2010 was probably the best year of my life, therefore there were very few KF articles this year, sorry!! KF does still get lots of access, encouraging comments, links and mentions. Thank you!

To ring in the new year, to hope for a year of happiness and contentment, people like to have good food and drink. Here is some inspiration, KyotoFoodie style!

Uni Ikura Donburi and Champagne

Uni Ikura Donburi - detail

Even before I was the KyotoFoodie, I dreamt up this breakfast for Japanese ’Oshogatsu’ New Year’s Day. Japanese have osechi on New Year’s Day morning, all together, at home, a family meal, all out of one box. Osechi is real Zen master food, it is great. However, I couldn’t really call it delicious, and that is fine. Traditionally, the idea was to give the womenfolk three days rest by eating preserved food for the first three days of the year. Truly delicious or not, you only eat osechi once a year and it definitely gives you a taste of life from like 1000 years ago. How Zen master!
I like osechi but this is my idea of how to celebrate the new year. This is my take on Japanese zeitaku (luxury).

How to Do It:
1. You wake up on Jan 1st, not too early, hopefully not hung over from the previous evening’s festivities.
2. You see a big box of excellent Osechi on the dining room table. But, you save that for later. Hey, this is New Year’s Day. You should go back to bed – drunk on champagne, real soon.
3. You have the most zeitaku donburi imaginable – for breakfast. This meal is:
Rice cooked in dashi, heaps and heaps of konbu and maybe sake and mirin. (I thought about cooking the rice in champagne this year, but chickened out. Maybe another day?)
On the rice you heap tons of uni (sea urchin roe) and ikura (salmon roe). This is New Year’s Day, so don’t hold back! I aim to make it about 1 inch thick, this is at least 5 times more than you would get if you ordered this dish at a decent donburi restaurant.
4. You drink a bottle of champagne, with your zeitaku breaki. (One bottle per capita. No sparkling wine, go with the overpriced French stuff today.)
5. You go back to bed and sleep for another few hours.
6. You wake up and think: Hey, this is starting out to be a really great year! (And, its only like half a day old.)
7. What to say to your lover: I hope I don’t need to explain this part on this PG13 site.

Champagne Chilling in the Snow - Japanese Garden Style!

Eating with a Spoon Makes it More Luxurious

All Gone!

What to do if you can’t get, or eat, uni and ikura: Ah, how about steak and lobster, etc? The point here is to:
1. Have one of the most luxurious dinners of the year – for breakfast!
2. Drink a bottle of champagne.
3. Go back to bed (or futon).

’Recipe’
1. Get your lover close and be sweet.
2. Cook rice.
Use really good water, preferable from a shrine with the best, or second best feng shui in the prefecture.
Cook that rice in dashi with, and I quote, an ’insane’ amount of konbu. Miwa, said that my white rice is black, because of so much konbu. Good, good. Make your white rice ’black’ with flavor on New Year’s Day!!!
3. Serve and Indulge
Heap with tons (and I mean tons) of fresh uni and ikura. Authentic KyotoFoodie style is that it should exceed 1 inch in thickness!
4. Go back to bed.

Kurogome - Black Heirloom Rice

Black Rice - Kombu Overload!

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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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After picking up my Hisagozushi demon sushi roll, I passed through Takashimaya Department Store to see the Setsubun foodie offerings and take a few photos for you. I found a demon roll wagashi at Sentaro and I was surprised to find that a vegetable and salad specialty chain shop had a very interesting ‘salad eho-maki’ and deep fried food specialty shop had deep fried sardines. No one wants to miss out of the Setsubun commerce!

See the previous KyotoFoodie article links below if you would like to know more about the Setsubun customs, they all seem to involve food! But first, here is what you need on your Setsubun shopping list:

Setsubun Shopping List Item #1: Sardines
The Japanese demon, ‘Oni’, who you want to drive away from your home on Setsubun doesn’t like the odor of sardines. So, grill up a lot, eat a lot, stink like sardines and even hang a grilled sardine head around your front door. Best to cook yours at home on Setsubun and stink up the house rather than buy them precooked in the stores.

Super-size Sardines for Grilling at Home

Grilled Sardines, for Cheater!

