New Year's Holiday Food

Two types of special Japanese dishes in January.
Traditional festive food for the New Year's day at home: Osechi
Course dishes at restaurants: Kaiseki Ryori

Kaiseki Ryori:
Special Japanese Dishes for January

Japanese sometimes eat out in holiday resorts for the New Year holidays.
There is an old Japanese style hotel, Kajika-en, up the Tama River to the northwest of Tokyo. It is in Mitake in the Okutama area. The hotel serves "yamazato-kaiseki ryori," which literally means "a mountain-village special-course dish." Almost all of its ingredients are from the mountains or the river, and it is most important to use seasonal ingredients.
A sense of season is the most important thing in Japanese cuisine. Ingredients that bring us good luck are essential in January.
Please enjoy these pictures of those dishes.

Kaiseki of Hatsuharu Zuki "The New Year": January

The Menu

Shokuzenshu, or Yama-momo liquor, an aperitif. "Yama-momo" means "mountain peach."

Sakizuke: A small starting dish or appetizer.
Fuka Hire Ebi Yose, or two pieces of shark fin and prawn jelly with horseradish.
Fuka sounds like "fuku," or "fortune" in Japanese. Prawns are associated with long life, because they are shaped like elderly people bent with age.

Please notice their shape and vivid colors. Pine, bamboo, and plum are the seasonal flower theme of January. "Koi-ko" means "carp eggs," associated with prosperity of descendants. Kombu is a kind of seaweed, which is usually used for making soup. Kombu sounds like yoro-kobu. It means rejoice.

Zensai: Hors d'oeuvres, as in Western-style meals. These are enjoyed with sake, Japanese rice wine.

At upper left: Yuba Chikuwa, or soybean curd wrapped in sliced cucumber in the shape of "kadomatsu,"' the traditional New Year arrangements of bamboo and pine.	At upper right: Koi-ko Kombumaki, or carp eggs rolled in Kombu in the shape of the bark of pine.
At center: Baika Kimi Zushi, or steamed and strained fish with egg white in the shape of "baika," a ume blossom.
At lower left: Kamo Matsukaze, or a piece of duck meat loaf in the shape of "hagoita", a battledore of the traditional New Year game.	At lower right: Amigasa Yuzu, or a yuzu orange boiled with sugar in the shape of "amigasa", a sedge or straw hat which was popular in Edo period. They are used for shading from the sun and protecting from snow in winter.

Wan: Clear Soup with
Akebono Shinjo, or fish ball shaped into a sunrise.
Takenoko Maizuru, or bamboo shoots carved into the shape of a crane.

"Akebono" means "sunrise." Maizuru is a dancing crane associated with longevity. We love the beauty of cranes flying up to sky. Uguisu is a bush warbler announcing that spring has come. We love their twittering very much.

Tsukuri: Fresh raw fish, Sashimi.
Kangoi Arai, or carp fillet of midwinter.
Jimme-soh, or a kind of greens. Jimme is a horse offered at Shinto shrines.

Arai is a way of making sashimi, washing the slices again and again in cold water. This takes out the unpleasant smell of carp and makes them taste good.

Yakimono: Grilled fish or meat.
Yamame Konro Yaki, or grilled yamame, a kind of river fish.

Yuzu Gaki, or a dried persimmon with peel of yuzu orange.

Nimono: Boiled food.
Shiraga Daikon Shinodamaki, or a piece of white radish rolled by a deep fried tofu cutlet.
Fuki Aoni, or stalks of butterbur or colts foot.

Shiraga is white hair associated with longevity. White and green remind us of early spring.

Shiizakana: Hors d'oeuvre in the middle of course dishes.

Happoh Yasai Konbu Bune, or eight treasures on a boat; eight kinds of vegetable on a boat made of deep-fried kombu.

Treasure boat means economic prosperity. Eight is a symbolic number of the world.

Agemono: Deep-fried food.
Fuki-no-toh, or butterbur flower stalk.
Tsutsumi Renkon, lotus nuts covered with flour mixture.
Sohmen yuki-gakoi, or deep-fried sohmen in the shape of a snow fence.
Sohmen is the thinnest noodle in Japan.

Sunomono: Vinegared food.
Naruto Ninjin Yamakawa-jime, or carrot with ingredients from the mountains and river. Nanohana, or rape blossoms of early spring.

The contrastive colors are very beautiful.

Tome-wan: Last soup.
The first soup was clear soup; the last soup is miso, a soup made of soybean paste.
Akadashi-jiru-jitate, or soup with red soybean.
Kawa-nori, or a kind of river seaweed.

Konomono: Japanese pickled vegetables.
Kabu, daikon and hakusai: Japanese turnips, radishes, and Chinese cabbage.

Rice rapped by wood firm is served with soup and pickles.
Springs with blossoms suggest the elegance of early spring.

Gohan: Rice
Adzuki Bean Rice and Ume Blossom.

We eat Adzuki bean rice at happy events.

Mizugashi: Seasonal fruits. A bowl of strawberries.

Amami: Green Tea Ice Cream

They were really delicious! Hot dishes were served really hot. Cold dishes were served quite cold. We felt the New Year season in every dish. How do you feel about "kaiseki"? Kaiseki is a typical formal dish in Japan. Well, there is one more hint for enjoying Japanese dish. You should look at the plates when dining, because Japanese dishes are served on fine plates. You should also enjoy the "washitsu," or Japanese style room, while dining. You can also enjoy the ornaments in the alcoves, such as "kakejiku" pictures and seasonal flowers.

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Tokyo, Japan
February 27, 1999
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