto sushi hits:

• sabazushi (pickled mackerel on sushi rice)
• sasamaki (sea bream, kinome and sushi rice wrapped in a sasa bamboo leaf)
• hakozushi (literally box sushi, in summer grill hamo pike eel and in winter sawara Spanish mackerel pressed onto to sushi rice in a wooden form)
• mushizushi (literally steamed sushi, this is a winter favorite, usually a lot of dashi in the rice then steamed)
• inarizushi (sushi rice with simmered vegetables in deep fried tofu skins*)

Of course there are other sushi dishes but these are the main dishes.

Inarizushi (inari sushi) is a Kyoto culinary fixture that has never moved me, Izuju’s astounded me though. Miwa says that Izuju’s inarizushi is the best in the world.

Izuju Kitchen Tour

After chatting over tea about sushi and Izuju with Kitamura-san, he invited me in back to see the kitchen. The restaurant is quite small, so I hadn’t realized that there was a kitchen in back. Several dark rooms with soot stained machiya rafters lead to a earthen hearth. I couldn’t believe my eyes, right here in the heart of Gion they are still cooking with wood! Using a handfull of used chopsticks, Kitamura-san fired it up and started simmering the days deepfried tofu inari pockets for inarizushi.

In the adjacent room staff were removing bones from aji horse mackerel for a seasonal sushi.

Gion Izuju Kitchen Tour

Firing up the hearth. On the left is where they cook rice and on the right is where they simmer inari pockets.

Gion Izuju Kitchen Tour

Now this hearth may look old, but it isn’t. They had it rebuilt 5 years ago and it needs repairs fairly often. There is only one person left in Kyoto making and maintaining these hearths, Kitamura-san said.

Gion Izuju Kitchen Tour

Simmering inari pockets.

Gion Izuju Kitchen Tour

Paper talismans from Atago Shrine to protect the home and business from fire is a very common sight even in modern Kyoto. As Izuju still uses a wood fire for cooking, they have a while lot of them stuck to the wall behind the hearth!

In the main kitchen they were cleaning fish and making inarizushi.

Gion Izuju Kitchen Tour: De-boning Aji

They are using metal tweezers to pull the bones out of these horse mackerel fillets.

Gion Izuju Kitchen Tour: Inari Sushi and Rice Stuffing Mixture

Gion Izuju Kitchen Tour: Inari Sushi

Making Sushi: Sabazushi

Back out in front, at the entrence is where they make the sabazushi. Often times sabazushi is formed in a wooden box form, but Izuju makes theirs into a roll. The process is rather simple:

• Layout vinegared mackerel fillet
• Form rice to shape
• Place rice atop mackerel fillet
• Roll inside cloth for form
• Roll inside kombu

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

How to Make Kyoto Sushi – Sabazushi

Shinise Restaurant Interior

The interior of Izuju is quite an experience. Everything has a meaning and a reason for being there. Most of the decorations are from the restaurants past and were significant to its development.

Gion Izuju Restaurant Interior

Gion Izuju Restaurant Interior: Storefront Sign

This boat and rice paddle used to be Izuju’s shingle! Quite a sign. Izuju developed a trademarked name for their sushi presentation which was served in large wooden ‘boats’ like the shape of the sign.

Gion Izuju Restaurant Interior

Up to modern times, Izuju and similar operations did catering and takeout. These plates are what were used to serve their sushi at nice ‘restaurants’ in Gion. The paper one the wall is musical score from traditional Japanese Noh theater. The name for their trademarked sushi presentation comes from a Noh play, this is the score for that play.

Gion Izuju Restaurant Interior

Interior Details

The narrow vertical peices are Kitayama Sugi (Japanese cedar from the north mountians of Kyoto), the heavily abraded and eroded planks are from the inside of a well! I have never seen this before.

Interior Details

The plank here is from a wooden boat on Lake Biwa. Peices of wooden boats from Lake Biwa are a very common sight in Kyoto. Kitamura-san said that these peices were collected during the war. Even during a time of such hardship the previous owner still didn’t pass up a chance to score some interesting wood!

Kyoto Sushi Facts

I talked to the owner for an hour or so this morning and here are a few things that I learned. (I learned a lot!)

- Traditionally sushi restaurants were closed in the summer months, from right after the Gion Festival (July 17) to September.

