Special contribution: Gastronomy tourism in Izu

Yoichiro Sato, Director of Fujinokuni Museum of Global Environmental History

Once upon a time, the Izu Peninsula was an island floating in the ocean. It moved north and collided with Honshu about 100 million years ago, forming a peninsula. The story sounds like ``Hyokkori Gourd Island,'' but it seems to be true. The movement speed is about 4 cm per year. If a person's lifespan is 80 years, they will move about 3 meters during their lifetime. Shortly after it became connected to Honshu, Mt. Amagi and Mt. Daruma erupted. What is not well known is that there are 13 major volcanoes on the Izu Peninsula. This does not include Mt. Omuro, which is known for its beautiful appearance, so it is appropriate to say that the peninsula is full of volcanoes. Shortly thereafter, large volcanoes such as Mt. Hakone, Mt. Ashitaka, and Mt. Fuji were born on the Honshu side. Mt. Fuji took its current shape more than 1 years ago, and along with Mt. Hakone, it continues to be active.

There are some things I noticed while traveling around Izu. All of these mountains are gentle on the inland side, but on the ocean side, the mountains have been carved away and high cliffs stand out facing the sea. Therefore, almost the entire coast has a complex ria coast-like topography. There are many small bays along the coast, where there are small villages with harbors. More than 10 years ago, I asked the owner of a sushi restaurant near a port on the East Coast. Sometimes only one fish from the ground appears in the port that day. It's not a known fish. It cannot be put on the market. But it's a good fish. He said he would take such things and serve them to customers. No matter how much you ask, there is no guarantee that the same type of fish will be available tomorrow. That's why it's not on the menu. Izu's fish-eating culture is based on the once-in-a-lifetime local fish.

Due to its ria coastline, the Izu Peninsula has poor transportation access. A railway runs from Atami to Shimoda on the east coast, but it is single-track for most of the section. There is a railway inland, but it runs from Mishima to Shuzenji, and is entirely single-track. There is no such railroad on the West Coast. Because of this, geographical isolation worked in coastal villages, and until recently each village had its own unique culture. In search of this unique culture and once-in-a-lifetime fish, I would like to take a pilgrimage through the ports on the Izu coast. Speaking of pilgrimages, Izu is said to have had a pilgrimage route for ascetic practices that ran clockwise around the peninsula, similar to the 88 pilgrimages in Shikoku. It seems that its history has not been fully researched yet, but its revival is on the rise. In addition, the Izu Peninsula is also a corridor for modern literature. Countless poem monuments, haiku monuments, and poem monuments stand along almost the entire circumference of the peninsula's coastline, as well as along the Amagi Road, which traverses the peninsula from north to south.

I mentioned that there are a lot of local fish, but Izu also has brand-name fish like kinme from Higashi-Izu and bonito from Nishi-Izu. Nishiizu Town's bonito food culture is reminiscent of the food culture of Kishu, Shikoku, Kagoshima, and Makurazaki. Nishi-Izu is heavily influenced by Kuroshio culture. First up is ``salted bonito.'' Also written as ``shio bonito.'' It is made by removing the guts of bonito and pickling it in strong salt, and is eaten during the New Year. The intestines were made into salted fish. He is a liquor thief. Shutou is also found in Kochi, and similar foods include watagarasu and sukugarasu from Okinawa. Since the Edo period, bonito has been processed into bonito flakes, a fermented food.

Mount Amagi, the largest volcano on the Izu Peninsula, and its surrounding area are some of the rainiest areas in Japan, with annual rainfall exceeding 4000 mm in some places. Lava remains on the gentle north slope, and a large amount of water flows down the valley as underground water into the Kano River. Where the lava flow stopped, a large amount of water overflowed and formed a waterfall. Joren Falls and Kawazu Nanadaru Falls are famous, but there are several other waterfalls that you might want to visit. The temperature of underground water remains constant throughout the year, and wasabi cultivation using this water is said to have been introduced from the Utogi upstream of the Abe River in the Edo period (mid-18th century). Izu is a rare place in Japan where both fish and wasabi can be harvested. Now, Izu is one of the leading wasabi producing areas in Japan, and was registered as a Global Agricultural Heritage Site (GIAHS) in 2018.

However, the use of wasabi dates back even further, and it appears that it was already used in Zen Buddhist temples as part of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine as early as the Kamakura period. Izu seems to have a tradition of shojin ryori, perhaps due to the influence of Shugen Shugen or the influence of the many Zen Buddhist temples in the area. It is said that Kokushojiru, a soup of Kokushoji Temple (Rinzai sect) in Nagoya, Izunokuni City, originated from this temple. Kenchinjiru from Kenninji Temple in Kamakura, which is very similar, is based on soy sauce, but Kuniseijiru is flavored with miso. The fact that both dishes are made using readily available vegetables shows that they are environmentally friendly. I asked Yasuyuki Inozume, chairman of Zuishokai, a group of chefs headquartered in Ito, to hold a shojin tea ceremony at Ryusenji Temple (Soto sect). Izu has a tradition of tea kaiseki, which is based on the philosophy of Fuji Fuji and is said to aim to use the ingredients on hand without wasting them, and that spirit was evident in the menu that day.

Another treasure of the Izu Peninsula is the cherry blossoms. Various wild species of cherry blossoms grow naturally in the area from the Izu Peninsula to Mt. Fuji, and the flowers can be admired for nearly five months from January to June. In particular, wild species such as Oshimazakura and Edohigan grow naturally on the Izu Peninsula, and can be seen dotting the mountainside during the flowering season. Through repeated natural hybridization, they have produced unique varieties such as the Kawazuzakura. Matsuzaki Town in Nishiizu is also famous for its salted Oshimazakura leaves, which boasts a market share of over 5% nationwide. It is said that the leaves of Oshimazakura are large and have few feathers, making them edible.

Agar is mainly made from Amanita spp., which is harvested from the rocks of the Izu Peninsula. Gathering of Amanita began in Inatori, Higashi Izu. During the Edo period, collected amanita was collected in Shimoda, transported from there to Osaka, processed mainly by traders in Settsu, and then transported to the capital of Kyoto. Agar is made by dehydrating shinta using the freeze-drying principle, so regions with cold nights and sunny days have been chosen as production areas. Perhaps due to global warming, the main production areas for agar have now moved to Gifu and Nagano, but the tradition of making agar in Settsu still remains in Kameoka, Tamba.

The production area of ​​Amanita moved to Nishiizu in the Taisho era. As agar began to attract industrial attention, fishermen began to make it their main occupation. Once collected by divers and other divers, they are brought ashore and washed in clean water from rivers and springs that flow from the steep cliffs of the Nishi-Izu coast. Water comes into play here as well. The agarica in Higashi Izu has now declined considerably, but some say that ironically this is because the area became a tourist attraction with the opening of the railway. It's nothing short of ironic.