Kyoto Visitor's Guide-Deep Kyoto Insights by Michael Lambe

Home > Kyoto This Month > Savory Kyoto

Savory Kyoto
Photo essay by Risa Sekiguchi

Winter's Shun: seasonality in Japanese cuisine

Long before it was fashionable to buy local, seasonal produce, Kyoto's residents have been celebrating each seasonal shift of shun - ''the best of the season'' - since the city's founding. Blessed with a predictable growing season, pure water and fertile soil, Kyoto is home to 41 varieties of ancient heirloom vegetables called Kyo-yasai, for which Kyoto residents have a passion and reverence that borders on the religious. Who can blame them, for sweet, bright and startlingly red Kyoto carrot, sweet and fluffy kujo-negi (giant long onion) and plump, creamy kamo-nasu (round eggplant) have little comparison?

The arrival of each of these vegetables, as well as varieties of fruit and fish, is eagerly anticipated throughout the year. Kyoto's chefs and home cooks take great pride in taking shun into account when planning their menus, while markets along Nishiki-koji have been rotating the seasonal calendar of shun for hundreds of years. Just strolling the length of the market gives visitors a glimpse of living history and an introduction to this most Japanese of concepts.

The shun of winter includes hardy root vegetables such as kabu, daikon, gobo (burdock) and carrot. Winter waters bring fish high in omega 3, like sanma (Pacific saury) and buri (yellowtail). And of course, beans; whether cooked in rice, made into tofu, or a tofu product such as yuba. These bounties of nature are prepared to bring a feeling of warmth, both literally (in simmered dishes like yudofu, nabemono and oden) and symbolically, extending to tableware that is chosen for warm textures and tones.

By celebrating shun, we can become more aware of the changing of the seasons, which in turn, can lead to being more present in the moment. And that - Buddhists say - is the key to happiness.

Risa Sekiguchi is an artist, photographer, and founder of Savory Japan, a website dedicated to Japanese cuisine and culture. For more information on shun and seasonality, recipes and more, visit Savory Japan: savoryjapan.com/learn/culture/shun.html

Buri roasted with soy sauce, sake and mirin.
© Risa Sekiguchi

Simmered daikon garnished with kinome.
© Risa Sekiguchi