Monthly Memo From Doi's Culinary Philosophy
Original text by Doi Yoshiharu
Translated by Yoshiko Fukuda
November- Shimotsuki
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*These days, so-called "simple" food seems to be gaining popularity instead of extravagant menus. However, this tendency does not mean that humble food are served at tables in individual households.
The restaurant, Ajiichii, was taken up in a Tokyo T.V. news documentary which introduced this rise in "simple" food preferences. Now, there are people who would call the menu at Ajiichii simple, yet there are others who call it otherwise. Those who call the food at Ajiichii "sumptuous", would be those who have experienced the poor days after the war when luxury was out of the question. They are the ones who were not afforded with surplus of food, and had to eat vines of yams and rice mixed with other ingredients. The gap in the definition of "simple" or modest food is influenced by the kind of environment one is living in. The recent definition for "simple" food is food that did not waste anything in the process of cooking. Or in another words, all parts of the ingredients were used in the cooking. However, in my opinion there are no such thing as simple food in Japan any more in either definition.
This tendency toward the liking of "simple" food comes from the fact that many people feel worried about their health in the future if they continue to eat the way they do now.
What is most attractive, in this simple food is the 'humble' way of cooking. Modest food is not only simply delicious but its straight appearance is very pleasing and also powerful. Simple food presents the ingredients as the way they are with no excessive decoration or embellishment.*People who have farmed for a long time walks in a rather particular, picturesque way, which is strikingly beautiful. They are used to walking in a straight line since they walk in between crops that they have planted. Moreover they walk cautiously since they do not want to damage the vegetables that have ripened on the branches. And when they stop they maintain themselves as small as possible. From doing their daily fieldwork they are able to walk swiftly and carefully. Once I saw, from the back, an elderly acquaintance, Mr. Mori as he walked away and was struck by his gracefulness.
The common factor in all these walks is that there is no unessential movement in their action. Moreover they do it free of thought. That is why imitating their way of walk is not an easy task since it is gained through daily work.
There was a research which measured the distance from the ground to the foot as it parted from the ground when walking. The result concluded that the distance got longer as the walker got older. Since the younger generation employs various vehicles instead of walking, their walking techniques deteriorated. Moreover, their stance got unattractive. Actually, I have looked back at my own footprints in the fresh snow, only to find embarrassment at the displeasing footprints formed behind me.Everything is in a form of your own expression -Kanjirou Kawai
*When I go visit the countryside, I am served with a grandmother-style home cooking. The plain cooking has no superfluous decoration so the taste is genuine and authentic.
Yam dug up in the mountainside and white radish is grated and mixed. Then the whole is flavored with miso paste and salt. Stir fried green leafy vegetable, and dried shredded white radish and fried bean curd. Vinegar pickle of boiled sweet potato leaf, and shoyu flavored simmered yam and green onion. The method of cooking is limited yet it is a direct cooking method that presents the subtle changes in nature during different seasons.
There are tofu-makers, and Japanese sweet makers who also preserve the traditional method. Their work is simple and without any wasteful movements. They have followed the conventional rhythm of work that was developed from the past. They do not try to lessen their work load nor make the process more efficient by simplifying the procedures.
They are delighted to meet others who have the same attitude toward their work. It is pleasant to talk to those who are honest and direct in their manner also.
Even without the embellishment, they deal with only the ingredients, pursuing what is genuine. Thus they are certainly making a delicious and beautiful food.*One's work do not pursue beauty. Beauty follows a work.
-Kanjirou KawaiWork that pursue an ideal beauty fails in capturing real beauty, since beauty when it is sought after eludes the seeker. However, when one works without any desire of that kind but only with pure devotion to the work, beauty actually follows up that work.
These words are from Inochi no mado (Window to Life) a collection of words by Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966) published from Touhoshobo. He identified himself with Munemasa Yanagi, Shouji Hamada, and Bernard Leach and participated in the Japanese folk craft movement. In Gojyo of Kyoto, there is a Kawai Kanjirou Kinenkan (Kanjiro Kawai Memorial Museum) which was designed by Kanjiro himself which included a traditional Japanese house and his own kiln.Kawai Kanjiro Artist-potter. Born in Shimane Prefecture; graduate of the Ceramics Department at Tokyo industrial College. Kawai, Hamada Shoji, and Yanagi Muneyoshi organnized the Nihon Mingei Kyokai(Japan Folk Art Association), which began publishing the crafts magazine Kogei in 1931 and opened the Japan Folk Art Museum in Tokyo in 1936. Kawai's ceramics before World War II remained close to Japanese and Korean folk-art traditions, with considerable influence from English slip-decorated folk pottery. After the was Kawai developed his own distinctive, personal style of ceramic art. His slab mold bottle-vases and boxes are prized for their original, sculpturesque shapes.
