Tojikuri - Traditional sweet from Misakubo

Hamamatsu is the second largest city in Japan in surface area (about 1,558 km2). In Soramo, a space between the two buildings of Entetsu Department Store, an outdoor market is held sometimes, in which you can buy some traditional food from mountainous area that is several tens kilometers away from the downtown. Today I found Tojikuri from Misakubo, the northern most area in Hamamatsu that is adjacent to Nagano Prefecture. I bought one pack with six pieces.

They were gray as they contained buckwheat flour. Other ingredients were rice, beans, sugar, and salt. I wondered why Tojikuri contained rice as Misakubo is a mountainous area that has no rice field. In addition, what kind of beans are they? According to some websites, Tojikuri is a traditional sweet in Misakubo and Sakuma in the northern part of Hamamatsu. It was originally made for Buddha’s birthday only, and its shape is made to resemble the head of Buddha.

In fact, I ate three pieces at a time because they were so good. They contained roasted soybeans, which gave an accent to the mild sweetness of the buckwheat dumplings. I think Tojikuri was a real find in the outdoor market where you can find many other vegan products as well.

Historic battlefield Saigagake

In autumn, JR Central holds their walking event every weekend. Last Sunday, it was Hamamatsu Station that was specified as the starting point of the day. Unlike other occasions, I went there on foot, not by a train. Sawayaka Walking (さわやかウォーキング) is an event in which you can participate without any charge or reservation. You can just come to the staff standing near orange flags and signboards like these and get a map from them to start walking.

In this article, I’ll just introduce some historical spots among several spots we visited. One of the highlights of the course was Hamamatsu Castle that is located about 20-minute walk from the station. You can go inside the castle, however, I visited there in September. So, I just took a picture of a comic foreground of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Ii Naotora, and Ii Naomasa. Tokugawa Ieyasu is a person who lived in the castle for 17 years and established Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603. Ii Naotora was a female landlord in Iinoya in the north of Lake Hamana, whose adopted son Ii Naomasa became one of the four great generals of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu lived in Hamamatsu, he had the Battle of Mikatagahara (a plateau stretching North of Hamamatsu) with Taketa Shingen, the lord of Kai (Yamanashi Prefecture) in 1573. Ieyasu was defeated and barely escaped with his life. During that night, however, he returned a blow by attacking Takeda Shingen’s camping site, which was about 1 km from Hamamatsu Castle. The battle site called Saigagake and looks like this now.

It is a scarp with a height of 13 m. According to a legend, the Ieyasu’s army spread cloth over it to deceive the enemies. As it was night, soldiers of Shingen’s army mistook the cloth for a bridge and fell beneath the scarp. Even now, there is an area called “Nunohahi (cloth bridge)” near Saigagake.
Near the scarp, there is Saigagake Museum where you can see historical scenes with diorama.

This is the Battle of Mikatagahara. According to a volunteer guide in the museum, it was snowing on that day.

Ieyasu was defeated and escaped to the castle, with his soldiers protecting him from the enemy.

During the night, they attacked Shingen’s army. Many of Shingen’s soldiers fell beneath the scarp in darkness and died.

After that, people in this area heard groans of ghosts and suffered from a plague. Ieyasu thought that it was a curse of the deceased and held a memorial service with a prayer to Buddha. It became an annual event called “Enshu-Dainenbutsu” that has been practiced in Hamamatsu and surrounding areas. This museum was once a hall dedicated to the deceased in the battle.

During Bon Festival in July or August, groups of Enshu-Dainenbutsu in the traditional costume visit families that have the first bon festival following the death of a family member. They play musical instruments such as the drum, flute, and gong, dance, and sing. It is very interesting to see. Every year, Saigagake Museum holds Enshu-Dainenbutsu in front of the building on July 15.

Since this museum is located along a major road called Himekaido (Princess Highway), you can take bus #40 or some other buses from the bus terminal to get off at Saigagake. But it doesn’t take much time to walk from Hamamatsu Castle. If you go westward along the road between the castle and Hotel Concord, you will come to this tunnel.

It is Kameyama Tunnel made originally for a railway Okuyama Line (1914-1964). You can how it was from the pictures displayed near the tunnel.

When you go through the mysterious tunnel, you will see greenery along the road.

This comfortable pathway continues up to Hamamatsu Kita High School, and Saigagake Museum is just a few minutes walk from there.

Saigagake Museum
Address: 25-10 Shikatani-cho, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka
Open hours: 9:00 – 17:00
Closed: Monday (if a national holiday falls on Monday, it is closed the next day instead), December 29 - January 3

Dumpling Festival in Hattasan

Hattasan Soneiji (usually called Hattasan) is a temple famous for its dumplings. At the beginning of this year, I visited there and wrote an article about it. In November, they have a dumpling festival where you can taste various dumplings from different areas in Japan. Last Sunday, I took a train to Aino, the nearest station to Hattasan. The station is located in Fukuroi and took about 20 minutes to get there. Near the south exit, there was a free shuttle bus to the temple.

