Castle in the Sky

Many flowers are late in blooming this autumn because of the hot weather in September. Spider lilies are in full bloom in my town. Sweet osmanthus finally started blooming.

We eat Pacific sauries broiled with salt and rice cooked with chestnuts in autumn.
Pacific sauries come down from Hokkaido to Sanriku(Tohoku) in autumn, but they stay in Hokkaido due to this year's unusually high water temperatures. It also causes a poor salmon catch and a record catch of mackerel in Hokkaido.
I cooked chestnut rice last week. It takes a lot of effort to remove astringent skins from the Japanese chestnut.

Takeda Castle Ruins in Asago City, Hyogo Prefecture looked like an island floating on the sea of clouds on the 13th. It's called "the Castle in the Sky." In this area, a sea of clouds emerges in the morning in bright sunny early morning between autumn and winter.
This place was used as a location for the movie "Kagemusha" by Akira Kurosawa.

Takeda Castle was constructed in the early 15th century. It is thought to have become its present form around 1600. However, the castle was deserted after the last lord of the castle committed harakiri. Only its stone walls still exists today.

in autumn

in winter

cherry blossom season



photo by 神戸観光壁紙写真集


the season of new green leaves

in winter

photo by 神戸観光壁紙写真集

 It is thought that Ano-shu Guild (groups of stonemasons) built its stone wall by Ano Zumi(穴太積)  which is an old method of building robust stone walls. They piled up mostly unprocessed natural stones without using joint sealer. Stone walls built using the method spread their weight and are well drained, so they tends not to collapse. The method looks so easy but requires proficient skills. So some methods using processed stones later became popular.

Ano Zumi is passed on from generation to generation, the 15th-generation Ano-shu stonemason runs a building company now. His company contracted to build a stone wall using the method along a section of the Tokai Nature Trail in Shiga Prefecture in 2004. In advance of the adoption of the method, a concrete block wall and a stone wall by Ano Zumi were tested for pressure. The stone wall was deformed but not collapsed. The concrete block wall was of lesser intensity than it.

photo by Asago City

Hote-matsuri

Hote-matsuri(帆手祭) is a festival held at Shiogama Jinja Shrine(鹽竈神社) on March 10th in Shiogama City, Miyagi Prefecture. The festival started to pray for fire prevention after a big fire of Shiogama in 1682.

It snowed during the morning and rained in the afternoon in Shiogama today.　I heard the festival received TV coverage.

The highlight of the festival is when 16 carriers go down the steep flight of 202 steps with one ton of mikoshi(portable shrine) on their shoulders.

Mikoshi will leave the shrine at half past noon, go through the town with attendants and children in traditional attire and go up the stairs at 8 p.m.

The festival was snowed off two years ago.
On March 9th of last year, the earthquake with a seismic intensity of a lower 5 on the seven-point Japanese scale occurred off the Sanriku coast. The tsunami due to the quake washed away farming rafts of wakame seaweed and oysters.　There were some aftershocks.

In that situation, the festival was held in the snow last year.
Mikoshi got stuck at a part of the course that it could usually pass through without difficulty. A visitor said he had an ominous presentiment.

Okama Jinja Shrine(御釜神社), a subordinate shrine of Shiogama Jinja Shrine, has four sacred cauldrons that is said to change the color of water in them when something extraordinary happens. A live-in caretaker of the shrine said she saw subtle color change in the two of the four cauldrons on March　11th last year.

On the day after the festival, the massive earthquake and tsunami attacked Tohoku Region. In Shiogama City, 31 people were killed and one is missing.  The town of Shiogama had relatively little damage. It is thought small islands in the Matsushima bay served as a buffer for tsunami as is the case in Matsushima.



Tanrokuen
The present building was built in 1914.


A religious service to make Moshio(seaweed salt) is held at Okama Jinja in July.
Tanrokuen(丹六園) established in 1720 was a Japanese confectionary shop near Shiogama Jinja. The shop has been making and selling a confection named Shiogama(志ほが満) modeled after Moshio since the middle of the Edo Period.

Shiogama

Shiogama(しおがま) is a type of soft rakugan (落雁) and contains rice flour, sugar, salt and red shiso (Perilla frutescens). Now this confection is made and sold in various areas.







The tsunami rose to a level of 1.2 meters above the floor at the shop. The shop owner took visitors to Shiogama Shrine for safety in his car shortly after the massive quake.

The ground floor of the shop was covered with mud and rubble, but everyone was all right. There were the instruments for exclusive use and old documents on the second floor of the shop, so they were found intact. The shop reopened.

Kasugawakamiya Onmatsuri



Kasuga Taisha Shrine
photo by 日本の旅・鉄道見聞録

 Kasugawakamiya Onmatsuri(春日若宮おん祭) is a festival held at Wakamiya Jinja Shrine(若宮神社) which is one of auxiliary shrines of Kasuga Taisha Shrine on its grounds. Although some events of the festival are held in July, October and early December, main events are done from December 15th to 18th.
The main hall of Wakamiya Shrine was built to save people from famine and epidemics in 1135. The festival started in 1136 and has been held continuosly for more than 870 years.

At midnight on December 17th, people carry the god of the shrine from the shrine to Otabisho(お旅所) surrounding with sakaki leaves(Cleyera japonica) in complete darkness because the image of god should not be seen. The passage of the god was preceded by the carriers' voices. Not only taking pictures but also turning on a flashlight is prohibited on the way to and from Otabisyo. The passing is accompanied by live music.
 
After arriving Otabisho, foods as an offering are served to the god. Various performances are dedicated to the god.

At 11:00 p.m. on December 17th, people carry the god of the shrine from Otabisyo(お旅所) to the shrine. They have to escort the god to the shrine on the same day.

Some of the annual events in Kasuga Taisha are closed to the public.

The offerings include confections from ancinet China. Only the priests of the shrine can make the Chinese confections because they are dedicated to the god. The process for making them has been handed down in the shrine's priests for generations.

Japanese missions to Tang China(遣唐使) were frequently dispatched from 630 to 839 and introduced the culture from the mainland to Japan. the members of the missions risked their lives to cross the sea.
So they visited Kasuga Taisha to pray for a safe travel before leaving Japan and to thank the god for having been able to return to Japan after arriving in Japan.

It is said they offered the confections to the shrine at that time. Until then, sweet things meant fruits and nuts in Japan.  The Chinese confections spread among Shinto shrines all over Japan as an offering to the gods.

