Futabasō
Futabasō is a ryokan located a short distance from the centre of Hikone on the shore of Lake Biwa. It’s run by the Kataoka family. The ryokan serves food typical of a regional inn, using many local ingredients. At Futabasō, Junichirō Kataoka does all the cooking. I visited him in his kitchen as he was preparing for a New Year party to be held in one of the ryokan’s banquet rooms.
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Kataoka-san is a large and genial man who smiles readily. He was very laid back as he went about preparing the duck hotpot to be served shortly. His mother and brother dropped into the kitchen occasionally and joined in the conversation.
“This is the soup for the duck hotpot. I’ve been simmering it for four or five hours. It’s got lots of vegetables in it, and salted duck breast. There’s also katsuo and konbu for flavouring.”
“Is that a tomato?”
“Yes. You can put any vegetables in really. It’s like pot au feu.”
Kataoka-san gets out a slab of frozen duck meat and starts cutting it into slices and arranging them on a plate in a rosette.
“This is ‘kawachigamo’ duck from Ōsaka. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi was at Nagahama in Ōmi, he tried the local duck and liked it. So when he moved to Ōsaka later, he gave instructions to breed the same kind of ducks there. This kind of duck became so-called kawachigamo.”
“How come the breast is shaped in half-moons like that?”
“If you wrap it tightly before freezing it, it maintains that shape even when it’s sliced and cooked.”
“Is duck a seasonal dish?”
“It used to be, but now that ducks are farmed, you can enjoy duck all year round. The other main ingredient of the hotpot is Nobunaga leeks, named after Oda Nobunaga. They’re grown in Azuchi where Nobunaga had his castle.”
Nothing in Ōmi, however humble, comes without the involvement of major historical personages.
Here Mrs. Kataoka interjects;
“Cut the leeks and show him how the sweet juice seeps out. Thanks to the cold winters around here, these leeks have a thick, gelatinous sap.”
Kataoka-san begins chopping the leeks, releasing this sap along with a delicate and tempting scent to add to the rich aromas rising from the soup.
“With this hotpot, there’s a whole leek per person.”
“That’s pretty extravagant. That’s not something that would be countenanced in my home!”
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From the freezer, Kataoka-san produces bags containing various parts of the duck – the liver, heart, and various cuts of meats. He explains that every part of the duck is used. Stirring the soup around, he scoops up a foot. “See! Everything can be used.” He minces other parts and combines them with a little grated yam to make meatballs.
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“How long have you been a chef?”
The question prompts a gale of laughter from Mrs. Kataoka and her son. Obviously, there’s some joke that I’m not getting.
“After I graduated from university, I went to work at Mitsuoka Motor, the custom car maker. I always liked cars. I worked there as a salesman for about ten years.”
Mrs. Kataoka explains his unusual career path at Mitsuoka, not without pride. He was the first Arts graduate to join the engineering company.
“But then at the ryokan, we had a chef who had worked with us for years. When he got too old and we couldn’t find anyone to replace him, I took over. That was less than ten years ago.”
“So you didn’t ever train anywhere?”
“No. Well, when I was at junior high school, I’d be hungry when I came home, so I’d knock something together in the kitchen. A trained chef would probably frown on how I hold my knife. And my way of preparing food isn’t like a chef either – it’s more like a car maker. I gather all the parts together and then assemble them”.
“He’s not a chef, he’s a foreman”, says his mum, “but because he’s not bound by tradition like a trained chef, he’s free to be more creative. I think his soup tastes better than our last chef’s.”
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“Do you serve much Ōmi beef?”
“Yes. At our ryokan, we age it in miso.”
Mrs. Kataoka takes a large box from the fridge in which slices of beef are layered with paper and miso for four days. She produces a little barbeque and begins to cook several slices. When it begins to sizzle, a wonderful rich aroma fills the kitchen.
“Hurry, eat it now!” urges Mrs. Kataoka.
It’s very tender and the miso imparts a distinctly Japanese note that I haven’t tasted anywhere else.
“How about funazushi?”
“We serve it, but it’s not to everyone’s taste, so we only provide it for guests who ask for it.”
“And do they actually ask for it?”
“Oh yes. We get ours from Kimura-san. We try to serve local fish to differentiate our meals from ryokan in other regions.”
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I ask Kataoka-san if he likes sake and which local maker he favours.
“I like Daijirō. It’s a very refined sake.”
“Do foreign visitors order sake?”
“People who know about sake order it, but those who don’t stick with beer and wine.”
“Now that more foreigners are visiting Japan, do you make any particular allowances for foreign guests?”
