Western-style Tsubaki Restaurant by Reservation Only

Gifu City is located in the southern part of Gifu Prefecture. Skyscrapers line the area around JR Gifu Station, the gateway to the city. In the old days, Dozo Saito laid the foundation of the city, and Nobunaga Oda, who became the husband of his daughter Kicho, opened Rakuichi Rakuza. In recent years, the area has become a bedroom community, partly because it is only a 20-minute train ride to Nagoya City. Many businessmen and students commute to companies and universities in neighboring Aichi Prefecture, and many people spend their holidays at large shopping centers in the suburbs, giving the area a typical modern regional city face.

On the other hand, it is not widely known that the demand for eating out is high, with citizens spending one of the five highest amounts on dining out in Japan, and the number of restaurants per 1,000 population is one of the highest in Japan. In such an environment, the restaurant ” Western-style Tsubaki” attracts visitors from both inside and outside of the prefecture and is open by reservation only.

Western-style cuisine served in an old private house full of nostalgia

The restaurant is located at the foot of a quiet mountain about 20 minutes north by car from JR Gifu Station. The well-maintained garden with a babbling brook echoing pleasantly reminds one of a luxury ryokan (Japanese inn). Just walking from the gate to the entrance of the restaurant is enough to give you the illusion that you have come for a kaiseki meal. The interior of the restaurant has a modern Japanese style, and you have to take off your shoes at the entrance.

Chopsticks are placed on a Japanese paper luncheon mat laid on a table with the warmth of wood. The plates on which the food is served are all white with gold rims in a simple design. It has the appearance of the “elegant Western-style food” that everyone imagines in the old days. This is Western-style food served in a Japanese-style space. The menu consists mainly of course meals, but a la carte dishes are also available, and there is a wide selection of wines to match the dishes.

What we can do because we are a Wagyu beef specialist

Tanakaya Food Service is one of the restaurants operated by Tanakaya Food Service, a company based in Ibigun, Gifu Prefecture, that operates restaurants focusing on meat. Tanakaya Food Service Co., Ltd. will also open “Butcher Tanaka” in Ginza 6-chome, a prime location in Tokyo, in 2020. The restaurant has become a hot topic as an authentic meat kappo restaurant that serves only one omakase course, using the best brand meat of the day as its main ingredient. The representative, Satoru Tanaka, is a true specialist of Japanese beef, calling himself a “meat master. He opened his first yakiniku restaurant at the age of 25, expanding to Tokyo, Aichi, Gifu, and Shiga, and in 2019, his Nagoya restaurant “Nikuya Setsugetsuka” won a Michelin plate, making his name known nationwide. The restaurant’s name has become a national standard. He is also highly regarded in the industry.

What made “Western-style Tsubaki” so popular was the fact that it used only A5-rank brand beef in its classic Western-style menu of steaks and hamburgers. By reviewing the ingredients of the menu, which has been loved by many people for many years, the restaurant has updated the taste. Hida beef, Matsuzaka beef, Mikawa beef, Omi beef, Kobe beef… He has dealt with more Wagyu beef than anyone else and has studied for many years how to bring out the best of it, so he knows which parts of Wagyu beef to use and how to use them, working backward from the ideal flavor, and has the skills to embody them.

A “formula” that captures the hearts and minds of gourmands

The brand name and individual identification number of the beef used in the restaurant are posted on the wall, which shows the attention to detail. Branded Wagyu beef x standard Western-style food = “Wagyu Western-style food. It may seem like a formula that anyone could come up with, but the solution can only be seen by those with a keen eye. That is why the restaurant has been able to capture the hearts and stomachs of many gourmands. The pride as a butcher that stands dignifiedly in the nostalgic menu may open the door to a new era of Western cuisine in Japan and create a new genre that people want to inherit for a long time to come. This is a restaurant you should definitely visit.

The post Standard Western-style cuisine and Western-style Tsubaki, only a craftsman with a thorough knowledge of Wagyu beef can serve / Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan first appeared on NIHONMONO.

Birthplace of Kurikinton

Ena City is located in southeastern Gifu Prefecture, adjacent to Aichi and Nagano Prefectures. The city is rich in nature and history. In the past, the city prospered as a major transportation hub. Ooijuku, the 49th inn on the Nakasendo Highway, is the largest of the 16 inns in Mino. It is lined with the gates of a prestigious main lodge and the houses of village headmen with lattice doors, and was the place where the Emperor Meiji stayed when he made his pilgrimage in 1838. There are six “masugata,” or square-shaped gates, set up to prevent enemies from entering the inn, but only here in Oi-juku are there so many of them. This is the only place where such a large number of them can be seen. As an inn town at the intersection of the Namboku Highway, which carried salt and textiles to Shinshu and Kiso, and the Chuma Highway, which carried cocoons and firewood, it was very busy with travelers visiting Ise.