The recipe for the confections has been handed down in Shimogamo Jinja Shrine(下鴨神社).
On a TV program, the current priest made the confections and performers tasted them. They said the confections tasted good. One of them is shaped like jiaozi(餃子) or ravioli. The priest kneaded a mixture of rice flour and glutinous rice flour, shaped it and deep fried in sesame oil.

Kameya Kiyonaga(亀屋清永) which was founded in 1617 still sells the confection called Seijo-kankidan(清浄歓喜団) that is descended from an ancient Chinese confection. Kanki(歓喜) means Kangiten(歓喜天, Nandikesvara (Ganesh in the Buddhist pantheon)). This confection had been made as a offering to Nandikesvara. Now we can buy this.

It has the shape of eight lotus petals. It's made by deep-frying kneaded flour containing sandalwood, borneol, clove, cinnamon and others in sesame oil. The confection was originally sweetened with liquorice or amazura(甘葛, ivy or jiaogulan). It came to include sweet adzuki bean paste after the middle of the Edo Period.

Seijo-kankidan is introduced on this site(Japanese version only.)

Niinamesai

November 23rd is Labor Thanksgiving Day and Niinamesai(新嘗祭).
Niinamesai is a harvest festival dating back at least to 677. At the festival, the emperor dedicates newly harvested rice and sake to Amaterasu-Ohmikami(the Goddess of the Sun) and eats these offerings.

The planting and harvesting of the rice for Niinamesai are done by the emperor's own hands every year. He went into the rice paddies in the Imperial Palace, planted rice 100 seedlings including sticky rice and ordinary rice on May 24th and harvested them on September 28th this year.

Emperor Akihito will be absent from the festival for the first time due to mild bronchopneumonia this year. The Crown Prince will attend it instead of the emperor.

天地と 久しきまでに 万代に
仕へまつらむ 黒酒白酒を
A-me-tsu-chi-to Hi-sa-shi-ki-ma-de-ni Yo-ro-zu-yo-ni
Tsu-ka-e-ma-tsu-ra-n Ku-ro-ki-shi-ro-ki-wo

"I will offer kuroki(black sake) and shiroki(white sake) to you as long as the world endures," written by Fumuya no Chinu(文室智努, 693-770) in "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves" (the oldest existing anthology of poetry)

Fumuya no Chinu was a member of the imperial family. The emperor offers alcoholic beverages called kuroki(黒酒, black sake) and shiroki(白酒, white sake) to the goddess at Niinaemsai every year. Shiroki　is unrefined sake made from the newly harvested rice.　Kuroki is a mixture of shiroki and a plant ash made by steaming and charring a plant root called Kusagi.
Some people say kuroki came to be colored with the plant ash due to the fading of the cultivation of the black rice in Japan although the sake was originally made from the black rice.

According to an old document submitted to the supreme organ of the state in 804, girls who conducted ceremonies to worship gods made sake.

The book of laws and regulations that were compiled by Emperor Daigo's order describes the detail process for making black and white sake. According to the book, one-time sake brewery was constructed after rice fields for the sake were decided by fortune-telling on the 2nd day of the 9th month, the sake was made in 10 days in the 10th month. Niinamesai is held one month after making it.

White and black sake are also offered to another important festivals held at Ise Shrine. Reisyu(Amazake) and refined sake were added to offerings after the Meiji Period.  Amazake(甘酒) is a sweet drink made from fermented rice.

Niinaemsai is also held at many Shinto shrines on this day. White sake exclusively for Niinaemsai is available only to the Shinto shrines and the imperial family.  Now black sake is available only to the imperial family, so the shrines offer only white sake to the gods.　

Fujii Honke(藤居本家) in Shiga Prefecture, which was founded in 1831, presents black and white sake for Niinamesai to the imperial household every year. Many breweries will market freshly-squeezed sake around the end of November.

Many farmers worked at sake breweries to earn hard cash during the agricultural off-season. Chief sake brewers called toji(杜氏) made a plan for the year's brewing in consultation with sake brewery's owners called kuramoto(蔵元) in summer. Toji brewers chose members of their brewing teams. Brewery's owners had no right to choose brewers. Toji brewers worked with the members at sake breweries during the fall and winter months.

Toji are contractors and take on full responsibility for the year's brewing. Brewery's owners used a merit system, so excellent toji had plenty of income. if they failed, contracts with the owners would expire at the end of winter.  Toji are similar to the head chefs at Japanese cuisine restaurants or traditional hotels.

Now the number of toji decreased. Some owners double as toji. Some young people choose a career in sake-making.


Awamori(泡盛) is a kind of distilled spirit(焼酎, shochu) made in Okinawa. Awamori called Usaki(御酒) is sold at the University of Tokyo.
A professor of zymology at the University of Tokyo visited Okinawa and collected about 620 types of koji mold(Aspergillus oryzae) from breweries in 1935.  Koji mold for awamori at  Okinawa's breweries disappoeard in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.  In 1999, usaki was revived using koji moid  owned by  the university at a brewery in Okinawa.

The oldest company in the world

This week a typhoon hit my area with full force after so long.The tsunami-hit areas were also flooded. The typhoon paralyzed our transportation system. In case of a typhoon, the trains usually start to run only hours after its direct hit. The typhoon No.15 has brought in a heavy rain across the country, from Okinawa to Hokkaido.

The peak of Asahi-dake in Hokkaido and Mount Fuji were capped with snow for the first time in the year.

Kongougumi(金剛組) was founded by Kongo Shigemitsu(金剛重光) who was invited from Baekje(百済, an ancient kingdom in southwest Korea) as a shirne carpenter in 578.  At the request of Prince Shotoku(聖徳太子, 574-622), the company built Shitenno-ji Temple(四天王寺) in Osaka in 593, Horyu-ji Temple(法隆寺) in Nara in 607.

The company had been in the employ of the temple until the end of the Edo period. The position of the company's owner had been passed down the members of the Kongo family, but an eldest child didn't always take over the family business.

Its owners controlled the groups of carpenters through master carpenters. The company had original technology. So it demanded loyalty of the master carpenters and bound carpenters to the company to prevent the leakage of the technology and refine their skills.

Several owner's assistants could suspend an owner from his position after mutual consultation. In case a candidate of the Kongo family was unqualified, a new owner was supposed to be choosen from the families of the assistants.