- Before World War II most restaurants didn’t prepare food on site. The owner would get a reservation and budget from the customer and then order each dish from speciality shops. For example, Izuju was one of the top choices for sushi in Kyoto.

- Edo mae (Tokyo style) nigiri sushi came to Kyoto thanks to the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake with sushi shops that relocated to Kyoto.

- Izuju was previously located at the intersection of Sanjo and Kawabata streets. During World War II they came to work one day and found an order posted on their storefront say to leave within one week because the block was going to be demolished by the military government. (A number of neighborhoods in Kyoto were leveled during the war to make makeshift runways, firebreaks and etc. These actions were militarily useless and only increased the suffering of the Japanese people.)

Izuju packed up a wagon and moved to their current location. They never even unpacked as they thought that they would have to move again. Fortunately the war ended soon after, and of course they now have probably the very best location in all of Kyoto. They left the wagon in their storehouse for several decades, as it was when they left their Sanjo location.

- Izuju has used the same rice, fish and kombu dealers for their entire history. No competitive bidding for business here!

- Izuju has not changed their recipes or sushi line-up since they started. (They did have to add one item to the menu based on a law made my General MacArthur during the occupation.)

- They still cook over a wood fired hearth. There is no sushi restaurant in Kyoto that still does and there are only several tofu shops that still do. They use used chopsticks as kindling and the fire department gets called by mistake several times a year by people thinking there is a fire in the heart of Gion!

Highly Recommended

Izuju is a restaurant whose sushi I have had many times take out at friends’ houses, as omiyage, etc, although I have never eaten in the restaurant, even though I walk or bike past it once or twice a week. I was deeply impressed by this casual, friendly, down to earth yet extremely sophisticated and ‘bases loaded homerun’ tasty restaurant.

Izuju is old Kyoto, in the heart of Gion, right across the street from historic Yasaka Shrine. It could be so easy for them to be full of themselves, stuck-up and haughty. Yet Kitamura-san, the owner was so humble and so kind and so sincere in his love of sushi and his restaurant. While I was taking photos in the other room, customers started coming in and I sensed that they were truly grateful to be able to buy his sushi and that he was truly honored to serve them. I can only believe that the soul of this restaurant accounts for the taste. The taste, while sophisticated, historic and deeply Kyoto, I would describe as elevated homecookin.

I was impressed with this restaurant beyond my ability to articulate. It is just so down to earth yet so elevated. I cannot think of a similar restaurant in Kyoto. (I am sure that there are some.)

For a sushi restaurant and a Kyoto shinise, Izuju is not expensive. If you are on a budget, you can enjoy a modest sampling of sushi, the likes of which you cannot find anywhere else in the world, including Japan, for like $10 or so. If you like sushi and are on a budget but can afford to spend like $50 per person on one nice meal on your visit to Kyoto, I would say that Izuju is THE place to go.

Map

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This morning, once again, Tanigawa-san from Kichisen called and asked me to accompany him on a little culinary adventure up to Kibune. Kibune is a village in a mountain gorge in the north mountains above Kyoto, it is a top foodie (and date) spot, especially in the sweltering Kyoto summer. In Kibune they put deck-like constructions with tables over the mountain stream and people enjoy a wonderful meal of river fish while sitting atop the cool, gushing river.

I was out back in my new garden planting habanero peppers when Tanigawa-san showed up at my place in his 1988 Mercedes Benz 560 SL convertible — with the top down, wearing Ray Bans and this really horrible gangsta rapper t-shirt (see photos below).

We zoomed up to Kibune at top speed chatting about European brands, the size of the engine in his car (compared to that of the other Mercedes Benzs that we pass), business and food and then somehow I was made to give an recounting of my girlfriends and relationships since I came to Japan. (Five in ten years really isn’t that many but he seemed somewhat incredulous. Not that Tanigawa-san is in a position to be envious, his wife is extremely HOT.) As we zip up the the mountain road nearing our destination I ask him why we are going to Kifune. He corrects me: Kibune. (Officially it IS Kifune, but ‘real’ Kyoto people say Kibune, or so it has seemed to me over the years.)