'Out with the Old, In With the New!' Sardines Deep Fried Tonkatsu Style

Setsubun Shopping List Item #2: Roast Soybeans
Throw roasted soy beans, called Fuku-mame 福豆, ‘good fortune/happiness beans’ out your door and say, demon out, good fortune in, or, out with the old, in with the new!

Fuku-mame Roasted Soybeans for Good Fortune

Fuku-mame Roasted Soybeans for Good Fortune

Setsubun Shopping List Item #3: Eho-Maki
Eho-maki 恵方巻 is the ‘direction of good fortune’ sushi roll. The Eho-maki has made a come back in the last few decades and is more popular in Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) than in Kanto (Tokyo area). This sushi roll contains 7 lucky ingredients and should be eaten without stopping or talking, facing the direction of good fortune for the year.

So many traditional eho-maki to choose from!

So many traditional eho-maki to choose from!

So many traditional eho-maki to choose from!

Queuing for Hisagozushi Eho-maki

'Out with the Old, In With the New!' Shrimp and Avocado Salad Eho-maki

'Out with the Old, In With the New!' Shrimp and Avocado Salad Eho-maki - detail

Previous KyotoFoodie Setsubun Articles
Setsubun Ehomaki, Mame-maki and Grilled Sardine
Setsubun Customs: Hiiragi Iwashi (Holly and Sardine Head)
Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans

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Oni-ni-Kanabo 'Demon Roll' - Package

Oni ni Kanabo Mushi-pan Roll from Sentaro 京都 仙太郎 鬼に金棒
This confection is called Oni-ni-kanabo 鬼に金棒. Oni is a demon in Japanese culture and kanabo 金棒 is a metal pole that the demon carries around. It comes from a Japanese saying. Demons are very strong and scary and the metal pole (beating stick), in the hands of a fierce demon is very strong combination indeed. To be in the ‘oni-ni-kanabo’ position is to be stronger than strong, is to have an unbeatable advantage, a double advantage, unbeatable combination. That is the background on where the name and shape comes from. So, how about the taste?

Oni-ni-Kanabo 'Demon Roll' - Cut and Served

This novel confection is a long ‘pole’ of azuki bean paste (anko) that has been wrapped in a sheet of kokuto 黒糖 ‘black sugar’ mushi-pan ‘steamed bread’. It not only makes a convincing pole, it is really tasty! Sentaro has been mentioned a number of times on KyotoFoodie, way back in March of 2008, we introduced Sentaro’s rice flour kasutera (castella) which is otherworldly in texture and and subtlety of flavor. So, you can be sure that Sentaro has just the right touch for ‘bready’ wagashi.

I am usually not a fan of anko because it is too sweet or there is too much in wagashi confections, but the anko that makes the core of this demon roll is modest in quantity and sweetness. The kokuto mushi-pan makes it over-the-top for me. From the taste it would certainly seem that they didn’t skimp on kokuto, it has a huge and full taste of this wonderfully earthy and natural sugar and the texture of the mushi-pan made me think that it must have some kind of fairy dust sprinkled into it. As I ate it, the texture conjured up images of sylphs in fairyland, floating about, eating this impossibly light and fluffy steamed bread that is also moist and dense with flavor. Wow. That’s a Kyoto shinise for you! (A good one, that is, there are plenty of crappy ones.)

Packaging and Environment
I have complained about excessive packaging that is often synonymous with wagashi but this demon roll uses a modest (comparatively speaking, this is Japan) amount of resources in the packaging. It is just one layer of plastic wrap for hygiene and one piece of paper for the label. The paper the label printed on is white, I suppose they could have used unbleached paper.

Reference and Links
Discussion of the meaning and various translation of Oni-ni-kanabo on Proz.com

Map to Sentaro

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Two years ago I was introduced to Hisagozushi’s Setsubun Onimaki, literally ‘demon roll’ by Miwa. I had eaten this shinise’s sushi several times but I had no idea of their magical and very visually appealing eho-maki. Last year, I really wanted to eat one again but we were too late and Hisagozushi was sold out.

Seven Lucky Ingredients for Hisagozushi Ehomaki Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

This year, not only did I make a reservation the day before and schedule the pick up in the a.m. not the p.m., I arranged to do a short interview and get some photos of the master, Chef Ujita making my demon roll!