Shitenno-ji lost some or all of its buildings due to disasters and wars including a lightning strike in 836, a fire in 960, setting on fire by Oda Nobunaga in 1576, the Siege of Osaka in 1614, a lightning strike in 1801, Muroto typhoon in 1934 and the U.S. bombing of Osaka in 1945.
The company reconstructed the temple each time.

The exsiting buildings of Shitenno-ji were reconstructed of reinforced concrete by the company from 1957 to 1963. For your information, the exsiting buildings of Horyu-ji are thought to have been reconstructed around the end of the 7th century.

The temple had been under the protection of the authorities until the Edo period, but most of its grounds were diverted to a park during the Meiji Period. The company went through hard times.
 
In 1932, the 37th owner of the company killed himself before his family grave because of financial crisis. His wife served as the 38th owner. The five story-pagoda of the temple that was destroyed by Muroto Typhoon was reconstructed under the direction of the first female master of the company in 1934.

It got involved in the construction of reinforced concrete buildings such as hotels and apartments to increase sales during the so-called bubble economy, and it got caught in a price war. The company faced bankruptcy due to Severe price competition with major contractors.

In 2005, the company accepted an investment from Takamatsu Corporation, a construction company in Osaka. In 2008, it became a subsidiary of the corporation. The head of the corporation said that Kongougumi was the treasure of Osaka and not saving the company from the bankruptcy became a shame to all of Osaka's contractors.

The Kongo family left the management of the company, but the 39th head of the family is still staying on as a consultant. The company has many shrine carpenters and traditional Japanese construction methods, so it specializes in the construction of temples and shrines. A member of the company says temples built with traditional methods don't need extensive repair for about 200 years after its construction. It introduces a new technique called AIR aseismic base isolation system. Generally shrine and temple carpenters acquired higher skills than usual carpenters did.

A ritual called Chonna-hajime(手斧始め) is held at Shitenno-ji Temple on January 11th every year. Chonna(手斧) means an adze. Shrine carpenters kick off the first work of the new year with this ritual. The head of the family has performed the ritual for generations. It's closed to the public. The ritual is designated as an intangible cultural heritage of Osaka City.

Some of long-running construction companies moved into action to build Western-style buildings during the Meiji Period.

Takenaka Corporation (株式会社竹中工務店) is one of the five major construction companies in Japan. Takenaka Tobei Masataka (竹中 藤兵衛正高) started his corporation under the style of Okumaya(大隈屋) in 1610.

He served Oda Nobunaga who was the lord of a small province in the present Aichi prefecture as the supervisor of civil engineering work.  He changed from a samurai to an artisan after his lord's death. He went into the service of the Owari domain as a shrine and temple master carpenter owing to his unique technology.

The Owari domain was owned by a Tokugawa family branch, so he needed to contract for construction works all over the country. He assigned master carpenters throughout Japan to implement constructions as substitute for him. The head of Okumaya was not limited only to members of the Takenaka family. The family could choose an excellent successor by pursuing an adoption after mutual consultation.

Kajima Corporation (鹿島建設株式会社) is also one of the five major construction companies in Japan.　Kajima Iwakichi(鹿島岩吉) started his corporation under the style of Oiwa(大岩) in Edo(present Tokyo) in 1840. He obtained his master carpenter certificate after training as a carpenter. The corporation built the Japan's first skyscraper "Kasumigaseki Building" in 1968 by adopting the flexible structure.

Long-running companies value the continuation of their family businesses more than the preservation of their blood lines.
Susumu Nomura(野村進) who covered long-running companies in Japan says that a series of innovation make tradition. 　Companies sticking to observe tradition will die out, but branching out into jobs outside their fields will tend to fail. Many of long-running companies have developed innovations with the strength of their tradition.
He says a key to longevity is benefiting not only the seller and the buyer but society. It's important to be rated highly by society.

"The Tale of the Heikes" written around 13th century says,　"The prosperous must decay" or "All things are in flux and nothing is permanent." It shows Buddhist influences. Despite that, Japanese people have found value in lasting long.

typhoon and the elderly

The weather has suddenly become cooler.

Although the season's 16th typhoon passed away near Japan, the 15th typhoon is predicted to make landfall on the country's main island.
The Kii peninsula in Wakayama prefecture suffered severe damage from the 12th typhoon. More than 100 people were left dead or missing by the typhoon. In the area, the five mudslide-formed barrier lakes are likely to collapse due to the approaching typhoon. Threats of landslides, mudflows and flooding continue in many areas including the area around Shinmoe-dake (新燃岳) where ashes fell by the eruption of the volcano in Kyushu. Many people have been evacuated in various areas.

The third Monday in September is Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day.

Many of people aged 100 or over living a long healthy life were featured in a TV program before. They get physical activity, have a balanced diet and live without any stress. Some of them have been working on a farm, cook and eat fresh home-grown vegetables and have a chat with the ease of old friends.  Some cook or sew for their families or friends every day, play instruments, go to shopping on foot and look after a shop.
Some got into hobbies in their sixties or seventies and achieved to a high level at the age of 100. Impatient, selfish, prejudiced, lazy, pessimistic people are unlikely to live a long healthy life.

People aged 65 or over accounted for over half of the tsunami victims. It is said that lack of physical strength and their experiences of the former tsunami prevented impeded immediate evacuation.

There were many multigenerational households in Tohoku Region. Some people evacuated with elderly family members, but some of them could not outrun tsunami. If they would have run away and left elderly family members, they could have survived. But, can we leave our family memebers?

Old companies have overcome numerous difficulties such as wars, natural disasters, fires and change in people's senses of values. Time-honored shops and companies receive respect from people in Japan.

Yagisawa Shoten(八木澤商店) in Iwate Prefecture was founded in 1807 and had sold soy sauce, miso(fermented soybean paste) and Japanese pickles. However, its shop and factory were swept up by the tsunami on March 11th. A section chief who had been working for the company for 30 years went to close the dikes as a member of a volunteer fire company and lost his life.

Fermentation agents are essential to make fermented food. They live not only in barrels but inside wooden buildings. The company was thought to be beyond restoration, but the agent was found in the tsunami-driven barrel. The company resumed selling their products by the aid of others in the same trade and small investors.

Many small shops and companies were swept up by tsunami and many of them once gave up efforts to rebuild their businesses. Their customers were the ones who pushed them forward to continue. They owed their energies by feeling needed.
 
Teikoku Databank(TEIKOKU DATABANK, LTD.) reported in August of this year that 24,847 existing companies were founded by 1912(the last year of the Meiji period), 2,613 were founded in the Edo Period(1603-1867) and 165 were founded before 1602.

