Haguro-san December 19, 2009

looking down from the beams of the main shrine at Haguro-san

For the next part of our trip to Yamagata we caught a bus from Yamagata city to Tsuruoka, where we met up with our friends Sarah and Jen and then hopped on another bus to Haguro-san. My plan was to finally finish hiking all three of the sacred peaks of Dewa Sanzan: Haguro-san, Gas-san, and Yudono-san. It is said that the mountains should be hiked in the order of the life-stages that they represent: Haguro-san stands for birth, Gas-san for death, and finally Yudono-san for rebirth. The three peaks are popular with mountain ascetics known as Yamabushi, who hike the peaks in white robes and tabi split-toed shoes. Of course, there are plenty of other hikers in white robes who I suspect are tourists on Yamabushi tours rather than authentic religious pilgrims.

We got off the bus at the base of the mountain. I had been craving some Yamagata cherries, so we asked if there was a place nearby to buy some. The souvenir shop owners pointed us down the road so we walked a while to a you-pick-em cherry farm. The 10 to 15 minute walk turned out to be more like 20 or 30 minutes, and unfortunately, when we got to the farm they were already out of cherries for the day (due to a lower harvest than usual). They did give us three delicious cherries each to sustain us on the walk back.

After we got back to the base of the mountain we stopped at the public restroom in town before we started hiking. This cute little frog was hanging out next to the men’s room.

We saw this furry caterpillar on the sidewalk.

At the beginning of the hike we entered a lush, mossy forest of towering trees. This red bridge crosses a small stream.

Past the red bridge is a stone bridge that leads to a small shrine in front of a waterfall.

Next, we came upon the 600 year-old five-storied wooden pagoda. The pagoda is a national treasure that was constructed without metal screws or nails.

If you look closely as you climb the 2446 steps you might see some of the 33 figures of gourds, sake cups, bottles, or in this case, a yamabushi. We were able to find about 10 of them.

We also saw several “Yamabushi” hikers.

We stopped at a small tea shop that was perched midway up the mountain. I got a miso soup with tofu and Gas-san takenoko. Gas-san takenoko are thin bamboo shoots that grow on the slopes of Gas-san and are in season this time of year.

At Haguro’s summit, the dieties of all three mountains are enshrined since Haguro-san is accessible year-round.

Yamabushi receive a blessing.

A shrine for shoes

It was the season for ajisai.

We stayed at Saikan, the shukubo at the summit. Since there weren’t many travelers staying there, we had a huge room to ourselves.

I expected the meal to be vegan shojin-ryori, as it had been the last time I stayed there, but I was surprised to find that dinner included a grilled fish. The other dishes included wild mountain vegetables, Gas-san takenoko, goma-dofu (sesame tofu) with yurine lily bulbs, pickled eggplant, and Tsuruoka melon. My favorite dish was the sweet miso-topped broiled eggplant.

Breakfast on the other hand was vegetarian, featuring miso soup, rice, handmade tofu, and wild vegetables.

I was excited to find some vendors selling cherries in the parking area. We tried two different kinds and they were both delicious!

Saikan at night

Plan your own trip to Dewa Sanzan with Wikitravel.

Small sights from Yamadera December 8, 2009

blue ajisai (hydrangea)

I wrote earlier about our trip to Yamadera. There were plenty of summer flowers blooming that day, giving us a lot of small sights to enjoy too.

These star-shaped ajisai are some of my favorite flowers. I love the color too.

I had never noticed the bright red and green winged seeds of maples before. They were really fun to look at, but hard to photograph as they were dancing in the wind.

We saw these tiny white flowers and little green leaves in the damp shaded spots along the stone steps leading to and from the temple. They were like plants in miniature.

Daigaku Imo November 25, 2009

What’s for dinner tonight? Well, it’s fall, so I’ve been getting lots of vegetables from teachers who have big gardens or small farms. I got some sweet potatoes last week, so I thought we should have daigaku imo with dinner (along with a grilled hokke, rice, and salad).