To entertain travelers, chestnuts from the mountains of the Ena region were boiled, squeezed out with a cloth, and served as a confectionery, which is said to be the origin of Kurikinton. A stone monument with the inscription “Birthplace of Chestnut Kinton” stands in front of JR Nakatsugawa Station, which is part of the Ena area, and free chestnut kinton is served in front of the station on September 9, “Chou-you-no-Sekku,” a festival to express gratitude. Although the town’s function as an inn town has shrunk, the elegant townscape remains, and many tourists visit the area for the chestnut kinton, which is sold only from early fall, when chestnuts are ready for harvest, until around January.

The charm of kuri-kinton is the flavor that makes the most of the ingredients. The elegant, yet nostalgic and simple flavor is addictive. Chestnuts themselves are rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, iron, and other minerals essential for human health, and they also contain many vitamins and dietary fiber. The process is quite simple. The chestnuts are carefully back-cooked, sugar is added, and then the chestnuts are formed into a tea towel. That is why the difference in ingredients and techniques is so noticeable, and the customers appreciate it very highly.

Kurikinton, a traditional and unique dessert at “Ena Jyuya”.

Enasuya ” is a long-established confectionery store that has been in business for more than 60 years, operating six stores in the Tono area, including Ena City, Gifu Prefecture, and Tajimi City, known as a pottery town. It is said that Enasuya was started as a branch of Nakatsugawa Suya, which was established in the Edo period (1603-1868). In the Tono region, many other Japanese confectionery stores are competing with each other to produce their own unique kurikinton (sweet made from chestnuts) using locally harvested chestnuts. The characteristic of Enasuya’s chestnut kinton is that while respecting the traditional method of production, the texture is arranged by cooking the chestnuts while leaving the chestnut grains intact. When you bite into a chestnut kinton, its rich flavor spreads softly in your mouth along with its rich sweetness.

Enasuya does not stick to Ena chestnuts, a specialty of Nakatsugawa City and Ena City, but carefully selects the best chestnuts of the year from all over Japan, and skilled wagashi craftsmen fine-tune the delicate flavor by assessing the conditions.

The Kannonji store, which is attached to the main factory about 10 minutes by car from the main store, is built in a traditional sukiya-style building, and its atmospheric appearance blends in with the beautiful surrounding scenery rich in nature. It has an eating and drinking area where customers can enjoy the view of the garden with its beautiful fresh greenery and autumn leaves, and is trying to match the skills of artisans with the needs of today by offering a “chestnut parfait” that makes the most of its know-how. The shop offers a wide variety of products that only a craftsman who knows chestnuts can produce, keeping customers coming back for more.

The skills and ideas that enable them to propose various ways to enjoy even a single chestnut make this a place where one can not only enjoy Japanese confectionery, but also naturally learn how to look at it. The area is also home to tourist attractions such as the ruins of Naegi Castle, a nationally designated historic site that is famous as a “castle in the sky,” making it a good place to take a break while driving around the area.

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Yuichi Murakami, whose studio is located in the pottery town of Toki City, Gifu Prefecture, is an up-and-coming ceramic artist who creates modern and practical vessels.
Not bound by any set style or material, his works have a sophisticated sense of balance in design and are comfortable to use.
All of his works are useful in our daily lives. They add color to cupboards and dining tables.

What Mingei means to Mr. Murakami

Mingei” (short for “folk craft”) was proposed by Yanagi Muneyoshi and others during the Taisho era (1912-1926). Mingei” is a term that refers to the daily items that the people have in their hands and that are always present in their daily lives. Yanagi believed that the beauty that emerges from practicality (beauty of use) can be found in daily necessities that are not rare, easily accessible, and ubiquitous, and that are made by unknown craftsmen. This new perspective has put the spotlight on handicrafts rooted in the cultural climate of each region. In a manner of speaking, the democratization and broadening of the definition of crafts resonated with many potters and artists, and it is said to have penetrated the world of craftsmanship as a uniquely Japanese aesthetic. The idea of “mingei,” or ” crafts of the people by the people for the people, ” has been handed down unchanged in contemporary craftsmanship.

Mingei, as I see it, means “integrity. Mingei, in my opinion, is ‘integrity.’ It means accepting the materials available at the time and making good products at prices that ordinary consumers can afford. I entered the world of mingei without knowing what it was, and I am still learning, but I think it is important to make things that fit the current lifestyle,” says ceramic artist Yuichi Murakami. He is an up-and-coming artist who has a studio in Toki City, located in the southeastern part of Gifu Prefecture, the city of pottery, and produces a wide variety of vessels. His lake-inspired plate series, such as “Kosui Iro” and “Usuboku Iro,” expresses a unique sense of color through the use of variegated colors and patterns created by the kiln’s Yohhen process. The white porcelain, which dares to make use of industrial whiteness, has a slightly thicker rim to make it easy to use in daily life and to give it a functional beauty. Without adhering to any particular style or material, Murakami’s style is to incorporate the atmosphere of the times into usability and express it in modern vessels. What cannot be overlooked when talking about Murakami is the presence of tea utensils. He says that his love of drinking tea led him to make Chinese tea utensils. Inevitably, he was lured into the world of Chinese tea, and he has received numerous inquiries from tea lovers in China, Taiwan, and other countries. His passion for tea is reflected in each of his works. The works are for daily use, but they also showcase the fine handiwork of the artist.