It's based on their database containing corporate information of 1.39 million compamies. The ranking's top ten long-running companies are as follows:

1.Kongougumi(金剛組) founded as a traditional wooden building contractor in Osaka in 578,
2.Ikenobo Kado Kai(池坊華道会) founded as Japanese flower arrangement instruction in Kyoto in 587,
3.Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan(西山温泉慶雲舘) founded as a hotel in Yamanashi Prefecture in 705,
4.Koman(古まん) founded as a hotel in Hyogo Prefecture in 717,
5.Zengoro(善吾楼) founded as a hotel in Ishikawa Prefecture in 718,
6.Tanakaiga Butsuguten(田中伊雅佛具店) founded as a Buddhist objects manufacturer in Kyoto in 885,
7.Nakamura Shaji(中村社寺) founded as a a traditional building contractor in Aichi Prefecture in 970,
8.Syumiya Shinbutsuguten(朱宮神仏具店) founded as a Buddhist objects retailer in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1024,
9.Geto Onsen(夏湯温泉)　founded  as a hotel in Iwate Prefecture in 1134,
10.Sudo Honke(須藤本家) founded as a liquor company in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1141.


The oldest company in Tokyo is Shiose Souhonke(塩瀬総本家) founded in 1349, and the second oldest one is Toraya(虎屋) founded in 1521. (Refer to Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day and Japanese Confectionery Day for more information on them.)
The third oldest is Nishikawa that started to sell mosquito nets in 1566. Now that company specializes in the manufacture and sales of bedclothing.

Moshioyaki-shinji

Four months have passed since the quake and tsunami in Tohoku Region. Memorial services were held in the afflicted areas.
Many people are still searching for their family members. As of July 10, 15,547 people died, 5,344 are missing and about 36,000 are living in evacuation centers such as schools. Sixty percent of the whole amount of rubbles in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures still remains in the areas. The nuclear accident in Fukushima is not over yet.

The rainy season ended in Tohoku Region today. As an aside, Hokkaido area doesn't have the rainy season.

Moshioyaki-shinji(藻塩焼神事) is a religious service held from July 4th to 6th at Okama Jinja Shrine(御釜神社) which is a subordinate shrine of Shiogama Jinja Shrine (鹽竈神社). According to legend, a god named Shiotsuchi-no-ojinokami(鹽土老翁神) who is enshrined at Okama Jinja introduced a method for making salt to people.
Moshio(藻塩) means seaweed salt. A seaweed named hondawara(Sargassum fulvellum) is used here.

Okama Jinja has four sacred cauldrons said to have been used by the god to make salt. It was said the color of water in the cauldrons changes when something extraordinary happens, so their color change was reported to the Domain during the Edo Period.
A live-in caretaker said she saw subtle color change in the two of the four cauldrons on March 11th this year.

●On July 4th, hondawara is harvested in the offing of Hanabuchi harbour. (The harbour was hit by tsunami this March.)
The salt contains rich dietary minerals such as iodine, calcium, kalium and magnesium extracted from hondawara, and it has low level of salt. Some people use hondawara as food for abalone and its strained lees are used as fertilizer. 

●On July 5th, the water of four sacred cauldrons is replaced with tidewater taken at high tide in Matsushima Bay once a year.

●On July 6th, Moshio is made by putting an shallow cauldron on a hearth, puting one tier bamboo shelf over a shallow cauldron, spreading hondawara on the shelf, pouring tidewater over hondawara into the cauldron and boiling down tidewater in the cauldron.
Salt made at this event is offered to Shiogama Jinja Shrine at its annual celebration on July 10th.

Shiogama(しおがま)

Tabrokuen(丹六園) established in 1720 is near Shiogama Jinja and sells a confection named Shiogama(志ほがま) modeled after Moshio. The shop has been making and selling it since the middle of the Edo Period.

Shiogama(しおがま) is a confection which is made by molding a mixture of rice flour, sugar, salt and red shiso (Perilla frutescens). Now this confection is made in various areas. Red shiso represents hondawara.

Moshio was made in various areas around Japan and often appears in classical literature.　The following waka poem is quoted in "Suma(須磨)", chapter 12 of "The Tale of Genji".

わくらばに 問ふ人あらば 須磨の浦に 藻塩たれつつ わぶと答へよ
(Wa-ku-ra-ba-ni To-u-hi-to-a-ra-ba Su-ma-no-u-ra-ni Mo-shi-o-ta-re-tsu-tsu Wa-bu-to-ko-ta-e-yo)

"If someone happens to ask for me, tell him that I'm making salt by pouring tidewater over hondawara at Suma beach(shedding tears) and leading a lonely life ,"　by Ariwara no Narihira(在原業平, 825-880).

Making salt by pouring tidewater over hondawara means shedding tears. Narihira got involved in an incident and was forced to leave Kyoto for Suma. This poem is renowned as a poem that expressed wreckage of his hopes.

Hote-matsuri(帆手祭) is a festival held at  Shiogama Jinja  to pray for fire prevention originally, dating back to 1682. On March 10th, 16 young men go down the steep flight of 202 steps holding one ton of mikoshi(portable shrine) on their shoulders, parade along the street and go up the flight.
The festival was held as usual this year. However, the next day, that earthquake and tsunami attacked Tohoku Region. In Shiogama City, 45 people were killed.

Syunsetsu

February 3rd was New Year's Day according to the lunar calendar called Syunsetsu(春節) this year. In Yokohama's Chinatown, New Year celebrations are being held from February 3rd to 17th.
(the pictures of the last year's celebrations : Four Seasons of Yokohama Kamakura,横浜鎌倉の四季)

There are more than 500 shops on the site of about 0.2 square meters.  After the opening of the Port of Yokohama in 1859, many Chinese merchants migrated to the foreign settlement.

There is a Kantei-byo(関帝廟) in the town. It's a temple of Guan Yu(関羽, ?-219) who was an ancient Chinese warlord and is enshrined as the god of commerce because he kept faith.

Most restaurants in the town served Cantonese cuisine.
Heichinrou(聘珍樓) was founded in Yokohama in 1884 and was introduced as one of famous Cantonese restaurants in a book published in 1909. It has been in business for 120 years.

The town experienced two Sino-Japanese wars and was burned down by The Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 and World War II.