Kifune Kawadoko, literally ‘River Floor’

Kifune Kawadoko

Kifune Kawadoko, The Mountain Lane and Tourists

Kibunejaya Entrance

Kibunejaya – We Have River Trout Tempura

Kibunejaya – Interior

Kibunejaya – Interior

Kibunejaya – Interior

Kibunejaya – River Fish Holding Tank

Kibunejaya – River Fish Holding Tank

Kibunejaya – Tanigawa-san, Okami-san and Deshi Kid

So, we get up to Kibune and pull into this kawadoko restaurant called Kibunejaya and one of his students appears from the kitchen. The last time I saw him he was being dropped off at Tanigawa-san’s friend’s stall at the Kyoto Wholesale Food Market to clean fish all day. The time before that he was literally beaten out of the kitchen by Tanigawa-san for scooping rice the wrong way, or some other little minor infraction. Minor to me, at least.

I was glad to see this kid up in Kibune. I sensed that Tanigawa-san was starting to believe that he just might amount to something.

Kibunejaya – Tanigawa-san and Okami-san

Kibunejaya – Cold Somen Noodle Lunch with Tanigawa-san

We had a quick lunch and I made friends with the family that runs the restaurant. They invited me back to do a proper interview and photoshoot for KyotoFoodie. I just have to make sure that I go on a sunny and warm day so that we can get some photos of people on the kawadoko. Kawadoko literally means ‘river floor’.

Kibunejaya – Cold Somen Noodle Lunch

Kibunejaya – Cold Somen Noodle Lunch

Kibunejaya – Cold Somen Noodle Lunch

Kibune is about 30 minutes by train up into the north mountains from the city. It is a little village with an ancient shrine, a beautiful stream gushing through it and numerous restaurants.

The restaurants are unlike anything you can find in other regions of Japan, or so they say. Even my professor of urban design in graduate school told me that by law placing restaurants, or any other constructions over rivers is prohibited in Japan. The restaurants have deck-like constructions right over the top of the cool, gushing river stream. See, Kyoto is pretty hot and steamy in the summer. People go up to Kibune, sit atop this stream and are literally cooled by the temperature and the sound of the running water.

It really is chilly up there. We turned toward Kibune at the intersection for Kibune and Kurama and it was instantly colder. Tanigawa-san said 5 degrees (centigrade).

People in Kyoto love to go up to Kibune and have lunch or dinner atop the river and enjoy the refreshing chill of the water and breeze while enjoying mountain vegetable and river fish cuisine.

Kifune Shrine

On the way home, we zoom down the mountain a few hundred meters then Tanigawa-san parks. Where he parks isn’t a no parking zone, it isn’t somewhere that anyone would even consider parking, it is the entrance of a shrine! We climb the very steep stairway to the top and pray.

Kifune Shrine

Kifune Shrine Water – Take Out

Kifune Shrine – Mitarashi

This is where you wash your hands and purify yourself before entering the shrine proper.

Kifune Shrine – Going Home: Strike a Pose

Kifune Shrine – Going Home: Strike a Pose

Kifune Shrine – No Parking

Kifune Kawadoko: So Kyoto

This is the most elegant, famous (and expensive) restaurant in Kibune. This is the epitome of Kyoto to me. You are offered just a glimpse of the rushing river down this stone stairway and under a intimately scaled bridge-like passage way. Of course as you walk down the lane you can easily hear the rush of the river anywhere in the village, even if you cannot see it. The glimpse is so Kyoto.

Historically, Kyoto — the inland, landlocked capital — wasn’t much of a sushi town, but sabazushi was and is a very important part of the culinary culture. For centuries, Mackerel was harvested in fishing villages on the Sea of Japan coast and carried for several days on the ‘Mackerel Highway’ to Kyoto. The end of the Mackerel Highway, marked by an inscribed stone, is just a 5 minute walk down the street from Kichisen. Of course Kichisen makes sabazushi too and it is sublime.

Itadakimono: The other day I stopped in at Kichisen to chat with Master Tanigawa about tofu as a journalist from Bon Appetit was about to arrive in town and contacted me about a story he was researching. As Mr Tanigawa told me the Kyoto approach to tofu, he hollered into the kitchen ordering one of scurrying disciples to ready a sabazushi for me to take home. Now sabazushi is not cheap, from a famous shop it can cost 4,000 to 8,000 yen ($40 to $80 USD)! I was getting a whole sabazushi and from a restaurant that doesn’t even sell it. They only make it to give to good customers. Once again, I couldn’t believe my luck!