The roots of ceramic artist Yuichi Murakami and the works he creates

The roots of Yuichi Murakami’s work can be traced back to a trip he undertook after graduating from high school, in which he traveled on foot around the country to visit manufacturing sites. Starting from Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, where he was born and raised, he decided only to head south and walked wherever his fancy took him. No train, no bus, no hitchhiking. I just walked and walked and walked. The first manufacturing site I encountered was “Igawa Menpa” in Shizuoka Prefecture. The beautiful luster of natural lacquer is a characteristic of this curved product. I was fascinated by the craftsmen’s skillful workmanship. He traveled to Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, to try his hand at making a bento box himself, grabbing a log and a chisel and whittling away at the work. If he wanted to see Wajima lacquerware, he would head to Ishikawa Prefecture. Sometimes he would sleep in a sleeping bag on the grounds of a shrine or in an unmanned train station. After a year of walking, he arrived in Okinawa, where he met Yamada Shinman, a highly acclaimed and award-winning ceramic artist, both in Japan and abroad. Before coming to Okinawa, his only experience with pottery was at a studio run by a relative on his father’s side. There, he made a hand-biwn cup, which was his first experience with ceramic clay. At that time, he was still not interested in pottery, but when he came across Mr. Yamada’s work, he was so struck by his work that he began to study under Mr. Yamada. After five years of training in yachimun, he entered the Tajimi City Ceramic Design Institute, a research institute for ceramics managed and operated by the city of Tajimi. After facing pottery from a different angle from his previous experience and deepening his study, he started his own business. He says that this seemingly inefficient and roundabout path helped him to discover early on how his pottery should be used in people’s daily lives.

Recently,” Murakami says, “I have a renewed sense that my identity is in Tokyo. Just as when he was young, he used to style items he selected based on his intuition by visiting vintage clothing stores and antique stores, he creates modern yet stylish vessels that are comfortable to use. Craftsmanship that is close to the feelings of the user and a unique perspective that only an urban dweller could have. This is a world view that only Mr. Murakami can create. If you are in need of something new in your daily life, we hope you will try some of Murakami’s dishes. His sense of taste combined in just the right balance will create an unexpected harmony that will elevate your cupboards and dining table to a higher level.

I make a wide variety of pottery works of various designs, including tea sets and flower vases, but I especially recommend the Okinawan bowls called “makai. They are very functional bowls, so please check them out. While vessels for special occasions are wonderful, I would like my works to be used more and more in your daily life.

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Artist who knows all about “Oshima Tsumugi” – Mr. Yukichi Masuda Creator of the beautiful and gentle white “White Mud Oshima Many people may think of Oshima tsumugi as beautiful black or dark blue fabrics produced through …

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Mino City is located in the center of Gifu Prefecture, roughly in the center of Japan. The city still retains the udatsu-lined streets built between the Edo and Meiji periods in the castle town of Ogurayama Castle, which flourished as a commercial center from the Azuchi-Momoyama period. This area is where merchants made their fortunes through the trade of “Mino washi,” a traditional craft with a history of more than 1,300 years that has been registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage as “Japanese handmade washi paper technology. The area is lined with the ruins of mansions with magnificent “udatsu” (roofed overhangs), and visitors can enjoy an atmosphere as if they have stepped back in time to that era.
The town itself was located on top of a hill and had poor water access, making it vulnerable to fire. However, since it cost a considerable amount of money to install the udatsu, it was considered a symbol of wealth to have a magnificent udatsu on the roof of a house, which is the origin of the idiom “udatsu ga nagarenai,” which is still used today. The town is also known as “Udatsu” in the Japanese language.

Mino merchant town, a town built on washi paper, offers hospitality that is unique to the town.

NIPPONIA Mino Shokecho” is a machiya hotel that opened in 2019, renovating an old house built over 100 years ago based on the concept of ” meeting in a town built by washi paper. The base of the hotel is the residence and warehouse of Matsuhisa, a wholesaler of raw materials for Mino washi paper, built between the late Meiji and early Taisho eras. Matsuhisa, a wealthy merchant and a man of culture who loved tea, spent five years completing the wooden house in the sukiya style, which he was particular about at the time of construction.

The guest rooms, named “YAMAJOU building,” consist of two types, the “main building” and the “warehouse,” with a total of six rooms: “Zangetsu,” “Mangetsu,” “Aya Nishiki,” “Yomeiden,” “Daigokuden,” and “Kongo. The impressive guest rooms are named after shoji paper brands. Mino washi is used throughout the guest rooms, including on the wallpaper and shoji screens. The rooms are arranged around a courtyard so that visitors can see a different garden in each room, and enjoy Matsuhisa’s unique design. The space is modern and comfortable, but at the same time, it offers a taste of Japanese style. In 2020, a five-minute walk from the “YAMAJOU” building, the “YAMASITI” building will open, renovated from the residence of Mr. Suda, who became a landowner as a Japanese paper wholesaler. The YAMAJOU building has a café attached to it, and guests can use the ticket they receive upon check-in. As a “decentralized hotel” with guest rooms scattered throughout the town, the hotel aims to develop the entire surrounding area, and has prepared a lot of recommended information on the surrounding area so that guests can enjoy the entire area.