“Most foreigners who come to Hikone have already visited Japan several times and know pretty well what to expect. So I offer them exactly the things that Japanese people find delicious. If there’s a religious reason why they can’t eat something, then I provide something else.”
“And do you get many foreign visitors?”
“Yes. In fact on weekdays, we get more foreign than Japanese guests.”
Mrs. Kataoka takes me out into the corridor to show me a world map marked with a dot for each place they’ve had visitors from. The dots are spread all over the globe.
“They find us on the internet. We don’t speak English, but somehow we make do with the help of a translation app. Wherever our guests come from, they seem to understand when we tell them what ingredients we’re using.”
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After an hour or so in the kitchen, everything is ready for the party. The ‘foreman’ has assembled his parts in a very food-like fashion, and you’d be hard put to say that a chef had no part in its preparation. Having seen the work that went into the duck and leek hotpot, I’m very excited to eat it. It’s fantastic – fragrant, succulent, rich, comforting, and infinitely more-ish.
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Ōmi Sake
Shiga Prefecture has a lot of sake breweries for its size, many of which fall into the Ōmi region. These are typically small, family-run breweries that produce small volumes of high-quality sake. The sake produced by each brewery has its own personality, and each brand has its loyal devotees.
Rather than competing, the brewers work and study together to improve their skills and knowledge, to raise the level of their sake in general.
Shiga Prefecture is a vast basin, with Lake Biwa occupying one sixth of its area. This basin is surrounded by the Ibuki and Suzuka mountains in the east, and the Hira and Hiei mountains in the west. Snowmelt and rainwater percolates down from the mountains, appearing everywhere throughout the region as pure rivers and springs. This water is ideal for brewing sake.
Not incidentally, this abundant water is also perfect for cultivating sake rice. Ōmi has been known as a major rice production area since ancient times, and some of this production was dedicated to types that are particularly suitable for brewing sake. The ancient tradition of brewing sake here is reflected in the fact that one of Ōmi’s breweries, Fujii Honke, enjoys the honour of providing the ceremonial sake used by the Imperial Household and Shintō shrines nationwide.
Four main types of sake rice are used for brewing sake in Ōmi: Yamadanishiki is used nationwide, including in Ōmi. It’s particularly good for brewing ginjō style sake, and it’s popular with brewers for its reliability in the various stages of brewing. Tamasakae is well suited to brewing clean, dry sake. Ginfubuki is a combination of Yamadanishiki and Tamasakae. Shiga Wataribune No. 6 is said to be the progenitor of Yamadanishiki.
Shiga Wataribune No. 6 is one of the ancient Japanese varieties that is the progenitor of Yamadanishiki, but it fell out of use about half a century ago and became a rarity.
However, in recent years, the local agricultural cooperative, JA Green Ōmi, decided to revive it in a move to establish a regional brand. Starting with only about 50 grams of seeds received from the Agricultural Technology Promotion Center in Ōmihachiman, the cooperative re-established Wataribune as a production rice through repeated trial cultivation. It’s now prized as a variety that’s unique to Shiga Prefecture.
The quality of this newly viable Shiga Wataribune is on a par with Yamadanishiki, and the rice is now used in several breweries in Shiga.
The third component essential for sake, yeast, is also produced locally. Yeast breaks down the sugars in rice to produce alcohol, carbon dioxide, and amino acids. Over 200 yeast strains that live in breweries in the region have been collected, selected, and crossed to arrive at a taste that’s dry but refreshing, which drinkers never tire of drinking.
Ōmi sake and food pairing
Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, has many varieties of freshwater fish which are delicious paired with sake. Ōmi sake, which emphasises the umami of rice, makes an excellent match with the mild taste of freshwater fish, while the robust flavour of yamahai and kimoto styles complement the richness of Ōmi’s premium beef.
Since winters in Ōmi are typically cold with considerable snowfall, it’s no surprise that the region’s sake is also perfect served warm. Even in spring and autumn, a flask of warm sake can be very comforting. Try experimenting with sake heated to various temperatures, or visit one of the excellent local bars or restaurants to have your sake heated to the perfect warmth for each type.
Some examples of food pairings are shown below.
Carp with its eggs
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Carp sashimi sprinkled with its own eggs. This dish always features in the spring festivals of Ōmi. A robust sake, served warm, enhances the delicate richness of the sashimi.
Funazushi
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Funazushi served with its fermented rice known as ‘ii’, seasoned with chopped chives. The unique harmony of rich, salty and sour keeps drinkers busy pouring one cup after another. Yamahai and kimoto styles go particularly well.