Sabazushi

Mr Tanigawa has praised sabazushi a lot when I consulted him about the soul of Kyoto cuisine because it is very ‘Kyoto’ — efficient, smart and refined. He rather made fun of ‘edomae’ nigiri sushi (from Tokyo). He said that it doesn’t take many smarts to make that, you simply cut up some fish, stick it on rice and dip it in soy sauce. Anyone can do that and it appeals to the unsophisticated. You see, Tokyo being uncultured isn’t anything new, that is the way it was — even 200 years ago!

Sabazushi on the other hand is not only food, it is a brilliant solution to a vexing design problem — how to get seafood to Kyoto 500 or even 1000 years ago. Sabazushi needs to pickle slightly, for a day or so — about the amount of time it took porters to walk to Kyoto from the sea. The flavors and fragrances of the bamboo sheath wrapping and the kombu covering, the ginger, vinegar and mackerel all mix and complexify. There is no waste with sabazushi, if you can’t eat it all today, that is fine. It will taste better tomorrow. The nigirizushi, from Tokyo will be spoiled the next day.

The Sabazushi Wrapping
Sabazushi is invariably wrapped in bamboo sheath and tied shut. A paper wrapping with the store name and logo usually covers the sabazushi. Here are some photos of what it looks like as sabazushi is unwrapped.

Sabazushi Wrapping

Sabazushi Wrapping – Unwrapping

Sabazushi Wrapping – Unwrapping

Sabazushi Wrapping – Unwrapping

This sabazushi is covered with kombu, not all is though. Mr Tanigawa recommends eating the kombu. I enjoyed it with the kombu attached and also removed. I especially liked eating just the kombu alone.

Sabazushi Served

The ginger in on a fresh sakura leaf. The ‘Kyoto’ approach is that just because the sakura have finished blooming that doesn’t mean that we can’t continue to enjoy it in seasonal and unexpected ways.

Sabazushi Served – detail

Just when you think that you have tried all the sushi in the world, you discover one in the very ‘un-sushi’ town of Kyoto that takes you aback! Sakurazushi, as made by Kichisen, is tai (sea bream) wrapped in salted sakura leaf. More than sublime!

Itadakimono: Recently Tanigawa-san at Kichisen has been bringing a lot of yummies, especially sushi for us to try. I just can’t believe my luck. He doesn’t like to see them appear on KyotoFoodie the next day, but with this one I knew that all you foodies around the world would have to hear about it!

Shiozakura is the salted sakura (cherry) leaf that is used for sakura mochi (sakura mochi ice cream) and here Tanigawa-san uses it to make Kyoto-style sushi. He said that the secret is to sprinkle the tai (sea bream) sashimi with salt, then put it in vinegar for a short time. Subtlety, complexity and surprise is the point. Atop the rice, where you would usually find wasabi in sushi, Tanigawa-san adds kinome (sprig of sansho). Two sakura leaves wrap the sushi which is garnished with a cherry petal fashioned from carrot.

Sakurazushi

Sakurazushi – Inside

Of course you don’t unwrap it when eating it, I just thought that I would show you what it looks like inside.

Sakurazushi – Inside

If you look carefully at the fish, in the middle of the sushi (lengthwise) you can see faint green, that is the kinome under the flesh.

Sakurazushi – Served

Verdant green maple leaf decorates the plate to suggest the season.

Sea bream, or ‘tai’ in Japanese is one of the best loved fish and an important symbol in Japanese culture. It is in season in the spring and is called the ‘King of Fish’ in Japan. A whole tai is quite expensive and is enough for an entire meal. Here are three ways to eat one tai.

Itadakimono: Yesterday I was over at Kichisen with a friend chatting with Mr Tanigawa, as I was leaving Mr Tanigawa ordered one of his students to get a tai for me to take home. When they showed the beautiful red fish, I couldn’t believe my luck. It was huge! He also gave me some greens that I had not heard of before: hakusaina.

Sea Bream Feast Served

Sea Bream ‘Tai’

Sea Bream ‘Tai’ – Cleaned

Sea Bream Feast Served

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Ready to Cook

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Cooked

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Removing Meat from Head

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Removing Meat from Head

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Removing Meat from Bones

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Removed Bones

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) Served with Ki-no-me

Ki-no-me is the leaf of the sansho plant.