Experience the climate and culture of Mino

NIPPONIA Mino Shokamachi” proposes a form of travel that ” allows visitors to get to know the area. At the Washi nary, a washi specialty store located on the hotel grounds, a “washi sommelier” invites visitors into the profound world of washi, just as if he or she were telling them about the history of wine and its charms. If visitors inquire in advance, they can try their hand at “letterpress printing” as part of their activity plan. In 2021, the “Gallery Collage,” a gallery introducing contemporary art, will open adjacent to the “Wasi-nary. A space where visitors can enjoy various artworks related to Mino will also be added.

Dinner is not served at “NIPPONIA Mino Shokamachi. Therefore, when the lights go on in the “udatsu-lined streets,” local staff will guide guests to recommended restaurants according to their preferences so that they can enjoy the atmosphere of the town and its food. After enjoying the nostalgic townscape to the fullest, you can relax and fall asleep in the quiet space. When you wake up, you will enjoy breakfast brought to your room. The breakfast is a beautifully prepared Japanese breakfast that uses local ingredients, and includes a variety of Japanese-style dishes, such as boiled and seasoned vegetables, and rice cooked in an earthenware pot. Staying in a building with a sense of history, walking around the town, and directly experiencing the local climate and culture. The real experience in this town will deepen your knowledge, nurture your mind, and show you a more colorful landscape.

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Suimeikan” brings healing to Gero

Gero Onsen, located in central Gifu Prefecture, was founded in the Heian period (794-1185) and was introduced by Hayashi Razan, a well-known Confucian scholar who served four shoguns, starting with Tokugawa Ieyasu, as one of the three best springs in Japan along with Arima and Kusatsu. The famous hot spring, which was visited by warlords such as Nobunaga Oda to heal battle wounds, became well known when it was introduced in Hayashi Razan’s book, and by the Edo period (1603-1867), it was visited by 30,000 hot-spring cures a year. With the opening of Gero Station on the JR Takayama Line in 1930, it became accessible from various directions by Shinkansen bullet trains to Nagoya or Toyama, and from there by limited express or local trains. The transportation infrastructure, including a direct bus service from Nagoya, has been improved, and the area has further developed as a hot spring resort. The slightly high alkaline simple hot spring is said to be colorless, clear, thick, and smooth on the skin, making it suitable for beauty and health promotion.

Suimeikan, which opened in Gero City, Gifu Prefecture, in 1932, is the representative ryokan of Gero Onsen. On its vast grounds of 10,000 square meters, the ryokan has three pavilions (Sansuikaku, Tobisenkaku, and Rinkawakaku), an indoor hot spring pool, and a gymnasium, and a total of 264 guest rooms. Each pavilion has three large baths : an open-air bath surrounded by greenery and huge rocks, a 24-hour bath overlooking the city, and a cypress-scented bath called “Shimodome-no-yu,” allowing guests to enjoy a variety of bathing experiences. Of course, private baths are also available for guests to relax and enjoy the famous hot spring water. The museum also has a large collection of works of high artistic value, including tile murals by living national treasure potter Takuo Kato and paintings by master artist Taikan Yokoyama, which are also highlights of the museum. A Noh stage supervised by the late Shoroku Sekine, a Noh performer of the Kanze school, one of the schools of Noh theater, is also located in the hotel, and visitors will be able to rediscover the charm of Japanese beauty through the elegance of this 90-year old ryokan.

Enjoy Japanese cuisine and architecture

Traditional Japanese cuisine based on the five tastes, five colors, and five directions can be enjoyed at the ryokan. The cuisine is based on the five tastes, five colors, and five ways of cooking. Chef Shingo Ikeda, who studied at Kyoto Cuisine Hanakagami, brings out the best of local seasonal ingredients such as fresh vegetables from farmers in partnership with the restaurant. Sommelier Takao Kani, who is also the head of the Gifu branch of the Japan Sommelier Association, selects wines to match the cuisine of the day, which will further enhance the flavors of both the food and the sake.

Seiranso,” a five-room detached house in the sukiya style, offers a peaceful and tranquil setting in which guests can look out over the well-kept Japanese garden and experience the changing of the seasons. The rooms are decorated with summer tatami mats and yoshizu, snow tatami mats and yukimi-shoji screens to match the changing of the seasons. The rooms on the first floor, Aoi no Ma and Yugao no Ma, are equipped with an open-air bath with natural hot spring water that allows you to enjoy the night sky all to yourself. In addition, the chef at “Seiranso” prepares special menus using ingredients carefully selected on the day. Here, too, the ultimate luxury awaits you, and this will be the moment when you will feel the greatest satisfaction in having chosen this inn.