Yanagi Munayoshi Also known as Yanagi Soetsu. Art historian and leader of the Japanese folk craft movement. He studied at Gakushuin (Peer's School) and was a member of the so-called Shirakaba School. He graduated from Tokyo University in 1913. While he was studying the arts and crafts of Korea and Japan he became aware of the beauty, until then largely ignored, of implements used in daily life; he subsequently developed a strong interest in the creative capacities of the common people. The term mingei (folk crafts) was coined by him as a means of categorizing this quality of work. In 1926, Yanagi, Tomimoto Kenkichi, Hamada Shoji, and Kawai Kanjiro published Nihon mingei bijyutsukan setsuritsu shuisho (Prospectus to Establish a Japan Folk-Art Museam) which inspired a movement for the appreciation of the decorative arts deriving from folk tradition.
*JAPAN: An Illustrated Encyclopedia 1 (A-L), 2 (M-Z), KodanshaWhen I had firmly believed that an ideal cooking was the tea meal at Kicchou, I visited his museum and was greatly moved.
Those who only can see hideousness in the world is blind. Eyes only see beauty
-Kanjiro Kawai
There is only beauty in the world. Hideousness exist only in hesitation - Kanjiro KawaiEverything displayed at the museum, from the pottery to the sculptures, was absolutely beautiful. I did not know this kind of beauty until I visited this museum.
Later as I studied Yanagi's theories on folk art, I applied his theory to cooking and felt that the simple home cooking was the equivalent of folk art. Yanagi had shone a light to my long search for real cooking.*Before Yanagi had coined the term mingei(folk art), expensive works that showed great craftsmanship was called jyoutemono, and others of cheaper quality was called gete, or getemono. From those terminology it was clear that the ones considered to be of cheaper quality, meaning the ones for daily usage at homes were obviously looked down upon. However, what Yanagi had discovered was the beauty in these getemono. His first work was indeed called Getemono no Bi (Beauty apparent in daily implements). Yanagi himself found the term "getemono" amusing but since the term also signifies 'odd things', he created the term "mingei"(folk art) instead.
Rosanjin who was producing modern and bold works at that time intensely rejected Yanagi's Mingei theory. He did not try to hide his disgust toward that kind of supposal and toward the one who initiated that kind of movement. Rosanjin stated "it is wrong to say that beauty only exist in folk art". However, Yanagi responded to Rosanjin's rational argument by saying that the famous Ido pottery was actually based on folk art works made in Korea which were used daily at common households.Kitaoji Rosanjin Artist potter. Real name Kitaoji Fusajiro. Born in Kyoto. Rosanjin began his art career as a calligrapher. From 1915 to 1917 he studied porcelin production at a Kutani kiln in Kanazawa. He subsequently moved to Kita Kamakura and built his own kiln there. Rosanjin began to design and produce ceramics partly through his passion for fine Japanese food and his conviction that the ceramics of his day were inadequate for serving it. He imitated an astonishing assortment of earlier Japanese wares, creating his own individual, contemporary versions.
*JAPAN: An Illustrated Encyclopedia 1 (A-L), KodanshaRosanjin had appraised Kawai's skills yet criticized his sole use of inexpensive glaze. With Kawai's ability, Rosanjin stated that he was capable of producing much finer works. Moreover it was not only once that he invited Kawai to work with him. However, Kawai never answered to his proposal.
Jyoutemono and getemono. Rosanjin and Yanagi. Two geniuses. Both were probably speaking the truth. They were saying the exact same thing from two completely opposing position. Hence it was just two powerful passion colliding with each other, two contrasting sense of beauty.*The controversy is not over who is correct. In the end what is left is the good and the bad. Some would end the controversy by saying it depends on one's preference but that is not the case. Jyunichirou Tanizaki once written that preference when it is thoroughly whetted comes down to one single choice.
There is no point in dwelling on "modest food", or "rich restaurant food". The essentiality is eating something that is a result of hard work and passionate dedication.
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