Special contribution Mt. Fuji and water

Yoichiro Sato, Director of Fujinokuni Museum of Global Environmental History

Let's start our food journey in Shizuoka Prefecture with Mt. Fuji. If you drive east on National Route 100 from the Numazu direction, you will see the majestic western foot of Mt. Hakone in the southern suburbs of Mishima City. Just before you start climbing, there is Kakita River Spring Water on the right side of the road. The amount of water from the spring is said to be 500 million m20 per day. This is XNUMX% of all the spring water around Mt. Fuji (XNUMX million mXNUMX). Almost all of it becomes the Kakita River, which flows south for about XNUMX km and empties into the Kano River. The food in the eastern part of the prefecture is fully dependent on this water.
One of them is Tokoroten. It is an ingredient with a unique texture that is made by boiling natural tengusa grown on the coast of Izu in spring water, cooling it and solidifying it, and it is an essential ingredient in Japanese sweets. In particular, the agar made from this raw material was colorless and transparent, like ice without air, and was used as ice during the intense heat in Tokyo.

The area from downtown Mishima to Shimizu-cho is a land filled with famous eel restaurants. Many of the shops are located not far from the old National Route 1, but this is not necessarily the eel's home. Before cooking, the eel is released into rich spring water to remove the odor. Mishima's spring water flows down beneath a bedrock called the Mishima Lava Flow, which was formed when the lava flow that was created by the eruption of Mt. Fuji about 4000 years ago cooled and solidified. The water that bubbles up to the surface of the earth is the Mishima spring water group, including the Kakita River spring that I wrote about earlier.

Mt. Fuji is a stratovolcano that has been erupting repeatedly for about 10 years, and the last major eruption created the mountain's current beautiful shape.As a volcano, it is new and the vegetation on the mountainside is underdeveloped. Therefore, there are no rivers with water constantly flowing down the mountainside. On the other hand, there are many springs (groups) at the foot of the mountain, and as mentioned earlier, the total amount of spring water is estimated to reach 500 million cubic meters per day. According to Ryuichi Tsuchi (2007), the amount of precipitation that falls on Mt. Fuji is estimated to be 22 billion m600 per year, which translates to 83 million mXNUMX per day. More than XNUMX% of that water is groundwater.

Kise River basin where dry and wet coexist

The Mishima lava flow flowed south through the majestic U-shaped valley formed by Mt. Ashitaka, Mt. Fuji, and Mt. Hakone. The Kise River flows south through this lava flow. The river is disproportionately small considering the size of the mountains in its basin, but this is probably because most of its water flows underground beneath lava flows. Areas other than those with spring water suffered greatly from lack of water. In Fukura, Susono City, on the foothills of Mt. Hakone, the Fukura Canal was dug in 1670 to take water from Lake Ashi and water the fields at the foot of the mountain. The water is still used not only for agriculture but also for domestic use and power generation.

Spring water can also be found in Gotemba City and Oyama Town near the upper reaches of the Kise River. Here, a culture of growing vegetables belonging to the cruciferous family called ``mizukakena'' and making them into pickles was established. Mizukakena (mizukakena) is grown as a back crop in rice paddies, and when the winter gets colder, underground water from Mt. Fuji is pumped up and poured into the fields. Vegetables are grown in high rows, and water is poured between the rows. Since the temperature of groundwater does not change throughout the year, it can be expected to have a heat-retaining effect.

Spring water from Mt. Fuji also gushes out to Numazu City, located south of Mt. Ashitaka. The water at Takashima Sake Brewery in Hara, Numazu City is said to be underground water from Mt. Fuji, pumped up from 150 meters underground. The water in Shizuoka is extremely soft, which is rare, and this water has shaped the characteristics of Takashima's sake. In addition, the water itself is sold under the name WASAN, and is gaining support from Japanese cuisine chefs in the prefecture. Soft water is far better for making rich kelp stock and for brewing delicious tea. Ryo Utsumi, a young chef from Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka City, taught me how to make cold tea using WASAN. The result is a drink with an unprecedented taste that combines sweetness and umami with almost no bitterness from tea.

Water and food at the western foot of Mt. Fuji

The western foot of Mt. Fuji is also covered with lava flows. As you head north on National Route 139, which gently climbs the western foothills to Koshu, you will come across a group of springs where water gushes out from the end of the lava flow in Fujinomiya City. One such waterfall is Shiraito Falls, which is a national natural monument and has been selected as one of Japan's top 100 waterfalls. The water at the western foot of the mountain also plays a major role in the local food culture. One is trout farming. Trout farming began about 1 years ago. Spring water has an abundant amount of water and a constant temperature, and is filtered through a natural filter called bedrock, so there is little organic matter where microorganisms can flourish. These conditions combined to create a favorable environment for aquaculture.

Another thing I would like to write about is the mysterious Zentokuji Vinegar. According to Yasumasa Otaka of the Mt. Fuji World Heritage Center, a rice vinegar called ``Zentokuji Vinegar'' was produced at Tosen-in, a Shingon sect temple in Imaizumi, Fuji City. Although it was no longer produced in the Meiji era, it is said to have been widely known throughout Edo as a high-quality vinegar during the Edo period. Making vinegar, like making sake, requires a large amount of water, but Tosen-in Temple is located right at the tip of Mt. Fuji's lava flow, and the south side is still a cliff. Also, a few hundred meters east of here are the springs of Fuji City, which are also at the end of the lava flow. Probably Tosen-in also had access to good water. It is said that there are plans to revive Zentokuji vinegar, so I hope that dishes using Zentokuji vinegar will be made here in the near future.

By the way, Mt. Fuji is also the mountain of Shugendo founded by Enno Ozunu, the founder of Shugendo. The last generation of monks (Matsudai) at the end of the Heian period built Dainichi-ji Temple on the summit of Mt. Fuji and climbed the mountain many times to practice asceticism. After that, the number of ascetics who practiced on Mt. Fuji continued, and it is said that Fujisan Koho-ji Temple was eventually established in Murayama, Fujinomiya City, and this became the base of Murayama Shugen Shugen. It is said that Tosen-in Temple also had a connection with Koho-ji Temple, so there may have been some kind of connection between Zentoku-ji Vinegar and Murayama Shugen Shugen.