The scale of the inn is said to be the largest in the Tokai region, and the hospitality that goes into every detail will surely add a page of satisfaction to your travel album.

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Mamma Farms Rice

The earth is warming, and Japan is no exception: during the first 100 years of the 20th century, the average temperature in Japan increased by about 1°C. In Tokyo, the average temperature rose by about 3°C during the same period due to the heat island effect, and the trend has not changed since the 21st century. In Tokyo, the heat island effect has caused the average temperature to rise by about 3°C over the same period, a trend that has not changed since the 21st century. As a result, it is said that areas suitable for rice cultivation have shifted from lowland areas known as rice-producing regions, such as the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture and the Ishikari Plain in Hokkaido, to inland high-cool regions such as the Hida region in Gifu Prefecture, northern Nagano Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, and Minami Uonuma in Niigata Prefecture.

Some people ask, “Is it still possible to grow rice in the high mountains? Some people say, “Can you still grow rice in the high mountains? But I have a feeling that it is becoming popular among rice lovers,” says Tatsuki Kobayashi, a rice farmer in Gifu Prefecture, near the Alps. Kobayashi is the owner of ” Mamma Farm, ” a small village in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, near the Alps, that continues to win top prizes in national rice competitions year after year. Originally a fattening cattle farmer, he switched to rice farming with his friends because it seemed like a better way to communicate with end users. The specially cultivated rice “Inochi no Ichi” produced by Mr. Kobayashi and his colleagues is moderately chewy and sticky, and has a surprisingly rich sweetness, which is evident even after the rice has cooled. Some people say that one bite of the rice “overturned their concept of rice. Yukimanma,” another hot rice variety from Mamma Farms, has a cloudy white color like glutinous rice when milled, and is gaining popularity because it is more sticky than ordinary Uruchi rice and does not lose its taste even when cooled. Even when eaten unpolished, the rice has a strong sweet taste and chewy texture, and has won awards at competitions.

Why Rice Cultivation Succeeded in Hida Takayama

But why did Mr. Kobayashi, who has little experience as a rice farmer, succeed in Hida Takayama, which is not well known as a rice production center? One reason is that Mr. Kobayashi and his group of farmers started rice farming using only organic fertilizers and minimal use of pesticides in order to protect the village, which had been cultivated by their predecessors and nurtured into soil suitable for rice cultivation. That they naturally gathered together a group of like-minded people who wanted to protect the insects and the natural environment and produce safe and secure crops. In addition, the environment was cool at night even in summer, which allowed the rice to breathe well and not consume excessive amounts of starch, which facilitated the slow and concentrated flavor of the rice. The clean soil, moderate hours of sunlight, and mineral-rich snow-melt water flowing from the Northern Alps are all factors that add up to produce delicious rice. In 2013, Mr. Kobayashi launched the ” Hida Takayama Delicious Rice Project ” in order to share the know-how of rice cultivation and pass it on to the next generation. Together with other volunteers, he aims to realize sustainable agriculture that continues to produce high value-added, safe, and secure rice, and to train future generations.

The name “Mamma Farm” is said to reflect the wish that “the rice is just as it is in nature, just as it is in life. Mr. Kobayashi hopes to continue to convey the importance of taking life, which the Japanese people have long cherished, through the act of eating rice. In today’s society, where trends change quickly, and smartphones are flooded with a vast amount of information, it is difficult to focus on one thing at a time, making it especially difficult to remain steadfast in what one is doing. Mr. Kobayashi is a Hida native who believes in working diligently and honestly, and he is dedicated to rice farming. Just like the many artisans who support Japan’s rice cultivation, the back of a person who can love nature in a natural way is a very big person.

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In a corner of a historic inn, time that had stood still has begun to move again at “sugino… Naraijuku is located in the south of Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture. The old post town, which was one of the eleven Kiso inns along the Nakasendo route fro…

The post Phantom rice grown in a high-cool climate with large temperature differences, Mamma Farm, Mr. Tatsuki Kobayashi / Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan first appeared on NIHONMONO.

Auberge is a French word that refers to a restaurant with accommodations in the suburbs. In Japan, French cuisine became popular during the high-growth period, and auberges began to open in rural areas in the 1980s, in the midst of the bubble economy. The difference between an auberge and a hotel is that an auberge is a facility where meals, not lodging, are the objective. The best part of an auberge is that you can taste the local ingredients and rest comfortably because it is basically located in a place rich in nature.

Taste the food and rest well in Gifu

Auberge Genju opened in August 2020 along the Seseragi Kaido (Seseragi Road), which connects Hida Takayama and Gujo Hachiman in the northern part of Gifu Prefecture and is famous for its autumn leaves. The hotel is located in the “Furusato Park” in Kiyomi-machi, Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, a mountainous area at an elevation of 800 meters above sea level. The dome-shaped paramodern building with a beautiful curved roof clad in red rust warmly welcomes guests. The concept of “paramodern ” was proposed by Shuhei Endo, one of the internationally acclaimed contemporary architects who designed this auberge. The characteristic design of corrugated steel plates (a corrugated building material) is in harmony with the surrounding mountains and river while maintaining functionality to withstand large amounts of snowfall, and the texture and aroma of the Hida cedar and cypress used abundantly in the building provide a high quality of comfort. The hotel is located in the Hida area of Hida City.