Stewed beans and shrimp
This dish is unique to the region. Soybeans are stewed with the little shrimp from Lake Biwa. A fragrant ginjō offers a nice counterpoint to the homely taste of stewed beans.
Small sweetfish tempura
Ayu from Lake Biwa remains small even as an adult. In early spring, these little fish are coated in crispy batter and eaten with salt for a delicately fragrant snack. It goes best with a crisp, cold sake.
Stewed carp with their eggs
Carp stewed in a sweet, spicy sauce, served with Japanese pepper. A slightly matured junmai served warm is the best match.
Funazushi
Funazushi is a delicious culinary specialty of the Ōmi region. Said to be the progenitor of today’s sushi, it’s freshwater fish preserved by salting, followed by fermentation with rice. Funazushi is a kind of narezushi that was made since ancient times. It was developed as a means of preserving the nigorobuna (round crucian carp) from Lake Biwa for consumption throughout the year. There are various ways of writing funazushi in Japanese.
Funazushi is made by local commercial producers, whose products are generally of a mild character. But many families in Ōmi make it at home according to methods handed down for generations. Some families favour a stronger taste and aroma, which can be achieved by adjusting the ratios of ingredients and the storage times. In the Edo period when rice vinegar was invented, the laborious production of narezushi gave way to the faster preparation of sushi using fresh fish and vinegared rice, which became very popular. But with the ready availability of funa in Lake Biwa, funazushi has remained popular in Ōmi to this day.
The history of funazushi
The recorded history of funazushi dates back to the Nara period (around 700). According to the Engishiki, a record of laws and customs completed in 927 in the Heian period, funazushi made with rice and salt was offered to the court as tribute from today’s Maibara. During the Edo period, funazushi was made in Ōmi Province using funa caught in both spring and autumn. But since the autumn funa wasn’t subject to the high temperature of summer, its fermentation was inadequate, and its production was gradually abandoned. Today, funazushi is made using spring funa. Since the Edo period, nigorobuna has been considered optimal, but gengorobuna is also used. Both species are endemic to Lake Biwa. Both male and female fish are used, but females with eggs are considered more desirable and fetch higher prices.
Production of funazushi
The typical manufacturing method currently used in Ōmi is as follows;
The scales, gills and intestines of funa caught in spring are removed, leaving only the ovaries. Rather than cutting open the belly, the internal organs are pulled out through the mouth using a metal hook. Then the abdominal cavity of the fish is filled with salt and the fish are laid in layers with salt in a tub, with a final covering of salt. A lid with a smaller diameter than the top of the tub is placed directly on the salt, and a large stone or other heavy weight is placed on the lid. The tubs are then left in a cool, dark place.
After salting until midsummer, the funa is taken out and rinsed with water. The salt is largely removed leaving only enough to provide a slightly salty taste. Then the funa is stuffed with cooked rice. Salt may be added to the rice if a saltier final product is desired. Sake may be added to promote fermentation. The funa is arranged in the tubs in the same manner as for salting, but with cooked rice instead of salt. A weight is placed on the lid and the tubs are kept in a cool, dark place as before. For lactic acid fermentation, it’s important to exclude air, and to achieve this, the space at the top of the tub above the lid is filled with water. Another method is to put a large plastic bag in the tub and arrange the funa and rice inside it. The mouth of the bag is then sealed, and the lid and weight are placed on top, effectively excluding air.
If the funa is packed in rice during the summer, it can be eaten in late autumn. It can also be left to ferment for two or three years. Lactic acid fermentation prevents the fish from decaying and promotes the increase of umami components such as amino acids. It should be noted that while lactic acid is often associated with milk, no milk products are used in the production of funazushi.
After fermentation in rice, the funa can also be further flavoured by being packed in sake lees or miso.
Enjoying funazushi
There are various ways of eating funazushi, such as eating the whole fish as it is, cutting it into thin slices, or serving slices on a bowl of rice with green tea. The orange-coloured mass of eggs has a cheese-like aroma and texture. The skin of the funa is rather hard and chewy, but chewing it releases a lot of amino-rich flavour. Fermentation softens the bones so that they’re no longer detectable. Funazushi is typically packaged with a quantity of the fermented rice, and this can be enjoyed placed atop the slices of fish, or separately as a snack.
Funazushi is the perfect accompaniment to sake, especially richer, stronger tasting varieties such as yamahai and kimoto. It goes particularly well with warmed sake. Try pairing it with a range of Ōmi’s high-quality sake brands.
The fermented rice is also used for making ice cream. This may seem counterintuitive and even downright disgusting, but the ice cream has no hint of fishiness. Instead, the amino acid imparts a rich creaminess, combined with an agreeable tanginess reminiscent of good cheesecake. The soft grains of rice give the ice cream a toothsome texture.