However, I couldn’t take it this time because I participated in Sawayaka Walking, a walking event organized by JR Central. The distance to the temple was about 3 km. We passed by Ecopa Stadium where some games of the 2019 Rugby World Cup took place. On my way back from Hattasan, it looked fine against the blue sky.

Hattasan is a popular temple for the first temple visit of the year. To my surprise, I found their premises were as crowded as on the New Year’s holidays. I thought of buying their special “tea dumplings” that are not available on the New Year but soon found it impossible. There was already a long queue with countless people. However, there were still more than twenty kinds of dumplings to choose from according to the brochure.

 I entered the venue of Dumpling Festival with full of expectation.

I was surprised again to see how crowded it was in the main venue. I saw some people standing here and there with a placard with a number, showing the end of the queue for each dumpling.

I wanted to have walnut dumplings because I had never eaten them before. The queue was long, but I could get one pack. I was relieved because I had heard that many popular dumplings would be sold out before noon though Dumpling Festival would be held until 15:30.

As there were so many kinds of dumpling, I felt like obtaining one more. I was interested in one of the dumplings from Kyoto, but the queue was too long. I got out of the main venue and found some other dumplings sold outside. One of them was mitsufuku (three lucks) dumpling grilled with charcoal fire, a specialty from Mt. Takao in Tokyo.

Don’t they look delicious?

I had to stand in a queue again, but I enjoyed seeing how they prepared dumplings.

I chose miso with walnuts for the sauce though they had also soy sauce. I think miso with walnuts can be found in many mountainous areas in Japan as I had seen similar sauce in Aichi Prefecture as well. The newly grilled dumplings tasted very good with this sweet-and-salty sauce.

In another stand, I bought yuzu tea. I drank it for the first time. Though yuzu is a citrus fruit and sour, the tea was sweeter than I expected.

In addition to dumplings, there was a market of local farm products in the temple. One of the stands sold traditional snacks such as puffed rice and rice brittles. I bought one bag of puffed raw rice, which was recommended to be eaten with yogurt. I thought of soymilk yogurt sold in some supermarkets in Hamamatsu.

When I left Hattasan, there were still many people entering the gate. I suppose this temple will become one of the major spots to see autumn leaves at the end of this month.

When I came home, I ate the walnut dumplings from Kasuriya in Yamagata Prefecture.

The dumplings were made from rice flour like common dumplings. But the paste was a unique mixture of white kidney beans and walnuts, containing also sugar, white soy source, starch syrup, salt, and enzyme. I think it’s a good idea to add walnuts (or some other kinds of nuts) to bean paste as they add a rich flavor. This paste was as sweet as ordinary white kidney bean paste, but it had something different.

Sawayaka Walking in Iwata (3) - Shrine dedicated to hero dog Shippeitaro

As I wrote in the previous article, there is a famous shrine in Mitsuke, Iwata. It is called Mitsuke Tenjin, implying that the shrine is dedicated to Michizane Sugawara, the god of learning (he was a scholar in the 9th century). But its official name is Yanahime Shrine as it is also dedicated to Yanahime-no-Mikoto who is a goddess for easy delivery, good children, nurturing, etc.

Beside the bright red gateway of Mitsuke Tenjin, there is a statue of Shippitaro, a hero dog that appears in the legend of the shrine. Long ago, a monster demanded a village maiden as a human sacrifice in the festival of Mitsuke Tenjin every year. A traveling monk found that the monster was afraid of “Shippeitaro” in Shinano (present Nagano Prefecture), which turned out to be a dog. The monk went to Shinano and borrowed Shippeitaro to take him to Mitsuke. In the next festival of the shrine, Shippeitaro fought with the monster and exterminated it. It turned out to be a big old monkey. When I was taking pictures of this dog with a firm body, someone said that he looked like a wolf. I agreed with him.

This is the main building of the shrine.

In front of the building, there were statues of an ox and a cow for making a prayer. We touched them while wishing something.

Behind Mitsuke Tenjin, there is a park with Reiken Shrine, the only shrine in Japan that is dedicated to a dog (Shippeitaro).

I heard this shrine is popular among people who have pets.

I returned to Mitsuke Tenjin and looked for Shippei, which is a mascot character of Iwata and used for various souvenirs. Wolf-like Shippietaro has been changed into a plump white dog like this.

In this picture, Shippei has a straw-skirt like two men behind him. This is the costume for the annual naked festival that is specified as one of important intangible folk-cultural properties in Japan.

Sawayaka Walking in Iwata (2) - Red rice with chestnut & soymilk delicacy

When you participate in walking events associated with local festivals, you can sometimes find simple traditional food in some stalls. In Sawayaka Walking in Iwata last Saturday, I found red rice with chestnut sold in a tent in front of an old confectionary store Iguchi Seika. It was on the main street in Mitsuke, the area where Old Mitsuke School is located. Along the street, you can see flags of Jubilo Iwata, a local soccer club.