The foundation of the hotel is “Shokugaku”, or the enjoyment of food.

Owner Nobuhiro Kojima’s concept of cuisine is “shindo fuji. He carefully selects ingredients from the nearby cities of Takayama, Gujo, and Gero in the hopes that his customers will become healthier by eating seasonal ingredients from the land. He makes numerous trips to the production sites, and based on the words of the producers and his own experiences there, he creates dishes that are full of nourishing flavors to nourish the body and soul. The basis of his cuisine is “Shokuraku,” a food culture advocated by Masatake Fukumori, a potter at Doraku Kiln, an Iga pottery kiln that has been in operation for seven generations in the village of Iga, Mie Prefecture, and is known as the “Rosanjin of our time. He walks in the fields and mountains, listens to the whispers of nature, picks trees and flowers and arranges them, and enjoys cooking according to the season. Eat well, drink well, laugh well, and sleep well. In order for guests to experience “Shokuraku,” a redefinition of Japanese food culture, I needed to understand the essence of the bounty of this land better than anyone else. And so, at Tokuyama-zushi, one of Japan’s leading Japanese-style auberges, he continues to learn from the owner, Hiroaki Tokuyama, how to deal with the local climate and ingredients, embodying “Shokuraku” on a daily basis.

The next day, after a peaceful sleep after being satisfied with dishes using mountain delicacies, wild game, and river fish nurtured in nature-rich Gifu Prefecture, the murmuring of the Maze River and the air created by the mountains stocked with natural beech forests will lead you to a refreshing awakening. This is an exceptional experience that will bring a sense of “peace” to a mind and body exhausted by daily life. The special cuisine and travel experience in a secluded place will give you a precious time away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the notifications on your smart phone to come back to yourself.

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Wagyu Beef Loved Around the World

The taste of a cow is determined by its pedigree. History tells us why. Originally bred for agriculture, the demand for Wagyu cattle increased as a result of civilization’s enlightenment during the Meiji period (1868-1912). As a result, Wagyu cattle were actively crossbred with foreign breeds in various regions in an effort to make them as large as their foreign counterparts. However, the breeding process failed, as the cattle became rough and the meat quality deteriorated. After the end of World War II, there was a movement to restore the original Wagyu breed, but the number of hybrids increased so much that purebred Wagyu cattle became extinct. Miraculously, however, “Tajiri-go” was born from among four cattle living in Ojiroku, Kami-machi, Hyogo Prefecture, and became a sire bull, leaving behind about 1,500 offspring. Since then, breeding has been carried out with careful management of bloodlines like thoroughbreds, and as a result, brand beef with better meat quality has been produced in various parts of Japan, and “WAGYU” has become loved not only in Japan but also by food connoisseurs around the world.

Buying Hida beef from a single source is a three-way street

Hida beef, one of the most popular beef brands in Japan, is defined as Japanese black cattle raised for 14 months or longer in Gifu Prefecture and having a meat quality grade of 3 or higher. The meat is tender and fine-textured, with a mellow aroma that spreads in the mouth. It is also characterized by a rich, full-bodied meat with a refreshing aftertaste. Kiminori Fukao, who runs Bakuro Ichidai, a restaurant specializing in Hida beef in Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture, Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, and Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, took over the meat business from his predecessor and has been earnestly dealing with Hida beef since its establishment in 1969. While many yakiniku restaurants purchase specific parts of Hida beef such as loin and fillet, Mr. Fukao insists on “buying a whole cow” in order to expand his knowledge and protect Hida beef farmers. Mr. Fukao has expanded his knowledge and insists on buying only one head of Hida beef to protect Hida beef farmers. However, it is not easy to raise a cow that is recognized as Hida beef, and from the farmer’s point of view, our role is to buy a whole cow and convey the appeal of all parts to our customers. This will enhance the brand value of Hida beef and lead to local production for local consumption. By purchasing a whole cow, customers can enjoy rare parts of Hida beef at reasonable prices on the lunch and dinner menus, and the farmer and the restaurant can be protected. Both the seller and the buyer are satisfied, and the restaurant contributes to the local industry.