Now we associate the town with Chinese restaurants.
When I was a child, I looked forward very much to an annual lunch with my family at the town.
Many Japanese housewives cooked Chinese cuisine that adjusted their fare to suit Japanese tastes. The ingredients in chinese cooking were less commonly available and it was difficult to make real Chinese cooking at home.

Small family-run restaurants used to fill the town, but such restaurants are disappearing now. A new breed of Chinese shopkeepers is coming to the forefront.

Bellows Festival

The Lotte Marines became Japan Series champions on November 7th, after defeating the Chunichi Dragons in the seventh game at Nagoya Dome. Recently the professional baseball games hover at a low level.  The first, second and fifth games of the Japan Series were not telecast on a national network. But the seventh game received an average viewer rating of 20.6 percent in the Kanto area. I am not very interested in baseball.

Fuigo Matsuri(鞴祭り:Bellows Festival) is a festival to thank the god of fire and pray for workplace safety held by artisans using fire such as blacksmiths, casters and metalsmiths. It was also called Hotake(火焼).

In the Edo period, the artisans damped a fire and got a day off work on this day. They made offerings such as mikan(citrus unshiu) to the god named Inari(稲荷) and threw those mikan to children.

A large amount of mikan were consumed for this festival, so merchant Kinokuniya Bunzaemon(紀伊国屋文左衛門) from Kisyu(now Wakayama Prefecture) made big profits by carrying mikan for this festival to Edo during stormy weather.

Sanjo Kokaji Munechika(三条小鍛冶宗近) was a great swordsmith in Kyoto in the 10th century. In a yokyoku(the noh singing) named Kokaji(小鍛冶), he acknowledged a royal command to make the emperor a present of a sword and finished a celebrated sword with the help of Inari.
Originally Inari is the god of agriculture. It is said that blacksmiths came to worship Inari due to this story.

Even now, the descendants of Munechika make the production and sale of cuttery as Sanjyokokajimunechika Ltd.(有限会社三條小鍛冶宗近本店) in Nara Prefecture.

Now many cutlery companies and iron factories hold this festival. Some of them do it on the 8th day of the 11th month in the lunar calendar(corresponding to December in the solar calendar).

Nagasaki Okunchi Festival

Okunchi Festival in Nagasaki is held from October 7th to 9th. Okunchi Festivals are held to give thanks to deities for a good harvest in Kyusyu Region. Some of them are also held on the 19th day and the 29th day.

According to the most widely believed theory, "Okunchi" means ninth day(九日,kunichi) and comes from Chouyo-no-sekku(重陽の節句) celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth month in the lunar calendar. Chouyo-no-sekku is one of the five season-related celebrations. Odd numbers are regarded as active(陽, yo) in China. The ninth day of the ninth month has two active numbers.

It is said that the festival dates back to 1634, when two women danced in dedication to the god of the Suwa Shrine in order to suppresse Christianity.

(Refer to the blog post under the date of August 9th for the suppression of Christians in Nagasaki.)

Nagasaki was the only Japanese city that was allowed to trade with foreign countries during the period of national isolation.

The city has a historically close relationship with China. So a dragon dance, one of the features of the festival, is performed.
(The events related to China are being perfomed as usual in Japan. The celebration of China's National Day was also held as usual in Yokohama's Chinatown on October 1st.)

Shippoku-ryouri(卓袱料理) that originated in Nagasaki is a fusion of Japanese, Chinese and Dutch cooking. Platters for share are served to guests at the round table.

Nagasaki champon (長崎ちゃんぽん) is a noodle dish originated from China.

Castella (カステラ, Kasutera) also originated in Nagasaki and is a popular Japanese sponge cake without edible fat such as butter. The name is derived from Portuguese Pão de Castela. It was introduced to Japan in the middle of the 16th century. 

Fukusaya(福砂屋), which was founded at Nagasaki in 1624, is famous for its moist castella.  In a dramatic re-enactment, a kind of Dutch ovens was used to bake the cake at the end of the Edo Period.

There are various ways to make castella. They come in a variety of textures. It was hard for me to make castella under controlled temperature.

Castella (カステラ, Kasutera)

These are very moist.

Ogura castella(小倉カステラ)

this confeciton includes adzuki beans.

Yuka(油菓)

A fried donut filled with adzuki bean paste.

Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day

The third Monday in September is Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day. The day was originally celebrated on September 15th, but it was moved to the third Monday in September in 2003.

There was an article about a proponent of the day in the paper(The Asahi Shimbun) yesterday morning.
A mayor at Nomatani village (now Takacho) in Hyougo Prefecture presented a peasant kabuki play to show respect for the villagers 55 years of age or older, who have contributed to society for many years in 1947, when the average life-span was 54 years for women and 50 years for men in Japan.

He has felt discontented with the absence of the day for elderly people, although there were the Boys' and Girls' Festivals or Coming of Age Day.

He kept appealing to the government and the prefecture for the establishment of the day for elderly people, and the day spread all over the country and was established as a national holiday in 1966.

The mayor passed away at the age of 98 at an aged care facility this February. His grandchildren and great-grandchilden visited him every weekend.



Missing centenarians has grabbed headlines this summer, but it has little effect on life expectancy. Because it doesn't cover men aged 98 or over and women aged 103 or over, and is calculated using a national census. Census takers visit every household, and distribute and collect census forms in person.

As of 2010, people aged 65 or over accounted for 23.1 percent of the total population.
Koseki (戸籍) is a Japanese family registry. Events such as births, deaths, marriages must be filed by family members. So no one updates a family registry if an entire family dies due to wars or disaster.



My grandmother lived in a rural area. Most people in my grandmother's village share a common family name although they are not relatives. They always left the door unlocked.

A hill was used as a shared grave site among the villagers. The hill were absolutely covered in weeds soon. Our gravestones were not visible externally due to bushes. To visit our grave, we had to cut off weeds along the path and clear our bushy grave of bushes.

The villagers could choose a site for their graves on a first-come-first-served basis. As graves have filled in the open spaces, my grandmother was worried that she could not get her last resting place if she lived long.
She lived to be 97 in peace after the renovation of the site.

Kouhaku manju(紅白饅頭: red and white buns filled with sweat bean paste)

Some local governments send elderly people a gift to celebrate their longevity. Kouhaku manju are used as a congratulatory gift.

My neighborhood association hands kouhaku manju to the people. These are covered with cellophane wrappers.

I made this one.

