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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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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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

Hanaore is another very ‘Kyoto’ culinary experience. This famous shop offers only a single, well loved dish — sabazushi. Just three slices of sabazushi and a small bowl of soup will set you back 1,800 yen! Hanaore and sabazushi is a must try!!

The only dish served, sabazushi and the noren (shop curtain)

Hanaore is another very ‘Kyoto’ culinary experience. This famous shop offers only a single, well loved dish — sabazushi. Just three slices of sabazushi and a small bowl of soup will set you back 1,800 yen! Hanaore and sabazushi is a must try!!

About Sabazushi
saba means mackerel, zushi is sushi

Before refrigeration and fossil fuel powered transport, Kyoto didn’t have much for fish, and no fresh fish from the sea. Therefore, the people of Kyoto, including the emperor, had to eat salted or dried fish that could make the journey from the Sea of Japan to the capital.

Saba (mackerel) is tasty, nourishing and plentiful in the Sea of Japan. Since olden times the Sabakaido (Mackerel Highway) brought food stuffs, mainly marine products from the sea to Kyoto. The Sabakaido ran from Obama in modern day Fukui Prefecture to Demachiyanagi (Kyoto), a 10 minute walk from Hanaore. The most important product brought to Kyoto on the Sabakaido was saba.

Sabazushi is made with saba that has been lightly pickled in salt, then filleted. The fillets are then pickled in sushi vinegar (rice vinegar and sugar) for a short time. Next the outer skin of the saba is carefully peeled away (retaining a delicate inner skin), remaining small bones are extracted with a tweezer-like device.

The fillet is placed into a kigata (a wooden form) for making oshizishi (pressed sushi) which is filled with sushi rice. A very thinly sliced piece of pickled kombu (kelp) is placed atop the saba. It is then pressed in the wooden form.

After pressing the sabazushi is placed in dried bamboo shoot covering and wrapped. The sabazushi will now keep (for a short time by modern standards).

Hanaore
Hanaore is one of several well known sabazushi restaurants in Kyoto. The honten (original, main shop) is located just to the west of Shimogamo Shrine (a UNESCO World Heritage site).

Hanaore seats just a few customers, serves one dish and offers several other oshizushi for take away.

The quality of the saba used is said to be the very, very best. The clerk told us that they have a difficult time now obtaining saba of the size and quality that passes muster with the proprietor.

Hanaore is highly recommended.

If you are visiting Shimogamo or Kamigamo Shrine or the Imperial Palace, Hanaore is probably on your way. Portions are small, we recommend it for lunch or an afternoon snack. Prices are pretty high, but unless you are on a tight budget, don’t let that stop you. This is how refined Kyotoites dined before industrialization. Again, a very ‘Kyoto’ experience.

Hanaore storefront and noren

noren

Hanaore’s offerings written on pieces of bamboo
only one kind of oshizishi is served in the restaurant, the others are available for purchase

sabazushi and an exquisitely simple soup

sabazushi and naturally colored (red shiso) pickled ginger

Hanaore’s sabazushi is huge!

notice the yellowish pickled kombu atop the sabazushi

the soup features a single, tiny fillet of amadai (sweet baby snapper) — amazing!
amadai is also lightly pickled, this seems slightly grilled too

other oshizushi available, they are wrapped in bamboo shoot covering and a paper label
all priced to knock your socks off!

framed photograph of oshizushi, the one of the lower left is wrapped in thick, green kombu (kelp)

Narezushi is the original sushi of Japan, this is funazushi, a controversial delicacy of neighboring Lake Biwa. Funa is a kind of carp. Narezushi is fish fermented with rice. Think fish cheese — only in Japan! If you like blue cheese, you *might* like funazushi. Most Japanese won’t touch this one. If you want to out do the natives, you’ve got to try this one!

Sliced funazushi on the left (the orange center is the funa eggs). On the right is narezushi made with saba, we have not tried this one yet but have heard that it is more palatable than funazushi.

A whole saba narezushi packaged in bamboo sheath (left). On the right is heshiko. Heshiko is pickled with huge amounts of salt and nuka (rice bran). Heshiko is popular among drinkers. This heshiko is made with saba.

Iwashi (sardine) heshiko, another important fish from the Sea of Japan

English
This is not a tourist destination, Hanaore is undiscovered. Give it a try, with only one thing on the menu, you can’t order the wrong thing!

Hanaore website (Japanese language only)

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