I knew that Hisagozushi must sell an insane amount of these delightfully decorated and very tasty sushi rolls on Setsubun but I assumed that they had some kind of fantastic machine that just cranked them out – they are a small shop!

The day before Setsubun, and two days before spring, I got to speak with the owner and head chef and he said that he and the staff we going to be up all night making ehomaki and working all day on Setsubun to fill orders. However, as I knew from my experience last year, they would not be able to meet the demand. And, everything is made by hand, no fancy machines!

Seven Lucky Ingredients for Onimaki 'Demon Roll' on Rice and Egg Sheet

Seven Lucky Ingredients for Onimaki 'Demon Roll' on Rice and Egg Sheet - detail

About Hisagozushi and Onimaki
This morning, February 3rd, I went over to Hisagozushi (ひさご寿し) to take some photos of my Oni Maki (鬼巻, demon roll) being made and to learn first hand about this foodie product that has fascinated me for a long time. By the way, I know from the KF access stats that this product is among probably the top 3 that have appeared on KF! Visually, it is a very compelling piece of sushi. As someone with a background in design and currently doing product and brand development, this is a product that I often recall.

The master was looking rather tired at 10 am this morning when I arrived and he still had a long, long day ahead of him! Chef Ujita gave a quick demonstration of how they make their Demon Roll. First you have to understand that 7 is the luck number in Japan and you want to have a lucky year ahead. So, the eho-maki has 7 ingredients rolled up inside rice and the egg wrapper. The ingredients are sliced shiitake mushroom simmered in sweetened soy sauce, kanpyo (dried gourd strips), chopped grilled anago eel, sliced takuan tsukemono (pickle), shrimp, cucumber and atsuyaki-tamago (thick egg omelet) strip. And this is all wrapped up inside that wonderful demon branded sheet of egg.

As Chef Ujita had a long day ahead of him so I asked the Okami-san 女将さん (proprietress), literally ‘woman general’, about the history of Onimaki and Hisagozushi.

Hisagozushi Master, Chef Ujita Rolling Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Hisagozushi Master, Chef Ujita Rolling Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Hisagozushi Master, Chef Ujita Rolling Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Hisagozushi Master, Chef Ujita Rolling Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

"And here is Michael's Onimaki for 2010!"

Hisagozushi opened for business in 1945, the store has been in its current location since opening and now has counters in both Takashimaya Kyoto and JR Kyoto Isetan department stores. Hisagozushi, located in downtown Kyoto, is a small shop and uses lots of eggs in their various sushi offerings. Hisagozushi doesn’t have the space to cook eggs in addition to making sushi, so for 60 years they have been collaborating with a famous Kyoto egg shop. Hisagozushi is quite well known for their chirashi-zushi, which uses a lot of egg.

As I spoke with the Okami-san, I found myself beside myself for not picking up on this. First off, I have to say that this sushi roll is just the most compelling that I have ever seen. And, I didn’t realize how ‘Kyoto’ it is. The Okami-san was very understated about it, inarticulate almost. I distinctly felt that she might not be fully aware of how epic this was as she told me the story. “Well, about 10 years ago we and our egg maker were talking about making a new eho-maki. The egg maker suggested that we could make a wrapping with egg and we never liked the ones wrapped with nori because nori is rather hard to chew, and just quite plain.” I mean, every eho-maki in the land is wrapped with nori, right? Yes!

“So, we thought that if the wrapping were done in egg it would be more elegant — more Kyoto, and it would be easier to chew. The wrapping would be soft and tasty. And, our egg maker suggested that we could use an oni themed hot iron brand on the egg. We came up with an ‘oni’ demon design and that has been quite a hit ever since!”

This truly is one of the artifacts of Kyoto culinary culture that even in other season I often find myself thinking about.

Onimaki Box

Hisagozushi's Setsubun Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Hisagozushi's Setsubun Onimaki 'Demon Roll'

Ehomaki - Directions for 2010 - This Year Face West by South-west

Setsubun Customs and Food
The main customs for Setsubun all involve food. Setsubun can be thought of as a kind of New Year’s celebration and you wish for plenty of good fortune for the new year and do anything possible to avert illness and bad fortune. The demon often seen at Setsubun brings bad fortune and you want to drive him out, especially out of your house.