While the recipe on Just Hungry looks delicious, I can’t be bothered to deep fry at home, so I really liked the look of the recipe at Food Lover’s Guide to Tokyo. It was really easy- just chop up a large sweet potato, put it in a frying pan with the rest of the ingredients and cook it until the water’s gone and the sugar makes a nice syrup. Then sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Japanese food in the news November 18, 2009

I stumbled across some interesting articles about Japanese food while reading the newspaper today. The first was an article about the reduction of next year’s Atlantic bluefin tuna quota by 40% in an effort to save the species from overfishing. I was surprised to read that Japan has stockpiled 24,600 tons of frozen bluefin tuna, which is nearly double next year’s scheduled catch of Atlantic bluefin. Based on the numbers in the article, it sounds like this means that the country has about a year’s supply of tuna on ice (as Pacific bluefin make up the other half).

I try to avoid eating bluefin most of the time myself, but it’s amazing to me that with the species facing such hard times every sushi shop in town is still able to offer a plate of hon-maguro or otoro for just a few hundred yen. It just doesn’t compute.

Read more at Asahi Shimbun: 2010 Atlantic tuna quota slashed 40%

The other article was about growing imports of that seasonal fall specialty mushroom, the matsutake. According to the article some imported matsutake can rival the quality of domestic mushrooms for a much lower price. Perhaps I should check them out. I’ve heard that you can find these mushrooms growing wild in Colorado too, so maybe I can make a hobby of it after I go home too.

Foreign growers cash in on demand for ‘matsutake’

Writing about Japanese food in the news reminds me that I also have yet to post this article from the Japan Times about Elizabeth Andoh and her upcoming book Kansha: Celebrating Japan’s Vegetarian Traditions.

Key ingredient in Japanese cuisine found in the mind

Yamagata and Yamadera November 16, 2009

Buildings on the cliff at Ryushakuji overlook the town of Yamadera below.

On the 4th of July weekend, we took Friday off and took a trip to Yamagata. I was inspired by my previous trip to Japan, when we spent 3 weeks studying haiku poet Matsuo Basho’s Oku no Hosomichi by following the same route through Tohoku. When we arrived in Yamagata on that trip, I caught a cold so I couldn’t complete the Gas-san to Yudono-san hike (I was deterred by the flying snow-rain at the cable car base) so I’ve been wanting to complete my unfinished trip since then. Plus, I remembered the area, particularly Yamadera, was so beautiful. We certainly weren’t disappointed this time around.

To get there we took the shinkansen to Sendai and then the local line to Yamadera. On my previous trip we were in Yamadera on the 4th of July too, and I remembered that the streets had seemed to be lined with cherry vendors. I was really looking forward to bunches and bunches of delicious Yamagata cherries. Unfortunately, this year’s weather led to a bad stone fruit crop, including cherries, so there were just a few sellers this time.

This carving is at the temple at the base of Yamadera. You can rub the statue where you’re having trouble to feel better. As you can see years and years of rubbing have made him so smooth and shiny. We saw lots of older ladies come and rub his feet before starting up the 1000 stone steps to the mountaintop temple of Ryushakuji.

A stone statue

The big main gate is about halfway up.

You can tie your omikuji here.

Looking up, you can see where water has worn rounded caves into the stone.

A small building on the cliff

The view of the town below (also called Yamadera) from the viewing platform.

Intricately carved dragons

At the top there is not just one temple, but many buildings, including this one, which appears to be the priest’s house, and a vegetable garden.

A string of omikuji.

A huge lantern.

me, Alex, and Alex

After spending the day in Yamadera we had a quick soba lunch before catching the train to Yamagata city. We met up with my friend Alex from Boulder, who is working as an ALT in Yamagata.

First we went to a nearby yatai center where we enjoyed some beers and local specialties. Just find a stall with open seats, pull up a chair, and order away. One interesting dish we tried was dashi tofu. Yamagata dashi isn’t dashi as in the kombu and bonito broth that’s used in Japanese cooking, it’s a finely chopped mix of okra, eggplant, shiso, and other vegetables and seasonings that you can plop onto your tofu. It’s neba-neba (sticky-slimy), but was surprisingly good; definitely better than that other neba-neba food, natto, in my opinion.

After that we headed to a tachinomiya (standing bar) called Maneki Buta. You might guess from the name that their specialty is pork. Alex recommended the grilled pork with daikon, raw on the inside and seared on the outside pork liver, and the gyu-suji nikomi. It was all tasty.

My culinary revelation with organ meats continues. Not only is chicken liver good, this raw on the inside and seared on the outside pork liver is pretty good too. It’s tender and creamy textured and cooked just enough.

See more from our trip at Alex’s photoblog.