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Basic Recipe – Furikake (Rice Seasoning from Kombu & Bonito)
Context: This simple, fragrant seasoning captures the essence of Japanese umami cooking. Furikake transforms what might otherwise be kitchen scraps—kombu and bonito from dashi-making—into a savory, nutritious topping for rice or vegetables. It’s a perfect example of resourceful cooking in both medieval and modern kitchens.
AI assistance disclosure: This post used AI to help with HTML formatting, SEO/meta, image creation, internal linking, and clarity edits. All recipes, testing, historical framing, and final edits are by the author.
Did you know? The oldest written mention of kamaboko dates to 1115, during the Heian period, when it was served on bamboo skewers at a noble banquet. By the 1500s, it had evolved into molded loaves, and Odawara (near modern Kanagawa) became famous for its skilled kamaboko artisans—a reputation it still holds today.
Context: Kamaboko appears on the Second Tray with O-zoni at the Crown Tournament Feast. It’s a classic celebratory food: the pink-and-white pairing signals auspicious good fortune, so neatly sliced kamaboko shows up in New Year’s osechi and formal banquets. The technique is simple but tactile — and the result is pleasantly springy with clean, ocean-sweet flavor.
AI assistance disclosure: This post used AI to help with HTML formatting, SEO/meta, image creation, internal linking, and clarity edits. All recipes, testing, historical framing, and final edits are by the author.
Basic Recipe – Kaku-Mochi (Traditional Japanese Square Rice Cake)
Context: Kaku-Mochi, or square rice cakes, form the heart of O-zoni (Rice Cake Soup), served at the 2019 Crown Tournament Feast. These rice cakes were a symbol of prosperity and endurance, reflecting both samurai field traditions and the ritual importance of rice in Muromachi-period Japan.
Context: This vegetarian dashi forms the foundation for many dishes in the Muromachi-period Crown Tournament Feast, including O-zoni (Rice Cake Soup). Dashi is the clear stock that underpins nearly every element of honzen ryori dining — simple, elegant, and full of umami.
Context: In Muromachi-period formal dining (honzen ryori), o-zoni is a welcoming soup — a composed bowl of mochi (rice cake), seasonal vegetables, and savory elements in a clear broth. The feast version here uses square kaku-mochi in vegetarian kombu-shiitake dashi so more diners could enjoy it. Regional variations exist, but rice cake is essential.
A symbolic red-and-white salad of daikon and carrot lightly pickled in sweetened vinegar — a bright accent to the first tray of the Muromachi-period Honzen Ryori feast.
Kohaku-namasu represents more than flavor: the colors themselves are auspicious. Red symbolizes joy and protection from evil; white represents purity and celebration.
The dish was introduced from China during the Nara period and became a central feature of Osechi Ryori — the traditional New Year’s cuisine of the Heian court.
Crown Tournament 2019: Mikawa ae (Miso and Sesame Cucumber Pickles)
From the Muromachi-period Honzen Ryori menu served at Crown Tournament (October 19, 2019): crisp cucumbers dressed in a miso–sesame emulsion, bright with rice vinegar and shiso.
Mikawa ae — Photo courtesy of Avelyn Grene (Kristen Lynn)
Originally published 11/25/2019 Updated 11/6/2025
This beautifully simple dish was a standout on the first tray. The balance of salt, sweetness, and umami offered a refreshing counterpoint to the grilled and simmered items.
The redaction draws on Sengoku Daimyo’s Redactions of Japanese Dishes, aligning with techniques seen in late medieval Japan.
Fukujinzuke (red pickles for curry) 福神漬け Photo courtesy of Avelyn Grene (Kristen Lynn)
Originallypublished 10/29/2029 Updated 10/31/2025
Fukujinzuke (福神漬け) is a sweet–salty soy-pickled relish traditionally served with Japanese curry rice (kare-raisu).
Its name honors the Shichi Fukujin—the Seven Lucky Gods—each symbolizing a different virtue.
A classic preparation uses seven vegetables such as daikon, lotus root, cucumber, eggplant, carrot, shiitake, and burdock.
Though curry and fukujinzuke date from Japan’s Meiji era (1868–1912), these pickles trace their roots to far older preservation arts.
Including them in the Crown Tournament Feast provided guests with a glimpse of how Japanese foodways evolved from the Muromachi period’s elegant honzen ryōri to later, modern tastes.
Tsukemono—Japanese pickles—form an essential part of nearly every meal.
They cleanse the palate, add color and texture, and reflect regional produce and technique.
Methods range from simple salt cures (shiozuke) and vinegar brines (amasuzuke) to soy-based (shoyuzuke), miso (misozuke), rice-bran (nukazuke), and sake-lees (kasuzuke) fermentations.
Our fukujinzuke is a shoyuzuke: vegetables simmered briefly in a soy–sugar–vinegar brine for a glossy, gently candied finish.
