Nihon Chomiryo Tabi
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Toyama consumes far more kombu than almost anywhere in Japan. And it produces none. The reason is the Kitamaebune trade. From the Edo into the Meiji era, Toyama became a port of call on the route linking Ezo with Osaka, and Hokkaido kombu was landed here in quantity.
What arrived changed how people ate. Kombujime, in which sashimi is pressed between sheets of kombu. Tororo kombu wrapped around rice balls. Along the shore of Toyama Bay, far from where kombu grows, a food culture that uses it daily has put down roots.
- The kombu food culture the Kitamaebune ships brought in
- Distinctive local uses: kombujime and tororo kombu
Umami from kombu, sweetness from koji
At the center of Toyama's flavor sit the umami of kombu and the sweetness of koji. Kombu is the everyday dashi, going into soups, simmered dishes and even pickles, and it often takes the lead role itself, as in tororo kombu and kombujime.
The other axis is koji. Hokuriku has deep snow and a climate suited to cold-season brewing, and koji seasonings such as miso, amazake and shio koji have settled into home kitchens. Hokuriku shoyu is generally described as less salty than Kanto's, with a slight sweetness to it, and paired with kombu dashi it lands on a clean flavor.
The Kitamaebune ships and the end of the Kombu Road
The great force behind Toyama's food culture was the Kitamaebune trade. From the middle Edo era into Meiji, Toyama was a port of call on the route that linked Ezo with Osaka around the Sea of Japan, and Hokkaido kombu was landed here in quantity. The path by which kombu then traveled on to Satsuma, Ryukyu and Qing China is called the Kombu Road, and Toyama, as its relay point, is described as having become a place that consumes more kombu than almost anywhere in the country.
The origins of shoyu and miso here are harder to pin down, since the records are fragmentary. In Fukumitsu, Nanto City, however, koji making has continued since the Bunsei years of the Edo period, and as a seed koji house, Ishikuro Tanekojiten was founded in 1895. As the only seed koji house in Hokuriku, it still supplies the koji mold behind the region's miso, amazake and shio koji.
Local dishes and their seasonings
- Kombujime (昆布〆)
- Sashimi of white fish is pressed between sheets of kombu and left overnight so the kombu's umami transfers into the fish. It is a way of eating particular to Toyama, where kombu carried by the Kitamaebune ships took hold, and it appears in the Ministry of Agriculture's Uchi no Kyodo Ryori collection.
- Tororo kombu onigiri (とろろ昆布のおにぎり)
- The Toyama style of rice ball, wrapped in tororo kombu instead of nori. It grew out of daily life in a place that uses kombu constantly, and it is standard both at home and at shop counters.
- Buri daikon (ぶり大根)
- A winter home dish in which the trimmings of cold-season yellowtail from Toyama Bay are simmered with daikon in shoyu and ginger, sweet and salty at once. Combined with Himi's cold yellowtail culture, it appears on tables at New Year and through the cold months.
Makers in Toyama
- Aimono KombuFounded in 1949
A kombu specialist in Kurobe that deals in nothing else. It handles some 150 kinds of kombu and makes products such as tororo kombu from domestic kombu with no additives. - Ishikuro TanekojitenFounded in 1895
The only seed koji house in Hokuriku, in Fukumitsu, Nanto City. Carrying on a family trade that dates to the Bunsei years of the Edo period, it raises fresh koji by the koji-buta lid method using Koshihikari rice grown in Toyama.
Stories from this area
Nearby prefectures