The aroma of funazushi
Funazushi has a unique fermentation odour that arises from the breakdown of fish protein into amino acids, which are flavoursome umami components. However, funazushi that is fermented skillfully doesn’t smell very strong. After being packed in rice, it may be repacked in sake lees, which suppresses the odour of fermentation.
Funazushi is known to its adherents as an aromatic food and to its detractors as smelly. So what does it actually smell like? The short answer is, it has a pleasantly cheesy, fishy smell when it’s ready to eat. The long answer is provided by Kasahara Kayako of the Department of Biochemistry, Okayama University Medical School in her paper Volatile Flavor Components of Funazushi. The abstract states;
Headspace volatiles and steam distilled volatiles of Funazushi were studied by GLC and GC-MS analyses.
Four carbonyls (acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, methyl ethyl ketone, acetoin), seven alcohols (ethyl alcohol, n-propyl alcohol, n-butyl alcohol, sec-butyl alcohol, isoamyl alcohol, furfuryl alcohol, β-phenylethyl alcohol), five acids (acetic, propionic, isobutyric, n-butyric, isovaleric acid), four esters (ethyl caproate, ethyl lactate, ethyl myristate, ethyl palmitate) and two hydrocarbons (n-pentadecane, n-heptadecane) were identified.
Of these 22 aroma substances, ethyl alcohol, acetic acid, n-butyric acid, β-phenylethyl alcohol and ethyl lactate were principal aroma components of Funazushi.
When the funazushi is being salted, there’s an aroma suggestive of ammonia, although we haven’t performed a headspace analysis of it. The smell may just be a combination of all those carbonyls and esters.
The rising price of funazushi
The production of funazushi is laborious, time-consuming, and requires skill and practice. Unfortunately, nigorobuna, which is the most suitable type of carp for funazushi, has been adversely affected by a decline in reed beds along the shoreline causing deterioration of water quality, destruction of spawning beds due to concrete shoreline reinforcement, and predation by invasive species such as black bass and blue gill. Declining catches and labour shortages have resulted in the price increase of a single processed fish to several thousand yen in recent years. For this reason, other kinds of funa have been tried as substitutes. Attempts have also been made to make narezushi using the same technique as funazushi, using invasive varieties of fish.
Since funazushi is becoming something of a rare delicacy, the opportunity to try it shouldn’t be missed. Why not enjoy some tasty funazushi with a cup or two of Ōmi sake?
Ōmi Beef
Cattle were introduced to Japan in ancient times and they were used for thousands of years as plough animals. They were not used for meat except as ‘medicine’ for the elite. Ten varieties of native cattle were recorded, and their merits were limited to their strength and obedience. During the Edo period, the consumption of meat and milk was prohibited, except for those of high rank.
In the Meiji period when Japan came under the influence of Western ways, meat-eating was encouraged to build beefier Japanese who could compete physically with Europeans and Americans. At this time, the good working cattle of Japan was crossed with superior Western breeds in order to develop local strains for dairy and beef. This was the start of Wagyu. At this time, it was found that Japanese native cattle easily develop intramuscular fat when the animals are fed a fattening diet, and it was recognized that this fat ensures tender and rich meat that other beef varieties can’t match.
The black cattle of Ōmi, raised in pastures fed by the pure water percolating into Lake Biwa, were particularly prized. In the Meiji period, they were shipped to Tokyo through the port of Kobe where they were branded as ‘Kobe Beef’. But apart from the branding, this superior beef had nothing to do with Kobe. It was Ōmi Beef. Today ‘Kobe Beef’ is raised in areas that aren’t blessed with Ōmi’s advantages, and its taste reflects that.
Black Ōmi Beef cattle is still raised in the Ōmi region. The animals are kept with the utmost care. No, they don’t listen to Mozart, and they aren’t massaged or given beer. They’re fed the straw of Ōmi rice and high-quality compound feed. And they aren’t overly fattened, which is why Ōmi Beef still has the perfect balance of tenderness and rich flavour that first beguiled Japanese and foreign meat-eaters.
Lake Biwa
Lake Biwa is a lake in Shiga Prefecture that has the largest area and water storage capacity in Japan. It’s one of the world’s ancient lakes that has existed for over 100,000 years. The lake is a Ramsar registered wetland. Under the River Law, it’s designated as a first-class river belonging to the first-class Yodo River Water System, and the law refers to it as first-class river Lake Biwa. This is more than a technicality – the water of the lake has a significant north to south current in some places.