This area has a large shrine Mitsuke Tenjin, which is famous for its naked festival held on Saturday and Sunday immediately before August 10 on the lunar calendar. During the festival, awamochi or millet dough cake is eaten to pray for rich harvest. Iguchi Seika is the only confectionary store in the town that manufactures this special sweet all year round.

In the store, we could taste awamochi. It was much softer than a rice cake and very good. However, they sold only boxes with 6 pieces, which was too many for me. So, I bought red rice with chestnut instead. In many Japanese style confectionary stores, you can find red rice or glutinous rice bold with adzuki beans to be eaten as a meal. It is called sekihan or okowa and was originally eaten at festive occasions. The one I bought was more gorgeous as it had also chestnuts in it. In the pack, there was a small bag of sesame and salt to sprinkle on the rice.

During Sawayaka Walking, the participants also visited a shop of yuba or soymilk skin located about 1 km from the train station. The shop’s name is Yuba-no-Kyouka, however, the company name seemed to be Sakaguchi Shoten seen on the building.

It looked like a factory rather than a shop, but we could come in and taste various products. Their soymilk was surprisingly thick. I bought soymilk with yuba in it and ate it at home with soy sauce. It looked like yogurt with chocolate sauce and tasted as rich as yogurt.

The red rice was also good with natural sweetness of chestnut. The ingredients were only glutinous rice, adzuki beans, chestnuts, and salt. Though red rice is also available in the section of ready-to-eat food in supermarkets, the one from an old Japanese style confectionary store is worth tasting even though it is more expensive. They have a long experience working with rice and adzuki beans, which is reflected not only to the quality of their sweets but also that of red rice.

Sawayaka Walking in Iwata (1) - Visit to Old Mitsuke School

Last Saturday, I went to Iwata, a neighboring town of Hamamatsu, to participate in Sawayaka Walking held by JR Central (JR Tokai in Japanese). One of the major sightseeing spots we visited was Old Mitsuke School. It is Japan’s oldest existing pseudo-Western-style elementary school building built in 1875. Mitsuke is the name of an area that was one of the 53 post stations along Tokaido Highway during the Edo period. Even now Tokaido is still a main street with many shops. They had a cultural event with exhibitions of arts and handicrafts, concerts, flea markets, etc. last Saturday.

Old Mitsuke School is near this street and about 2.5 km from Iwata Station. It was a 5-storied building and looked splendid.

On the first floor, there was an old classroom. Unfortunately, they had a handbell concert inside the room, so the usual exhibits were changed. The children in olden days and their desks weren’t there. I could see only the teacher beside the blackboard.

On the second floor, however, I saw a boy studying at home. There was an abacus on the desk. It was an important work tool for a merchant family.

These children are a big sister and a little brother going to school. They have textbooks in their furoshiki or wrapping cloth.

I suppose this girl used to play with beanbags like my grandmother, who once showed me how to juggle them. She did it very well though she was around 70 at that time.

In the 19th century, school children used a slate to learn how to write. When I saw it, I remembered the episode of Anne of Green Gables in which Anne hit Gilbert with her slate.

This is an old reed organ of Yamaha. Torakusu Yamaha, the founder of the company, succeeded to make the first full-fledged reed organ in Hamamatsu in 1888.

There were also textbooks displayed according to the birth years of children. I could see those used by my grandparents. In my grandfather’s textbook, there was an episode of the childhood of Ninomiya Sontoku, a famous agrarian reformer in the Edo period. In his childhood, he was called Kinjiro, whose statue was set in the yard of every elementary school of Japan. The statue of Kinjiro reading a book while carrying firewook on his back was a symbol of diligence.

Even after the industrialization in Japan started in the Meiji period (1968 - 1912), children were busy helping their parents with their work after school. On the third floor of Old Mitsuke School, you can see old farm implements and household articles. These are baskets to carry young rice plants to rice fields. During the rice-planting and harvest seasons, children had days off from school to help with their parents’ work.

This is a thresher.

In this school, I read some essays written by children in olden days. Their handwriting and wording were like those of adults. They were incredibly mature compared with my generation and younger generations. It may be because they spent much time working with adults and learned their language. They might have much more opportunities to talk with their neighbors and relatives as well, in addition to their parents.

The life of children in the olden days was very different from our childhood. However, even the children in my grandmother’s generation enjoyed school excursions. I was very impressed by this picture taken in an excursion in 1920’s. Both children and teachers were laughing very happily, and I also felt happy to see it.

On the fifth floor, the top of the building, there was once a drum to tell the hour. Its sound could be heard even from a distance of 1 km away. From 1875, This school has been a real landmark of the town.

Old Mitsuke School
Address: 2452 Mitsuke, Iwata-shi, Shizuoka
Open hours: 9:00 - 16:30
Closed: Monday, the next day of national holidays, December 29 - January 3