Manju has its origins in ancient China. According to legend, Shokatsu Ryou(諸葛 亮,Zhuge Liang in Chinese, 181-234) used head-shaped buns filled with beef or mutton as a substitute for Human heads to pay tribute to their god.

It is said that Rin Jouin(林浄因) from China, a Zen Buddhist monk, brought it to Japan in 1341 and started to sell it as Nara-manju(奈良饅頭). It was filled with bean paste because the eating of meat became tabooed with the rise of Buddhism.

It made a big hit with the emperor of that time. Rin Jouin married a court lady who was given by the emperor. They served kouhaku manju to people around them at their marriage and buried a pair of that manju in the ground to pray for prosperity of the family, and a stone in the shape of manju was placed there. So that manju became a festive confection.

His descendants set up a shop in Kyoto, but they moved to Shiose village(塩瀬村) in Mikawa to escape the fighting. The shop name was changed to Shiose, the name of the village. They moved to Edo and Their shop enjoyed prosperity under the patronage of Tokugawa clan in the Edo Period. In the Meiji Period, they became a purveyor to the Imperial Household. Now their main office named Shiose Souhonke(塩瀬総本家) is located in Chuouku Ward(中央区) of Tokyo.

Rin Jinja shrine(林神社) was built to honor Rin Jouin as the god of manju in 1949. Japanese-style confectionery manufacturers throughout the country hold its annual festival on April 19th, the anniversary of Rin Jouin's death.

Okina-ame(翁飴)

Okina means a old man. Jelly-like confection containing starch syrup, sugar and kanten(agar).

The Sumida River Fireworks Festival

The annual fireworks festival was held at two sites along the Sumida River from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on July 31th. Approximately 20,000 fireworks were set off.

The festival dates back to 1733, when approximately 20 fireworks were set off over the Sumida River around Ryogoku to mark the start of the river leisure such as swimming, fishing and boating on the 28th day of the 5th month according to the lunar calendar(July 9th in the Gregorian calendar).

From the 28th day of the 5th month to the 28th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar every year, eating and drinking establishments and amusement facilities around Ryogoku were allowd to be open till late at night(normally open to sunset).
So commoners could eat fresh fish tempura, watch fireworks and entertain themself at geisha parties on the houseboats called yakata-bune(屋形船) only during this period.

Kagiya(鍵屋), a guild of pyrotechnicians, had set off fireworks from the first festival until suspension due to World War II. From 1810, Tamaya(玉屋), a branch of Kagiya, had taken its share of fireworks display. Tamaya was in higher repute than Kagiya, but Tamaya was expelled from Edo due to starting a fire.

The festival has been held since 1978 after being suspended due to the worsening traffic situation from 1961 to 1977.
Kagiya is still continuing its business. It's not in charge of the festival, but it sets off fireworks at another fireworks festivals.
Tamaya is also continuing its business in Chiba Prefecture.

Fireworks of the Edo Period has been reproduced. They are very different in the present. They are only orange in color and are unspectacular, but I get a warm friendly feeling from them.

At the festival, a fireworks competition is held to improve pyrotechnicians' skills.
Japanese traditional fireworks form a perfect sphere in every single aspect. Its pyrotechnics was established in the latter half of the 19th century.
I've watched the fireworks on the 24th floor of a high-rise building. Each of the fireworks was like a small ball.

Fireworks festivals are held in summer at many other sites throughout Japan.

Sumo Tournament closed

The July Grand Sumo Tournament closed today. During the tornament, new scandals came to light. The attendance at the tornament was dismal.
Hakuhou(白鵬), who is a yokozuna(highest-ranking sumo wrestler) from Mongolia, won his third consecutive tournament championship without a single defeat.
Japan's national sport falls on the shoulders of lone yokozuna Hakuhou.
He gave way to tears after winning the title.

"Half-hearted compromise disgraces the tradition ..." (the words of Jean-Louis Barrault by Yoshida Minosuke Ⅲ, Zukin-Kabutte-50nen)

Susumu Nomura（野村進) said that a series of innovation make tradition in his book, "Choju Kigyou wa Nihon ni Ari(長寿企業は日本にあり)".
In Japan, "tradition" is not a treasure to be preserved at a museum.
It seems to be living antiques like an old bonsai. Old bonsais are hard to please. Continuing to care for it over many generations increase its value, or it will die and have no value.

Only retired sumo wrestlers, as a member of The Japan Sumo Association, can manage everything necessary to sumo tornaments regardless of having management or leadership ability.

It's not easy to revive sumo.

Japanese Confectionery Day

In 1979, Japan Wagashi Association declared June 16th "Japanese Confectionery Day" modeled after the event named Kajou(嘉祥).
The event had been held on the 16th day of the 6th month in the lunar calendar.

The origin of the event can not be traced, but it had been already held by samurai warriors and aristocrats in the Muromachi Period(1338-1573).
In the Edo Period, it became common among commoners to buy confections for the 16 ancient Chinese coins named kajou-tsuhou(嘉定通宝).

Another theory suggests that the event started because Emperor Ninmyou(仁明天皇, 810-850) created the new era named kajou(嘉祥) and offered confections to the gods to pray for aborting an epidemic and people's future health on the day in 848.
After the Meiji era, the event died out completely.

On the day, Sanno Kajou Festival(山王嘉祥祭) is held at Hie Shrine(日枝神社) in Tokyo. Japanese confectionery makers participate its ceremony. Japanese confections that a confectioner made during the ceremony and Toraya's confections named kajou-gashi(嘉祥菓子) that Toraya restored to its original state based on the old record are dedicated to the god.

We can buy kajou-gashi or kajou-manju(嘉祥饅頭）,which is also a confection for the day, only at Toraya. But they will be available for a limited time only.

It is not known when Toraya(虎屋) was founded, but it's thought to be founded in the 1520s. Toraya had been a purveyor to the Imperial Household since the latter half of the 16th century and has the sample book written in 1695. It moved its headquarters from Kyoto to Tokyo when the emperor moved from Kyoto to Tokyo.
It has branches in New York and Paris and gave Japanese confectionery classes for beginners in Paris last year.

Kajou-gashi is a set of seven kinds of confections:
Miso-matsukaze(味噌松風); Musashino(武蔵野); Genjimase(源氏籬); Kikyou-mochi(桔梗餅); Toyooka-no-sato(豊岡の里); Asaji-ame(淺路飴); Iga-mochi(伊賀餅)
The number "16" is divided into "1" and "6", and one and six makes seven.