Tai Meshi
Tai-meshi is made a number of different ways and Mr Tanigawa recommended that we use the head for that. (We put the spine in too and that was a mistake as it left a fair number of bones in the rice. Surprisingly, we were able to strip the meat from the head, even the lips — with only getting a few small boney bits in the rice,)

The idea here is that the head of the tai will make a lot of excellent dashi (soup stock) for the rice. And that it did! Also, nothing should go to waste. First, the tai head is grilled shioyaki style, just for a minute or so on each side. Then the head goes in the rice cooker and is cooked on top of the rice with some ryorishu (cooking sake), salt and a bit of shoyu.

Removing the meat from the head is not as difficult as you might expect. Tai-meshi is usually garnished with ki-no-me, which is the leaf of the sansho pepper bush.

Tai Nitsuki – Simmering Sea Bream with Greens

Tai Nitsuki – Simmered Sea Bream with Greens

Tai Nitsuke
We made a light dashi with just a few small slices of ginger and simmered half the tai in it. As the end, we added the hakusaina greens as per Mr Tanigawa’s instructions. For me, it is hard to beat fish simmered in sake and shoyu.

Tai Sashimi

Tai Sashimi
The bottom half of the fillet is eaten raw, the skin is stripped off and it is simply sliced. Meanwhile, on the other half of the upper half of the fillet, and the skin that was stripped off the lower half, Mr Tanigawa poured boiling water and then plunged it into ice water.

The scalded skin is sliced thin and mixed with scallion and ponzu. (Ponzu is a citrus juice and vinegar based shoyu dipping sauce. I got this ponzu at a shoyu shinise in Kyoto and it includes grapefruit juice, a novel ingredient!) This is similar to the fugu ‘teppi‘ dish.

The ‘scalded’ sashimi with skin is dipped in ponzu and the ‘raw’ sashimi is dipped in the usual shoyu and wasabi. This contrast was particularly wonderful and the kind of surprise you get at a restaurant like Kichisen.

UPDATE: My bad, I called ‘tai’ red snapper, rather than sea bream in this article and was kindly corrected by Marc@NoRecipes. (22 April 2009)

Misozuke creates a wonderful taste for grilled fish, chicken and even beef. Sake and mirin is added to miso paste, just like the kind used for soup, and then the fish is marinated for a day or two. I used a cut of tuna ‘throat’ for this.

The other day when I discovered these maguro tuna ‘throats’, there were both thick and thin slices. I bought a package of both. The thick ones I marinated in sake kasu (see this article for details) and these thinner slices I did in miso.

Maguro Tuna ‘Nodo’

Misozuke
Misozuke is easy and very tasty. Just mix miso paste with sake and mirin. You can probably use white cooking wine and sugar if cooking sake and mirin cannot be obtained. Miso used for misozuke is usually the ‘sweet’ variety. Dark/red is salty and light/brown is sweet. Kyoto’s miso is particularly light in color and is often used for misozuke. (I used barley miso for this, probably not orthodox.)

Usually fish is marinated in miso but chicken is quite common. Beef is wonderful. You can just pack a steak in miso paste with a small amount of sake for a day and then cook it on the grill. It is divine.

Marinade: Miso Paste, Sake and Mirin

This is barley miso, it is the right color and sweetness for good misozuke.

Marinade: Miso Paste, Sake and Mirin

Maguro in Marinade

Marinated Maguro

After marinating, the miso is wiped off, but not washed. Notice there are still a few bits of miso on the fish. This adds flavor but burns easily.

Grilled Misozuke

Being thin, these cooked a little quicker than expected. They got a little burned but were still plenty tasty.

How did it taste?
These slices were rather thin and got a little over-grilled. After cooking, there wasn’t a lot to eat, but what there was was mighty tasty! The richness and fattiness of the tuna is ever present and the miso brings sweetness and also of course the flowery bouquet of the ferment. The skin of such a large fish is not edible and there are two bones, just like in a beef steak, but the cartilage which after being grilled can be eaten. It is pleasantly gooey and tasty.

This was nice but the slices were a little too thin I think. The thicker cuts that we did in sake kasu were better. (see article)