Eho-maki – Lucky Direction Sushi Roll: Eat a sushi roll with 7 lucky ingredients facing the direction of good fortune for that year. (The direction changes every year. Eat it quietly and don’t stop while eating, wish for what you want in the coming year. (see this KyotoFoodie How to Eat Ehomaki and How to Eat Ehomaki article for more)
Mame-maki – Throw Beans Out Your Door: Put roasted ‘fukumame’ soybeans in a square wooden ‘masu’ cup and place in the ‘kamidana’ family shrine during the day on February 3rd. (If you don’t have a shrine, place in a high place, above the level of your eyes.) Between 8 and 10 pm throw beans out every door and window of the house (do the ‘genkan’ front door last) twice and say ‘Oni wa soto!’ (Demon out! 鬼は外) and close the door or window quickly and throw beans inside the room twice and say ‘Fuku wa uchi!’ (Good fortune and happiness in! 福は内).
Eat Beans: Pick up beans from the floor of the house, these are all charged up with good fortune now. This will keep you healthy and give you longevity. Eat the same number of roasted soybeans as your age, plus one. Eating off of the floor is not something normally done anywhere, least of all hyper-clean Japan. Traditionally, this is how it was done and Japanese homes have very clean floors. Now some companies sell ‘fukumame’ roasted soybeans in a hygienic sack that you can toss around your house, pick it up off the floor, open it and count out your beans, nice and clean. I have never thrown beans in the house. I just counted them out of the bag. Opps. Miwa checked various websites and this is indeed the proper way to do it. While I have never eaten off the floor, I like the idea because I am really into cleanliness. The floor in one’s home SHOULD be clean enough to eat off of – even if you do not do so in practice!
Hiiragi Iwashi – Put the Head on Your Front Door with Holly Leaves: The demon doesn’t like the strong smell of sardines, so grill one and eat it on Setsubun. The demon is afraid of getting his eyes poked. So, put the grilled sardine’s head on a holly stick with plenty of holly leaves and then put that on or around your front door. The smell will drive off oni and he will be afraid of getting his eyes poked by the thorns on the holly leaves if he were to try to come in your house. Aren’t Japanese demons easy to deal with? No magically passing through walls and so on! (see this KyotoFoodie Hiiragi Iwashi article for more)

Origin of Ehomaki
There are two competing theories regarding the origin of ehomaki. One says that merchants in the late Edo and early Meiji eras Senba (a part of Osaka) ate this special makizushi at Setsubun hoping for a new year of prosperity. Therefore this custom is more common in the Kansai region, rather than Kanto. Another theory states that a samurai under Toyotomi Hideyoshi coincidentally ate makizushi at Setsubun the day before a battle and was victorious; it then quickly became a custom. Peko likes the merchant theory best. source Setsubun Ehomaki, Mame-maki and Grilled Sardine

Here is our first Onimaki article, Setsubun: The Day Before Spring, Demons, How to Eat Eho-Maki and Throw Your Beans.

Kyoto Hisagozushi 'Honten' Storefront

Hisagozushi
Hisagozushi honten (main store) is located on Kawaramachi Street just north of Shijo Street. It on the west side of Kawaramachi Street, next to OPA shopping center. The nearby Shijo-Kawaramachi intersection is the heart of Kyoto. Hankyu Kawaramachi Station is there as well as Takashimaya Department Store. The honten offers both takeout and sit down dining.

Hisagozushi also has takeout locations in the food courts of Takashimaya Kyoto and JR Kyoto Isetan department stores in Kyoto.

Hisagozushi’s sushi is good, maybe a little pricey for a budget traveler. If you want to purchase the Onimaki, best to make a reservation on February 2nd and pick it up Feb 3rd. Hisagozushi does offer some other Setsubun and Eho-maki sushi but the Onimaki is the one to write home about!

Hisagozushi website: www.hisagozusi.co.jp (Japanese only)
English menu: Yes, with photos and easy to understand.
telephone: 075-221-5409 (probably no English spoken)
Address: Kyoto-shi, Nakagyo-ku, Kawaramachi-dori Shijo-agaru, Shioya-cho 144 (京都市中京区河原町通四条上ル塩屋町144)

Hisagozushi Kyoto Takashimaya Department Store Location - Waiting in Line for Ehomaki

Map to Hisagozushi Honten

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Things had been slow going between us, I must have gone to Kichisen five times to try to explain to him what I wanted to do. I even took Miwa with me a few times. He was always friendly and polite but never said yes, he didn’t say no either.