Miso-matsukaze(味噌松風)：
steamed cake containing wheat flour, sugar and miso. Miso(味噌) is a fermented food that is made from soy beans mixed with salt and the fermentation agent called koji.

Matsukaze(松風) means the wind blowing through pine groves. people were desolated to hear the sound of the wind. The word "Ura-sabishii(うら寂しい)" can be read in two ways, "desolate" and "the reverse side is not decororated". The confection is topped with poppy seeds and only its upper side is browned.
Matsukaze is an autumn cofection.

Kameya Mutsu(亀屋陸奥), which is a Japanese confectionery shop and founded at Kyoto in 1421, created a confection named matsukaze(松風)
by Saint Kennyo(顕如上人) as a preserved food for The Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple(石山本願寺). Because the temple faced a serious food shortage due to the 11-year battle with Oda Nobunaga(織田信長, 1534-1582), who was the initiator of the unification of Japan.
As an aside, Nobunari Oda(織田信成), who is a Japanese male figure skater and reached seventh place at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, is the 17th direct descendant of Nobunaga.

There are various views on the origin of Miso-matsukaze. The recipes vary by store.

Musashino(武蔵野)and Genjimase(源氏籬) is a combination of kourai-mochi(高麗餅) and yokan(羊羹). Kourai-mochi is made by mixing sweet bean paste with rice flour, passing it through a coarse sieve, drying and steaming it. Yokan is a thick jellied confection made of azuki bean paste, kanten and sugar.

It is said that Kourai-mochi was brought to Japan by Korean captive potters when Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea. Kore-mochi known as a specialty of Kagoshima is close to the originals.


This is kourai-maki(高麗巻), which is a combination of kouraimochi and yokan. It's like a Swiss roll.

Children's Day（the Boys' Festival)

The Boys' Festival is celebrated on May 5th.
May 5th is Rikka(立夏:the first day of summer) this year. It's hot today.

It is originally called "Tango no sekku",which means the festival on the first horse's day of a month. In ancient China, the events including plucking medicinal plants, hanging dolls made of mugwort on the gate and drinking sweet flag(calamus) brandy (菖蒲酒) were held on the 5th day of the 5th month according to the lunar calendar to drive away evil spirits because the 5th day was thought to be an evil month.

In imitation of the Chinese custom, the similar event were held on that day at the Imperial Court. The events included drinking sweet flag brandy, thatching houses with sweet flag leaves or mugwort on the roof and hitting the targets from a horse galloping along the course.
Sei Shonagon (清少納言, c.966-1017) praised this scentful event in her famous essay "The Pillow Book (枕草子 makura no soshi)."

Sweet flags(calamus) has been regarded as a medicinal plant. Even now people take baths in sweet flag leaves on May 5th.


Chimaki(粽, zongzi or zong in Chinese) is on the table. It's a traditional Chinese food which is glutinous rice stuffed with fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves.
it has an episode of Kutsugen(屈原:Qu Yuan in Chinese) who was a Chinese scholar and minister. After he drowned himself in the river because of being demoted, people threw packets of rice wrapped in Melia azedarach leaves and five-colored strings into the river. There are various theories as to its reason and shape.
In Japan, we eat a confeciton made from rice-powder wrapped in bamboo leaves on May 5th.


Dorayaki(どら焼き) is also on the table.
It's sweat bean paste in pancakes and got its name from its resemblance to dora(銅鑼, Chinese gong).It is said to have begun around 1700. However, it has nothing to do with the Boys' Festival.
Recently, it's famous as a Doraemon's favorite confection. Doraemon (ドラえもん) is a character from Japanese manga and animation.
Another confection with the same name is sold at a Japanese confectionery shop, Sasaya Iori(笹屋伊織) founded in 1716, in Kyoto. The shopmaster created a confection to be baked on the heated dora because To-ji temple's monk ordered to make a snack for the temple's monks.







The warrior class was in a position of power in the Edo period.
Syoubu(尚武), which means valueing martial arts, have the same sound as syoubu(菖蒲).
So families of samurai warriors began celebrating May 5th as the day for boys.
Families with boys display warrior dolls, famous heroes such as Kintarou(金太郎), miniature samurai armor, helmets in their homes and fly carp streamers outdoors to represent strength and success. It comes from a Chinese tradition that carps turn to dragons after swimming up a waterfall.
Families of samurai warriors flew their family banner called nobori(幟). In rivalry with them, ordinary people began to hoist carp streamers.











There's a bow and a sword on both sides of a samurai helmet.
Hanging scroll with a painting of carps.









Children walk on stilts(竹馬, takeuma) and begin a swordfight(ちゃんばらごっこ), wearing a homemade paper helmet.

Hachijuu-hachi-ya and Constitution Memorial Day

May 2nd is Hachijuu-hachi-ya(八十八夜), which is the 88th day after Rissyun(立春:the first day of spring).That day is regarded as a starting point of farm work and also
contains a warning against late spring frost. Tea picked on this day is regarded as superior one, and it is said that drinking tea on this day leads to longevity.

The first tea of the season has come. It possess a pleasing flavor.
Uji(宇治) City, Kyoto Prefecture, which is famous for its high-quality tea, tea picking starts at the beginning of May. Early varieties of tea badly were damaged by abnormally cold weather in some areas of Shizuoka Prefecture.

We associate the following faouns song for children called Chatsumi(茶摘み:tea picking) with Hachijuu-hachi-ya. It appeared in a songbook for children published in 1912, but its songwriter is unknown.

1. 夏も近づく八十八夜
野にも山にも若葉が茂る
「あれに見えるは茶摘みぢやないか
あかねだすきに菅の笠」
On Hachijuu-hachi-ya, summer is around the corner.
I can see fresh green fields and mountains.
"Look at the women over there. they are picking tea,
tucking up their kimono sleeves with a red band
and wearing a sedge hat."

2. 日和つづきの今日このごろを
心のどかに摘みつつ歌ふ
「摘めよ摘め摘め摘まねばならぬ
摘まにゃ日本の茶にならぬ」
Having a spell of lovely spring weather,
they are picking tea pleasantly while singing a song.
"Pick tea, pick, pick, you need to pick tea.
If you don't, Japanese tea leaves are not made."

Tea processing in Japan is, in brief, picking tender new leaves, steaming them while stirring, kneading them while drying on low heat and finishing them. Kneading work is so hard that tea leaves kneaded by hand are very expensive.


