March 10th: Nezugaseki to Obuse

It was great to wake up in a big, comfortable room. We stayed at Minshuku Marutake, and like all of the other places on our trip it was Japanese-style, with tatami (reed mat flooring) and futons. But Marutake was one of the nicer places we stayed, and seemed to be more of a ryokan (high-class inn) than a minshuku (family-run inn).

I spent a bit of time admiring our room after we woke up. It had lots of nicely carved wooded details and a nicely decorated tokonoma (alcove), with a hanging scroll, tea ceremony kettle, and ikebana flower arrangement.

Mrs. Sato, the owner of Marutake was also incredibly generous. I think we had paid for the room only, with no meals, but she brought us breakfast (as well as the small but delicious dinner last night)

Breakfast was two onigiri (rice balls) each (the one shown is yukari, or red shiso flavour- one of my favourites), picked akakabu (red turnips), and arajiru (fish soup).

Here are Kaori, Yui and Nakata demonstrating their lady-like table manners. And Ushi and I happily chowing down our breakfast.

Before leaving we posed in front of the minshuku with Mrs. Sato, and she insisted on giving us a giant box of food. It made the van a bit more crowded, but the chips and cookies inside fended off our hunger for over a week. Thank you Mrs. Sato!

We drove from Yamagata to Niigata Prefecture along the rocky shore of the Sea of Japan- the first time I’d seen it- and passed several clusters of these little huts. They didn’t seem to be inhabited, so I’m guessing they’re used by fisherman, maybe for cleaning fish or for temporary lodging.

We stopped to talk to an old fisherman who was gathering seaweed on the shore. He has picking through several kinds that all looked pretty much alike to me, taking the edible seaweeds aosa and mozuku. He handed me a long slimy strand of what looked like mozuku, but when I asked if it was edible he said no. Oh well.

He told us that in the summer awabi (abelone) and sazae (turban shell) can be found- a good incentive to come back.

As we were leaving we noticed a blue net bag full of seaweed lying on the groud, slowly leaking seawater. And up beside the road was a bicycle. So this guy came here by bike, and would later be pedalling home with his bike basket full of dripping seaweed. The elderly in Japan certainly are tough.

After that we left the seaside ride and drove into the mountains to Nagano Prefecture, arriving in Obuse in time for lunch.

Obuse is a small town known for chesnuts and a renovated sake brewery, Masuichi. More on the chesnuts later, but first I’ll tell you about our lunch. We ate at a restaraunt attached to the brewery called Kurabu.

The meal began with nanohana no nibitashi (rapini simmered in Japanese stock, soy sauce and sake) and a small cup of the house sake. The nanohana was fresh and tasty with just the right amount of bitterness, and the sake was smooth and delicious (and not just because this was the first alcohol I’d had since the trip began).

The pretty dishes were cleared away for the main course: a choice of buri no yuanyaki (grilled yellowtail in a teriyaki-like sauce) or sawara no saikyoyaki (Spanish mackeral glazed with Saikyo miso and sake lees). Actually, we shared the fish instead of choosing- these are my kind of people. They were both good but the sawara stood out- soft and tender and richly flavoured. I wish my saikyoyaki turned out this good.

The fish was quickly followed by pickles, miso soup and kuri okawa (chesnut rice). Dessert was coffee mousse and a single locally grown strawberry (this is strawberry season in Japan, believe it or not). Everything was great and even though I was still kind of full from breakfast I had to finish everything.

We were given a private room, which was simply but nicely decorated and had a garden view, but the main dining room was far more impressive with its dynamic open kitchen. (The bathroom was also pretty neat.) The service provided by the happi-clad waiters was brisk but friendly, and the general atmosphere was warm. We’d eaten some excellent food on this trip and it’s hard to say which meal was the best, but Kurabu definitely can’t be beat for atmosphere.

I’ll finish this post with a picture of a print hanging in our room- it depicts a character for sake being built by Lilliputian workers in traditional costume, and could be an Edo era ukiyoe. But if you look closely, one of the little people is a blonde woman. She is Sarah Marie Cummings, managing directer of the brewery and a driving force behind Obuse’s revival as a tourist destination. Read more about her here.

Masuichi Ishimura Sake Brewery
026-247-2011
807 Obuse-machi, Nagano-ken

April 18, 2006 - 11:53 pm
Tags: Travel
Categories: Travel

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