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Lake Biwa occupies one-sixth the area of Shiga Prefecture, and the waters flowing through the system have various names including the Seta River, Uji River, and Yodo River, before they reach Osaka Bay on the Seto Inland Sea. The lake water is used as the water supply for communities in the Yodo River basin, and Kyoto city draws water from Lake Biwa through a canal.
The body of water to the north side of Lake Biwa Bridge across the narrowest part is called the North Lake, and the southern part is called the South Lake. The North Lake has an area of 623 km2 and an average water depth of 41 m. The South Lake has an area of 58 km2 and average depth of 4 m. The deepest water is slightly north of the centre of the North Lake, south of Chikubu Island at 104 m. The bottom of Lake Biwa is sinking at a rate of 1 m in 1,000 years.
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In addition to supplying water to the Kinki region, it has also been used as a water transportation route since ancient times, for moving goods from Kyōto and Ōsaka to eastern Japan and the Hokuriku region until railways were developed in the Meiji period.
Lake Biwa is the fourth oldest lake in the world. It’s home to more than fifty endemic species such as fish and bottom-living animals. From the Meiji to the early Showa period, there were about forty large and small subsidiary lakes around Lake Biwa, providing an ecosystem for many creatures. Water control projects since then brought changes to the shape of the lake which proved to be less than desirable. These changes are gradually being reversed to restore ecosystems and improve water quality.
The formation of Lake Biwa
Lake Biwa was formed about 4 to 6 million years ago. It was a tectonic lake formed by crustal movements. Its original location was in Mie Prefecture. The lake gradually moved to the north and reached its current position about one million to 400,000 years ago, stopped by the Hira mountain range. The current position of Lake Biwa was a mountain range, and the Suzuka Mountains had not yet risen. The rivers that now flow into southeastern Lake Biwa then flowed into Ise Bay. Lake Biwa is considered to be the oldest ancient lake after Lake Baikal and Tanganyika.
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The human history of Lake Biwa
Lake Biwa has been used as a transportation route since the Jōmon period, and vessels such as dugout canoes have been excavated. In ancient times, it was given the name “freshwater sea near the capital”, and it was from this that the name of the region Ōmi arose. It was poetically referred to as the “sea of grebes”.
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Lake Biwa forms a choke point between eastern and western Japan, and since early times, gates built on the roads around the top and either side of the lake controlled commerce and the movement of people. Castles were built around the lake using the subsidiary lakes as extensive moats.
Lake Biwa was used as a transportation route for annual tribute to China from Wakasa Bay on the Japan Sea Coast, and there are records of attacks by pirates on the lake. There were various transportation routes from Kyōto to the north using the roads around Lake Biwa’s shores. Cargo was also transported on the lake, and Ōtsu and Katata developed as port towns.
During the Warring States period, Toyotomi Hideyoshi provided a shipowner in Ōtsu with a large fleet of ships. He was placed under the authority of the Commissioner of Ships at Kanon-ji and was given privileges and protection. In the early Edo period, Ōtsu stood in opposition to other ports such as Matsubara, Maibara and Nagahama, which were protected by the Ii clan as the “three ports of Hikone”. Later in the period, the surveyor Inō Tadataka surveyed the shores of Lake Biwa from August to October 1805. The shape of the lake was seen to be similar to that of a type of lute called biwa, and the name Lake Biwa was established.
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Goods were transported by water from Ōsaka Bay via the Yodo River and up to Wakasa Bay on the Sea of Japan, with stops at Ōsaka and Kyōto. This method of transport thrived into the early Meiji period, but with the development of land transport, it gradually declined. During the period of high economic growth after WWII, a canal was conceived linking Lake Biwa to the Sea of Japan, the Pacific Ocean, and the Seto Inland Sea. After much planning and coordination between the relevant Prefectures, the idea was finally dropped in 1970.
The biota of Lake Biwa
The ecosystem of Lake Biwa is diverse, with over 1,000 species of animals and plants. Due to its isolation over a long period of time, many endemic species have been identified that live only in Lake Biwa and its water system. It’s a large body of water and unique fisheries developed here.
Lake Biwa leisure
Ferries ply back and forth between ports around the lake and its several islands. The ferry journeys, with views of surrounding mountains such as Mt. Ibuki, are as rewarding as the time spent on the islands.
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Fishing, birdwatching, and photography are pastimes that are more than adequately catered to.
Lake Biwa presents a huge field for adventure activities. Boating, SUP, kayaking, windsurfing, and kite boarding can all be enjoyed on the lake. The roads around the lake are ideal for cycling, and riding around the whole lake in a day is a challenge for determined cyclists.