茶つぼ形巾着 デザイン:藤本正子
"drawstring pouch in the shape of chatsubo" designed by Masako Fujimoto

Chatsubo(茶壷) is a pottery tea jar and the pouch has a traditional design.

Shigeyoshi Inoue(ed), Densyou-no-Nunoasobi-Chirimenzaiku (Tokyo:Japan Broadcast Publishing Co.,Ltd.,1994),P.52.
井上重義監修,伝承の布遊びちりめん細工(東京:日本出版放送協会,1994年),P.52.

Tea of the very best quality in Uji(宇治) were sent to shoguns in procession from late April to early May, from 1633 to 1866 every year. The authoritative procession was called Ochatubo-doucyuu(御茶壷道中) and even feudal lord's processions had to give way to it. Commoners are not allowed to see it. A children's song "zui zui zukkorobash(ずいずいずっころばし)" is written about it.

Tea manufacturers including Ippodo(一保堂),Kanbayashi(上林), Nagatani-en(永谷園) and Yamamotoyama(山本山) managed everything about the procession.
The supervisor of it was Kanbayashi, which has been in business for 450 years and has brought out Plastic bottles of green tea named Ayataka(綾鷹)in cooperation with Coca-Cola(Japan) Company, Ltd.

Ippodo(Ippodo Tea Co.,Ltd.) was founded in 1717. The site of Ippodo presents information about tea in English and Japanese. You can also buy tea and tea utensils such as Matcha Starter Kit, teapot on the Internet. They are available in countries outside of Japan.

Nagatani-en(NAGATANIEN Co., Ltd) has become a major food manufacturer now. Its founder developed process of making medium-grade tea(煎茶,sencha). Now sencha is drunk daily.

Yamamotoyama(YAMAMOTOYAMA Co.,ltd.), which was founded in 1690, has also become a major company and is famous for tea and nori(laver) now. Its founder developed process of making refined green tea (玉露,gyokuro).



May 3rd is Constitution Memorial Day(憲法記念日).
the present Constitution of Japan was enacted on May 3rd in 1947.
It makes a feature of war-renouncing Article 9.

Hinamatsuri(the Doll Festival)

On March 3rd, Hina-matsuri(the Doll Festival) for girls is celebrated in Japan.
In the Heian Period over 1,000 years ago, people used to float dolls down the river to wash away their impurities after transferring their impurities to the dolls. It is said that the origin of Hinamatsuri is this custom introduced from China.
So girls have their own Hina dolls. Parents (or grandparents) buy Hina dolls for their daughter when she is born.

Hina dolls meant a couple of dolls until the late Edo period.People came to display attendants, miniature furniture and so forth, with them on a tiered stand.

1.On the top shelf are emperor and empress.
In ancient Japan, the person on the left came before one on the right, so the male doll was on the left (the right from the viewer's perspective) of the female doll.
after the Emperror stood on the right modeled after Western-style in the Taisyo era, the female doll came to be set on the left of the male doll in many areas.

2.On the second shelf are sannin-kanjo(三人官女:three female attendants).
They pour out shirozake(white sake) for the coule.

3.On the third shelf are gonin-bayashi(五人囃子:five musicians) consisting of three percussionists, a flute player and a singer.

4.On the fouth shelf are two ministers called sa-daijin(左大臣:Minister of the Left) and u-daijin(右大臣:Minister of the Right). sa-daijin comes before u-daijin. As an aside, Sugawara Michizane(菅原道真) was a u-daijin and Fujiwara no Tokihira(藤原時平) was a sa-daijin.

5.On the fifth shelf are attendants holding shoes, a shrouded parasol and hat(in Kyoto, holding cleaning things).
Ukon-no-tachibana (右近の橘: tachibana tree on the right) on the far right and Sakon-no-sakura (左近の桜:a cherry tree on the left) on the far left are placed. They were planted in front of the Shishinden (紫宸殿, Hall for State Ceremonies) of The Kyoto Imperial Palace.
Some family crests or patterns are designed in the motif of tachibana(scientific name：Citrus tachibana).
There are hishimochi(菱餅:diamond-shaped ricecakes) on the diamond-shaped stands, coverd bowls on the ozen(お膳:a small dining table), goshoguruma (御所車:an ox-drawn coach).


the Doll Festival is also called "Momo-no-sekku",which means the festival in peach blossom season. However, peach trees have yet to bloom on March 3rd in the solar calendar.

Shirozake(白酒:white sake made from fermented rice, a kind of liqueur) that three female attendants pour out was originated by Toshimaya(founded in 1596) for the Doll Festival. Even now, shirozake is available at Toshimaya.

as far as I know, hina-arare(雛あられ)is puffed and sugarcoated rice. In the Kansai region, it is bite-sized rice crackers flavored with sugar or soy sauce.

Flowers for the Doll Festival are sold in sets with some branches of blooming peach tree and nanohana(菜の花:rapeseed). They are higher than usual. They could cost about ￥700. Rapeseed is in season.

A kind of rapeseed is edible. It has slightly bitter taste similar to other some spring vegetables.







I associate chirashizushi(ちらしずし) and hamaguri(蛤:clam) with Doll Festival dishes.

This chirashizushi is made by
1. slicing and seasoning shiitake mushroom, carrot, bamboo shoot with soup, sugar and soy sauce on heating,
2. frying an egg like crepe and slicing the fried thin layer of egg like string,
3. mixing rice with sugar, vinegar and salt,
4. mixing (1) with (3),
5. topping (2), conger eel, green peas and pickled ginger.
Various ingredients such as boiled shrimp, boiled and sliced field peas, sweet pickled lotus root are topped on that rice.

A salt-based soup containing unshelled clams is also served with it.




Kai-awase(貝合わせ) is a play like concentration(Pelmanism).
The inside of a clam shell is painted and gilded.
The same picture is painted on paired shells.








Kai-oke(貝桶)is a container to store a set of clam shells for kai-awase.

kami-fusen(紙風船:paper balloon) puffs up by blowing into the hole.

fusen-bukuro(風船袋:drawstring bag in the shape of paper balloon)
ふうせん袋　デザイン：湊啓子
"drawstring bag in the shape of paper balloon" designed by Keiko Minato
Junko Sasaki(ed), Bag-BAG-Bag (Tokyo:Patchwork Tsushin Co., Ltd.,1996),P.6.
佐々木純子編集,バッグ・ＢＡＧ・ばっぐ(東京:パッチワーク通信社,1996年),P.6.