On one occasion that I went Chef Tanigawa lent me this old, out of print book about Kyoto cuisine written by one of his masters. After a month or so I thought I should return it, but before doing so, I photocopied the book as I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to get my hands on a copy again. I brought it back and he asked me if I was really done with it. I matter-of-factly said that I photographed the book. He was surprised, I assured him that I photocopied it literally from cover to cover. He said that as New Year’s was fast approaching I ought to do an article on his Osechi. I gladly agreed to that and quickly planned it into a major series!

He yelled into the kitchen for the apprentices to wrap up a big round daikon radish for me and told me to make tsukemono with it. This was the first time that I saw Kichisen apprentices scurrying about for me. Next came a bag of shinmai new rice. When I got home I laid them out on my desk in the sunny south room and photographed them.

I think that photocopying the entire book might have impressed him into taking me seriously. I really don’t know.

Almost a Year Has Passed: 2008 New Rice from Chef Tanigawa

2009: The other night the telephone rang and it was Chef Tanigawa saying that he had received his 2009 new rice and that he had made some onigiri rice balls and was having an apprentice run them up to my house. I had actually just finished dinner when the telephone rang and was not very hungry.

The onigiri were nearly gooey soft yet there was tons of okoge in them. They were not wrapped in nori seaweed or stuffed with anything. They were especially salty though and I distinctly feeling grains of salt crunching between my teeth! On the side was his beni shoga pickled ginger, also over-the-top salty.

This is what arrived in a natural wrapping of bamboo sheath.

Kichisen Shinmai Onigiri and Bamboo Sheath Wrapping

Kichisen Shinmai Onigiri Unwrapping and Green Leaves

Kichisen Shinmai Onigiri with Beni Shoga

Notice the yellow okoge in the onigiri. The beni shoga pickled ginger is separated with a still green ginkgo leaf.

Kichisen Shinmai Onigiri with Beni Shoga

I decided that at least for myself, I wanted to recall this last year. I can’t count how many times Chef Tanigawa has called me over to Kichisen to tell me something, taste something, photograph something or give me something. It has been an experience that I never could have (or would have thought to) wish for. I am quite sure that there is no one else like him in Kyoto. He not only defeated Chef Masaharu Morimoto on Iron Chef, he beat him in a clean sweep. Yet, Chef Tanigawa is very down to earth and very accessible, open and friendly. The kind of master Kyoto needs a whole lot more of!

He is such a nut and is really into Ed Hardy. When he is not in his hard starched and pressed white chef/priest robe, he is decked out in Ed Hardy clothing, Chrome Hearts bling and a Louis Vuitton bag and Gucci shoes.

One more than one occasion I have called him around dinner time, when he is most busy to ask him how to make something in particular. Just for a pointer or two, not even a recipe and he says I’ll be up to your house in like 45 minutes! Like the day I called to ask about the broth he used for his boiled tofu dish.

Chef Tanigawa Explaining His Turtle Soup (or the effects thereof)

After Sake at Asakura

On the last night Zenchef and Norecipes were in town we went to Sake Bar Asakura to taste some real sake.

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Classic Japanese Candy: Sweet Potato Caramel さつまいもキャラメル

This unique caramel is made by the same Kyushu based company that makes bontan ame, another meibutsu (meisan) product. It indeed has a ‘caramely’ taste but is not as sticky and chewy as Western caramel. It still has a tiny hint of the granular stringiness of sweet potatoes. As bontan ame, it is not that sweet, probably about the right sweetness to satisfy a sweet tooth but not enough to affect the waistline.

This soft candy, like bontan ame is wrapped in the edible cellophane called oblaat that came to Japan with Western medicine at the beginning of the Meiji era. The oblaat immediately melts on contact with the tongue.

The ingredients are; mizuame (lit. ‘water candy’, a traditional sweetener), satsuma imo sweet potato, butter, sugar and condensed milk. Sweet potato makes up about 1/3 of the volume of each soft candy.