Commercial versions are often tinted red; traditional homespun ones remain soy-brown.
A sliver of beet can replace the food dye for color if desired.
🥕 Dietary Notes: Vegan & vegetarian. Contains soy.
For gluten-free, use tamari. Omit candied ginger for low-sugar or allium-free adaptation.
Symbolism of the Turtle (Kame) — Longevity, Wisdom & Protection in Muromachi Japan
Urashima Tarō carried by a turtle to the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō). Image via Kyuhoshi.
Originally Published 10/22/2019 - Updated 10/20/2025
In Japan, the turtle (kame) is a joyful emblem of longevity, wisdom, protection, and steady good fortune. It appears in courtly art, shrine lore, and folktales—from the patient, long-tailed minogame to the northern guardian Genbu (Black Tortoise). For our Muromachi-period Crown Tournament feast, turtle symbolism tied neatly to the suppon hot pot we served: a nourishing dish with deep historical roots.
During Japan’s Muromachi period (1336–1573), when Zen aesthetics and courtly rituals blended with warrior culture, symbolic animals often appeared in art and ceremonial meals. The turtle (kame), long associated with immortality and wisdom, represented the enduring stability of the shogunate and the virtues of patience and loyalty — qualities praised in poetry, calligraphy, and seasonal foods alike.
Okashi – Anmitsu and Japanese Sweet Traditions (Muromachi Feast Recreation)
Jasmine green tea ice cream on agar (kanten), surrounded by red bean paste and a drizzle of black sugar syrup.
Imagine my surprise when I realized I’d never published the final tray of the feast! This course—built around Anmitsu—was my nod to banquet finales that closed with fruit and confections. My interpretation layers agar jelly, fresh fruit, shiratama mochi, sweet red bean paste (anko), black sugar syrup (kuromitsu), and jasmine green tea ice cream.
Historical Frame: Okashi in Context
In the Muromachi period (1336–1573), formal banquet cuisine (honzen ryori) treated sweets as refined, seasonal endings rather than everyday fare. Sugar was scarce and costly; sweetness often came from beans, grains, or fruit. As long-distance trade expanded, imported sugars and new tools elevated confectionery into an art closely linked with tea culture—favoring elegance and balance over intense sweetness.
Seasonal Aesthetics: Confections mirrored the time of year—spring blossoms, summer greens, autumn leaves, winter snows. Their fleeting forms encouraged contemplation of impermanence and gratitude at table.
Trade, Technique, and Evolution
Maritime trade in the 16th century brought refined sugar and new implements that influenced sweet-making. Hybrid sweets (like castella sponge) arose from cultural exchange. Meanwhile, temple kitchens and courtly households continued to favor plant-based textures and subtle flavors, keeping okashi aligned with ideals of restraint.
Cross-Cultural Parallels
Just as medieval Europe prized marchpane and sugar plate as status-laden table art, Japan refined bean- and rice-based sweets into edible miniatures of the natural world. In both traditions, confectionery served as display, diplomacy, and delight.
Muromachi: codified banquets; sweet courses as refined finales
Edo: wagashi artistry flourishes with broader sugar access
Ingredient Insights
Agar (kanten): a seaweed-derived gelling agent long valued in Buddhist vegetarian cooking and later central to clear, delicate jellies in confectionery.
Anko (red bean paste): sweetened adzuki paste that underpins many classic sweets. Texture ranges from smooth to rustic and chunky.
Kuromitsu (black sugar syrup): made from unrefined brown sugars—deeper, rounder, and more mineral than modern white sugar syrups.
Wakasagi Nanbanzuke 南蛮漬け（ワカサギ） “Smelt in the Southern Barbarian Style” Photo: Avelyn Grene (Kristen Lynn)
Update – August 19, 2025: Refreshed with additional historical context, clearer cooking notes, dietary tips, and FAQs.
Nanban—“southern barbarian”—was the Japanese word for the Portuguese who arrived in 1543. For nearly a century their foodways influenced Japan before foreign ships were banned in 1639. Wakasagi Nanbanzuke is one of those cultural crossroads. At its heart, it’s fried fish set into a vinegar marinade with onions and carrots—clearly adapted from Portuguese escabeche. Japanese cooks gave it a local identity, pairing it with river smelt, mackerel, or sardines and balancing the sharpness with kombu and soy. The result is something unmistakably Japanese, yet born out of that first century of European contact.
I must admit, when I added this to the Crown Tournament 2019 feast, I was skeptical. Would people find the vinegar too assertive? Would tiny smelt be more fuss than fun? As it turned out, the dish never made its way back to the kitchen—platters came back empty, and more than one diner asked me afterward for the recipe. Smelt really is a perfect one- or two-bite fish, sturdy enough to stand up to the brine and light enough to keep people coming back for more.