Hida beef professionals have earned the trust of the one and only

Many customers come to Bakuro Ichiyo to enjoy Hida beef because Mr. Fukao is the best connoisseur of Hida beef and knows how to cook it to bring out its best potential. The meat is cut at just the right thickness and angle to distinguish it from that of ordinary yakiniku restaurants, even if it is the same grade and part of the same meat. Bakuro, from which the restaurant’s name comes, refers to a merchant who acts as an intermediary for cattle and horses. As a chef and buyer, Mr. Fukao visits Hida beef farms on numerous occasions, and as a result of his many years of careful evaluation of Hida beef, he has more than 200 Hida beef farmers with whom he has business relationships. At the entrance of the store, there are impressive tags engraved with the names of the farmers with whom we do business. We have a large number of farmers with whom we do business, but we do not purchase without restraint. In that sense, I think we are able to find good cattle because we have met good people who take pride in raising Hida beef,” Fukao said. Mr. Fukao has become a person whom the farmers look up to. They can trust Mr. Fukao with the cattle they have carefully raised. Mr. Fukao is the one and only person who can accept the feelings of the parents and convey those feelings in the form of “delicious taste and trust” to the consumers. It is with this in mind that the farmers, who are also producers, choose to dine at Mr. Fukao’s restaurant.

For 50 years since its establishment in Gifu, the birthplace of Hida beef, Mr. Fukao has worked diligently to earn the trust of his customers and to be loved by them. He says that for the next 100 years, he would like to carry the Hida beef sign and the thoughts of all the people involved with Hida beef on his shoulders. He looked straight at us and we could clearly see a future where Hida beef will continue to be a beloved brand of beef representing Japan.

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Rice, the Staple Food of the Japanese

Although it is said that the shift away from rice has been progressing along with the westernization of food, rice has always been the staple food of the Japanese people. It is a natural part of every household and convenience store in Japan. However, few people know the history of rice. Although there are various theories, rice cultivation began in Japan about 3,000 years ago during the Jomon period. Rice was introduced from the Eurasian continent along with rice cultivation technology, and before the Meiji period (1868-1912), rice was collected as a tax, indicating that it has remained the most familiar food in Japanese daily life. There are three types of rice produced in the world: japonica rice, which is well-known in Japan and widely enjoyed as a staple food on the Korean Peninsula; indica rice, which is long and thin and often seen in Thai cuisine; and javanica rice, which is wide and large-grained, sticky but light, and used for paella and risotto. The other is “Javanica rice,” which is wide, large-grained, sticky, but light, and used in paella and risotto. Indica rice, which accounts for more than 80% of the rice produced in the world, is not widely produced in Japan, and japonica rice, with its short grain and stickiness, is preferred by many Japanese. Among these, Koshihikari, a variety registered in 1956, is produced in one-third of all rice paddies in Japan and has become the standard for what the average Japanese person considers rice.

Birth of “Ryu no Hitomi,” a rice with great potential

In 2000, Takashi Imai, then working for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, was inspecting Koshihikari rice fields in Gero City, Gifu Prefecture, to check the growth of the rice plants when he noticed something unusual. There was tall rice mixed in that was clearly not Koshihikari, and upon closer inspection, the paddy was quite large.” The next year, he grew the hulled rice, harvested it, and cooked it. It had a sweetness, aroma, and crunchiness that he had never experienced before, and Mr. Imai was shocked to find that it overturned his concept of rice. Thinking that this rice must be a new variety, Mr. Imai asked a company specializing in genetic testing, but they were unable to analyze it and could not tell him what the origin of the rice was. However, he was convinced that it was clearly a different variety from Koshihikari. In 2002, he conducted test cultivation in secret to register the variety, finalized the data, and filed an application for variety registration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on April 1, 2003. The name of the variety at the time of application was ” Ryu no Hitomi. We wanted to name it “Dragon,” the god of water, which is important for rice cultivation. He also made the large grains of rice look like “pupils. At the same time, “Ryu no Hitomi” was needed as a product name to establish a brand strategy, and an application for trademark registration as “Ryu no Hitomi” was filed with the Japan Patent Office and was accepted. In 2006, the rice was successfully registered as a variety, and it became more popular as a tasty and safe rice. In 2006, the rice was successfully registered as a variety, and the company set out to grow and protect it as a tastier and safer rice. However, it was extremely difficult to grow because of its tall stature and large ears, which made it prone to collapse and vulnerable to disease. Therefore, Mr. Imai retired from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries at the age of 51 in order to protect this unknown but potentially extraordinarily large rice and preserve it for future generations. Wanting to produce rice that everyone could enjoy and eat safely, he gathered together a group of friends who aspired to become masters of rice cultivation and devoted themselves to cultivating and promoting “Ryu no Hitomi” rice.

He has created strict standards for “Ryu no Hitomi,” and only contract farmers who meet these standards are allowed to grow the rice under a set manual, thereby protecting and enhancing the brand value of “Ryu no Hitomi. In order to maintain the quality of “Dragon’s Eyes,” they also focus on the management of “Inochi no Ichi,” the original seed rice. Thanks to such activities, not only Mr. Imai himself but also his contract farmers have won gold medals in the National Rice Evaluation and Taste Analysis Contest and the Grand Prize in the You Choose the Best Rice in Japan Contest, as well as many other top awards in national contests. It is now recognized by rice growers and rice lovers as a representative brand of rice in Japan.