This, like bontan ame is very fascinating to me because it is made with Japanese ingredients and to Japanese tastes, but it was very obviously inspired by Western candy. In the Taisho era (1912-1926) Japan was heavily influenced and inspired by the West but was still distinctly Japanese. Much of the art, design, fashion and products of this era are very interesting to Westerners because they are modern, but not quite exotic. There is a connection to us but also there is something unique that we could not have come up with. I think that this era was Japan’s modern ‘Golden Age’.

Nostalgic Package Design

Sweet Potato Caramel with Oblaat Wrapping

Satsuma Imo (Sweet Potato)


Sweet Potatoes in Japanese Culinary Culture
Sweet potatoes are more ubiquitous in Japan than you might imagined. They are used in all sorts of dishes, especially confections. Sweet potatoes came to Japan from South America through Southeast Asia, China and the Ryukyu Kingdom, present-day Okinawa and landed in Kyushu about 300 years ago.

Production of satsuma imo soon flourished on the southern tip of Japan (called Satsuma then) because of the volcanic soil and hot climate. Kyushu’s famed imo-jochu, the shochu distilled alcohol of the region, is made from these same sweet potatoes. Farther north in Japan wheat and rice is used.

Production of sweet potatoes was limited to the Satsuma region for some time until a horrible famine swept Japan. The people in present-day Kagoshima and Nagasaki prefectures fared significantly better than other areas because they had an abundant supply of rich and hardy sweet potatoes. After the famine, satsuma imo production was promoted by the Tokugawa Shogunate in Tokyo and quickly spread throughout the country.

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Classic Japanese Candy: Bontan Ame – Mochi and Pectin Soft Candy ボンタンアメ

At a little old store in Kyoto, I found this HUGE box of bontan ame and had to get it. I have never seen a candy box so large in Japan. “Now this is some American-style SUPER SIZED bontan ame!”, I thought, when I spotted it. It is equal to about 5 boxes of the regular sized bontan ame.

The package design of bontan ame is a classic and harkens back to the era when Japan was modernizing based on Western influence and technology but was still distinctly Japanese, unlike the Japan of today that too often apes whatever is popular in the West. This era, about 80 years ago is one of my favorite eras of Japanese history, the other being the Warring States period.

Bontan Ame Candy and Nostalgic Package

About Bontan Ame
This candy (ame) is made from the bontan, also buntan (ぼんたん、文旦) fruit. This fruit is similar to a grapefruit but larger. Large specimens are the size of a volleyball. This fruit came to Japan from Southeast Asia so it grows in the southern-most island of Kyushu where the climate is most suitable.

Bontan ame was has been made by a company in Kagoshima City, Kyushu since 1926. It is said to be inspired by caramel. It is made of mochi, gyuhi, mizuame (traditional sweetener) and the bontan fruit juice.

Interestingly, each piece of candy is individually wrapped and is eaten with the wrapper on. The wrapper is made of oblaat which is gelatinous, transparent film that melts immediately on contact with the tongue. Oblaat originally came to Japan with Dutch medicine, it was used to wrap up bitter medicine in a package like modern-day gelatin capsules. In bontan ame it is utilized to prevent the sticky mochi-based ame pieces from sticking to one another.

How Does Bontan Ame Taste?
The first thing you notice about bontan ame is the oblaat, the odd crunch on your teeth from what seems like crisp cellophane. This lasts for only the first bite as it melts away in an instant.

If you didn’t know that bontan ame were made with citrus, you might not realize it when taste it as the taste is not heavy on citrus. It is certainly not sour or bitter like lemon or grapefruit. I suspect that the citrus aspect of bontan ame has been purposely mellowed, even more so than the fruit itself.

To me bontan ame is all about the texture. As it is made with gyuhi mochi and citrus pectin so it is of course very soft and chewy.

Like most Japanese sweets, the taste itself is not particularly sweet. Not just citrus, not just mochi, not just mizuame; it is a taste of what Japan created after initial exposure to Western technology and culinary culture. There isn’t really anything like it being developed by ‘junk food’ companies in Japan today.

If you come to Japan and you want to try to find some bontan ame, it is available in most grocery stores and some convenience stores. Look for the distinctive package.

Bontan Ame Candy and Nostalgic Package

Bontan Ame Soft Candies with Edible Oblaat Wrapping

Bontan Ame – Early Modern Japanese Package Design

Bontan Ame – Early Modern Japanese Package Design

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This yokan wagashi is section of river with swimming fish, floating green leaves and boulders that in addition to being tasty meant to have a cooling effect on the mind of the eater.

This confection is called Kibunegawa, after the Kibune River which is a stream in the North Mountains of Kyoto that flows down to the Kamo River. The village of Kibune is a very popular summer destination for a half day trip from Kyoto (city) to cool down. The temperature in the mountains, with shade cast by lush evergreen trees and cool, fast flowing streams, makes people feel very refreshed.

Kibunegawa Yokan with Fish, Leaves and Boulders

Of course people can not go up to Kibune to cool down every time they work up a sweat, but Kyoto people still want something in their everyday lifestyle to make them feel cool and refreshed, even if it is more psychological rather than physical.

Changing interior decorations in their house is one way to feel cool. For example, the zabuton cushion cover and noren curtain color are changed to blue or white in the summer. The fabric will change from soft, fuzzy cotton in the winter to hard, stiff ‘asa’ linen. People use more glassware for meals to produce cool atmosphere. People also put out furin wind chimes under their eves to hear cool sound. There are countless things what Japanese try to feel cool in brain.

Food is another very important way to feel cool and sweets and confections are not excluded. This Kibunegawa summer yokan plays on the Japanese senses to help people feel cool.

The transparency suggests cool and refreshing water. The green maple leaves and ayu sweetfish recall the season, but in a verdant and fresh atmosphere. The visual motif of swimming is particularly strong. Don’t you feel cool from looking at fish swimming in the water?

This is Kyoto people’s way of enjoying hot summer. You can not enjoy this to the most if you are in air conditioned cool room. If you understand what I am saying, maybe you got Japanese sense of seasons.

Kibunegawa Yokan with Fish, Leaves and Boulders

Kibunegawa Yokan Cross Section

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.

May 5th is Boy’s Day, or Tango-no-Sekku in Japan. Colorful koi (carp) fabric streamers, some gigantic, are flown from house roofs and condominium verandas by families with young boys. I found these koinobori chofu at a wagashi shop in Nara the other day, I hadn’t seen anything like this before.

Usually fish shaped wagashi are ayugashi, or wakaayu, which I love and reviewed extensively in this article last summer. This koinobori chofu (more about chofu) is a clever riff on ayugashi, but is made for Boy’s Day, or officially known as Children’s Day now. The koinobori, rather than ayu sweetfish, is the inspiration for the shape. The filling is quite novel too, the gyuhi mochi filling is flavored with orange jam!

The package is great, it really looks like koinobori. The koinobori (see photos below) is basically a windsock, fish shaped, painted or printed to resemble a brightly color koi.

Koinobori Chofu

Why Koi (Carp) Shaped Streamers?
It is said that the koi, if butchered alive, or even cooked alive, does not panic and flip and flail about like the image of a fish out of water, or in hot sand, in Western culture. The koi stoically accepts the end with dignity and without panic. A koi on the cutting board or the hearth, it is still. Hey, when your number is up, your life is over — you are dead. Flailing around will not change things. So, it is much better to die a dignified death, in control rather than flipping out. This is related to the samurai ethic regarding bravery, honor and death. This behavior is what is considered ‘manly’ in Japan. (This is much more evolved than machismo, in my opinion.) Therefore, the koi is one of the important symbols for Boy’s Day.

Koinobori Chofu – detail

Koinobori Chofu

Koinobori Chofu

Koinobori Chofu – detail

Orange jam filling on the left and anko (azuki paste) on the right.

How did it taste?
This isn’t exactly gourmet wagashi but the yakikawa waffle was very tasty and quite mochi mochi (chewy). The orange jam flavored gyuhi filling was very good, the azuki filling in the other was average, nothing special.

Below are two images from last year’s Suetomi’s Boy’s Day/Koinobori article.