Protecting Japanese Rice with “Dragon’s Eyes

Mr. Imai is concerned that Japanese rice consumption has continued to decline since its peak of approximately 118 kg per year in 1962, and is now less than half that amount. Even though those were the days when people were mainly engaged in manual labor and ate hinomaru bento (packed lunches), I think many people ate rice because rice grown in the traditional way was simply delicious. So I want to produce delicious rice without using as much pesticide as possible and increase the number of people who want to eat this again, ” he says. In 2017, he obtained Global GAP certification to ensure that his rice is safe and secure and evaluated at the global level. Such safe and secure rice can be made more delicious by cooking it in an appropriate way depending on the season. Dragon’s Eye,” which appeared like a blessing from heaven and which Mr. Imai has devoted his life and passion to protect, will be a light that will awaken the Japanese people’s love for rice, which had been far away, and make them recognize once again that Japanese rice farming is a wonderful technique to be proud of in the world and a culture to be inherited.

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Growing Phantom Rice in the Terraced Rice Paddies of Omayano

Gero Onsen in Gifu Prefecture is known as one of the three best hot springs in Japan, along with Arima Onsen in Hyogo Prefecture and Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma Prefecture. The Mimayano terraced rice paddies spread out on a slope at an altitude of around 600 meters, about 10 kilometers from the hot spring resort. The sight of rice paddies lined up on steps along the curves of the terrain, which is unique to mountainous regions, is a work of art that makes the most of nature and is a crystallization of the wisdom and efforts of our ancestors. The terraced rice paddies not only produce high quality rice due to the difference in temperature and the long hours of sunlight characteristic of mountainous regions, but also have various functions, such as preventing landslides and floods and allowing rainwater that seeps underground to be reused downstream, thus protecting the lives of people living in the surrounding areas for many years. However, terraced rice paddies are cultivated in the mountains, so the area per rice paddy is small, and the farm roads are not well maintained, making it impossible to use large machinery. The existence of terraced rice paddies has become a precious commodity in itself, as the aging of the rice growers and the lack of successors have led to an increase in abandoned rice paddies.

What is “Gin no Hikari,” the world’s highest rated rice?

Inochinoichi ” is a rice variety that was accidentally discovered in this region in 2000. It has a unique texture with grains about 1.5 times the size of Koshihikari rice. It is also attractive because of its strong flavor and sweetness, not only when it is freshly cooked, but also when it is cooled down, as it does not become hard and the flavor is concentrated even further, and the flavor continues to be delicious on rice balls or in lunch boxes. It was first sold under the brand name “Ryu no Hitomi,” and its production areas expanded. Since 2013, Mr. Yasuhiro Soga of Manmaruya LLC has been producing “Gin-no-Mikazuki,” a brand of rice produced in the Hida region of Gifu Prefecture and surrounding mountainous areas blessed with rich soil and clean water, with his colleagues. Mr. Yasuhiro Soga of “Manmaruya, LLC. In an environment where mineral-rich water through the mountains creates good soil and grows good rice, he spares no pains to keep the rice tasty by installing the latest equipment to make it even tastier. At Mr. Soga’s farm, a dryer with AI functions has been installed, and harvested rice is sorted and managed in optimal conditions, with rice harvested with different moisture content being agitated and sorted, and drying automatically adjusted to the moisture content of each rice. My wife is aghast, saying, “You bought a new one again! Soga laughs as he strokes the combine harvester equipped with the latest functions. The Silver Soma rice grown through trial and error won the gold medal in the specially grown rice category for two consecutive years in the “Rice and Taste Analysis Competition,” which is said to be the largest rice competition held in Japan. The company has also been recognized throughout Japan as the “World’s Best Rice,” a distinction given to only four people in Japan who have been carefully selected by Toyo Rice from among the gold medal-winning brown rice in the competition. The brown rice selected as the world’s best rice was purchased for 1,900 yen per kilogram, about eight times the regular price, and 840 grams (6 cups) was sold to the public for 18,000 yen (including consumption tax and shipping costs). Because of its extremely low distribution volume, it has gained a reputation among food connoisseurs as a “phantom rice.

The Silver Cherry” is a special product of Mr. Soga.

Mr. Soga places great importance on using as little pesticides as possible, no chemical fertilizers, and only original organic fertilizers that meet his own standards. He relies on his accumulated data and long-standing instincts to deal with changes in temperature and rainfall caused by abnormal weather, and he treats the silver sesame as if he were raising his own children. After harvest, the rice is stored in a warehouse at a constant temperature to keep it alive and un-hulled so that it is less susceptible to environmental conditions such as dryness, cold, and heat. This is because rice that is protected by the husks and retains its vitality can retain its fresh taste for a long time. The amount of rice that can be shipped is not very large because the cultivation area is limited and there are no workers. That is why we want to deliver the best rice possible to customers who are waiting for it,” says Soga.

The fact that rice produced in the traditional way, in the traditional place, is gaining public recognition seems to appeal to the legitimacy of preserving the original landscape of Japan and passing it on to future generations. And no matter how tasty the rice is, Mr. Soga leaves no room for miscellaneous thoughts, saying, “There is no such thing as good enough. Under Mr. Soga’s leadership, the future of rice farming in Japan is being carefully spun out.

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