Koinobori

photo credit: teseb

Koinobori – detail

High quality koi-no-bori are still hand painted and quite expensive.
photo credit: qa™design

It is May and the most historic festival in all of Japan, the Aoi Matsuri is upon us. Iron Chef Defeater, Yoshimi Tanigawa of Kyoto’s famed Kichisen restaurant artfully uses the symbols and themes of the Aio Matsuri and seasonal leaves and ingredients for Kichisen’s May kaiseki menu.

Mr Tanigawa offered to let us do an article about his Kyoto kaiseki creations for the month of May which has both the Tango no Sekku (Boy’s Day/Festival) and Aoi Matsuri (Hollyhock Festival). Late spring verdant green, new leaves and seasonal sprouts, buds and fish abound. At Kichisen, flower arrangement and food meet in Mr Tanigawa’s natural and artistic culinary creations.

Sakizuke (Appetizer) with Seasonal Leaves and Iris

(click photos to enlarge)

Japan’s most historic festival, the Aoi Matsuri is to please the deities of the Kamo Shrines (Kamigamo and Shimogamo) and to avert famine and epidemics. For 15 centuries, people in Kyoto have put on this festival on. Kichisen borders Shimogamo Shrine and utilizes the shrine’s aoi (hollyhock) leaf in it’s logo. See photos at the end of this article to see the distinctive hollyhock plant and tiny, delicate flowers. (More about the Aio Matsuri on OpenKyoto coming soon.)

These are the first 5 courses (7 dishes) of the 12 course ‘May’ kaiseki meal.

Sakizuke (Appetizer) with Seasonal Leaves and Iris

The leaves: top two are aoi, then a whole iris and the bottoms leaves on the bottom layer are kashiwa oak leaves. Inside the kashiwa leaves are the appetizers.

The Oak Leaf Wrapped Appetizers
梅干しの天ぷら: Umeboshi Tempura (umeboshi is pickled plum)
賀茂茄子の田楽: Kamonasu Dengaku (Kamo Eggplant Miso Dengaku)
バイ貝と大根のうま煮: Baikai Daikon Umanin (Simmered Ivory Shell and Daikon)

Heian Chimaki and Uni and Yomogi (Mugwort) Tofu

Heian Era Chimaki
平安粽: Chimaki is usually a rice or sweet dish that has been wrapped in the leaf of the ‘sasa’ bamboo plant. At Kichisen, they continue to make chimaki the way it was made when Kyoto was founded 1200 years ago.

Wanmono: Yoshino Hamo Eel (Soup)

Hamo Eel
Hamo is synonymous with fresh fish in Kyoto as it was, historically the only fish from the sea that could be transported to Kyoto and still be alive when it arrived. Hamo is bony and requires a special ‘bone cutting’ technique in order to make it edible. This delicate soup is made with kuzu root (starch) from Yoshino in rural Nara prefecture. The green citrus is a very, very young yuzu.

The droplets of water on the lid are sprinkled on using a chasen, the whisk for making maccha in the tea ceremony.

Mukozuke: Tai, Ika, Kuruma Ebi Sashimi

Awabi (Abalone) Sushi

Soboku
Abalone season has just started in Japan. Traditionally, when fishermen collected them they would be tied up with straw. As Kichisen’s kaiseki retains a deep connection to the tea ceremony, this kind of natural simplicity is incorporated into the dishes. This is the kind of thing that makes Kichisen different from many other kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto.

Hassun: Various Fish Dishes

Hassun: Various Fish Dishes

Food Porn, the Kyoto Perspective
I asked Mr Tanigawa if I could photograph the other courses in this meal but he said that if you want to see them all you have to come to Kichisen for dinner. Interestingly, he said that if you show photos of everything, it cheapens it. Yes, that is a very ‘Kyoto’ approach — don’t show too much. (I am down on a lot of traditional Kyoto attitude, but I think I agree with his judgment on this point.)

Kichisen Restaurant

Kichisen Interior

Kichisen Gate

The plants on either side of the stone steps are aoi hollyhock.

note: The photos above are the property of Kichisen and may not be republished without permission (as often happens with my photos).

Aoi

Aoi Hollyhock

Aoi Hollyhock Flowers

Notice the tiny flowers under the leaves. This variety of hollyhock reminds me of strawberry plants far more than the hollyhocks that I used to grow back in Minnesota!