Ke. -About Kesennuma's Food-

Hello everyone! My name is Masamitsu Kayaoka and I am a curator at the Rias Ark Museum of Art in Kesennuma.
So far, I have written articles about Kesennuma's history and culture.
Please click here to see past articles.

The theme this time is...

The movie "Sunset Sunrise" was filmed in Kesennuma. The DVD was released in July 2025. The local dialect and food were featured in the movie in great numbers, but what was particularly impressive was,"hair".this is"Eat it."There was a scene where the main character (Masaki Suda) was confused when a local handed him some food and said this to him."hair!"With this message in mind, we will explain Kesennuma's food culture, focusing on the foods that appeared in the film. Whether you've seen the film or not, reading this will surely make you want to eat!

(1) What kind of food?

The first dish we'll introduce is "azara." Azara is a dish made by simmering pickled Chinese cabbage in sake lees with ingredients like side-fish bones and miso paste. This is how it's generally explained. However, many people may be left wondering, "What exactly does this mean?" So, in this article, we'll go a little deeper. "Menuke" is a general term for the red-colored rockfish species that inhabit the deep sea. Azara is made with bones from species like the lily side-fish and the giant scallop. Pickled Chinese cabbage is pickled Chinese cabbage that has fermented and developed a sour flavor. These are then simmered slowly with sake lees. While fish dishes made with sake lees are common in many places, simmering fish bones with fermented pickles is unusual. The sourness of the pickles, the umami and fat of the fish, and the aroma of the sake lees all blend beautifully to create a rich and complex flavor.

(2) Famous but full of mysteries

Azara is the first dish that comes to mind when thinking of Kesennuma's "local cuisine," but despite its popularity, it is a dish shrouded in mystery. For example, the origin of the name "azara" (pickled cabbage). There are various theories, such as it being derived from the name of a Buddhist monk, but personally, none of them really ring a bell, lol. It is also unclear when it first began to be eaten, but this can be inferred to some extent from the ingredients. Chinese cabbage is a relatively new vegetable imported from China, but it is believed that it wasn't until the Taisho to early Showa period that domestic cultivation and seed collection techniques were established and it spread to the dining tables of ordinary people. Azara, which uses pickled Chinese cabbage, was probably created after this time.

▲The taste varies greatly depending on the household.

(3) The crystallization of livelihood and ingenuity

Azara is a dish traditionally made in every household, usually in early spring, when pickled Chinese cabbage becomes stale. Menuke fishing, combined with summer bonito fishing, was popular from winter to spring, resulting in large catches during this period. It's said that the techniques of menuke longline fishing later became the foundation for the town's reputation as a "deep-sea tuna longline fishing town," but that's a topic for another time. Another thing: sake lees, a by-product of sake brewing, are readily available in Kesennuma, thanks to its long-established sake breweries, making sake lees readily available to ordinary households from winter through early spring. The combination of these factors led to the birth of the miraculous dish known as azara. Azara is a combination of fish bones, stale pickles, and sake lees, but the choice of ingredients is rooted in a spirit of not wasting food. The essence of this dish lies in the ingenuity of our ancestors, who combined negative elements to beautifully transform them into positive ones.

(1) What kind of food?

Mouka means mouse shark, and hoshi means heart. So, mouka hoshi is mouse shark heart sashimi. It is eaten with sesame oil or vinegared miso. Despite its appearance, it does not have a fishy smell, and tastes quite similar to raw liver. Freshness is key when it comes to mouka hoshi! Fresh mouka hoshi is the pride of Kesennuma, the "town of sharks."

(2) History and restaurants

Please see this article for a detailed explanation. Great article!

(3) Eating Stars

There are other starch dishes as well. The most popular is bonito starch, which is grilled on skewers or simmered in soy sauce or miso.

▲ Bonito star simmered in miso

▲Harmonica baked goods that also appeared in the movie!

(1) What kind of food?

This is the base of the swordfish's dorsal fin. There is meat between the base and the fin tendon, making it extremely satisfying to eat. It is eaten simmered or grilled with salt. It became a hot topic when Masaki Suda tried it during a shoot in Kesennuma and was surprised by how delicious it was.

(2) Origin and History

There are several theories about the origin of the name "harmonica," including that the appearance of the stripes, arranged like a fence, resembles the musical instrument harmonica, or that when you bite into it, it looks like you are playing a harmonica. Personally, I think it looks more similar to a "keyboard harmonica."

▲This is simmered. On the left, the meat has been removed and you can clearly see the muscle structure.

(3) Kesennuma and Swordfish

Kesennuma boasts the highest swordfish catch in Japan. The fish are caught using methods such as harpoon fishing, longline fishing, and large-eye drift net fishing. Harpoon fishing has long been popular in Chiba and Oita. During the Taisho period, fishermen from Boso followed swordfish north along the Sanriku coast, providing instruction in harpoon fishing techniques in Otsuchi and other areas. Harpoon swordfish fishing was practiced in Kesennuma at least as early as the early Showa period. After the war, with the rise of tuna longline fishing, the catch increased due to bycatch. While swordfish is now considered a luxury fish, locals tell us that in the past it was perceived as a rather cheap fish. Because swordfish meat was expensive in the past, people would add it to curry. Today, "meka curry" has become a local specialty, served at restaurants throughout the city. New menu items, such as "meka shabu-shabu," are also being actively developed.

▲Use the whole donko

What kind of food?

This miso soup is made with donko (chigodara). The ingredients include donko meat and liver, daikon radish, tofu, etc. The liver is the key to donko soup! The donko meat is soft and comforting, and the soup is rich thanks to the liver. The unique aroma and flavor are similar to pork soup. Donko soup is a "winter seasonal word." Eating donko soup makes you realize that winter has arrived again this year, and it's a home-cooked dish. In the movie, it was featured not as a restaurant menu but as a home-cooked dish.

Fish offered to Ebisu

The day when donko soup is eaten is "Ebisuko," which falls on October 10th of the lunar calendar (around early December in the Gregorian calendar). This day is dedicated to Ebisu, and people pray for a good catch and prosperity in business. There is a custom of offering donko fish to the household altar, then making donko soup and eating it with their families. It was also a sacred food that Ebisu and his family ate together.

▲Donko offered belly-to-belly on the day of Ebisu-ko.

▲The left is Horogibato and the right is Okuzugake

(1) Okuzugake

It is a soup thickened with kuzu (dried dung bean paste). The ingredients are vegetables and gluten, and it is a vegetarian dish eaten during the equinox and Obon festivals. The ingredients and seasonings vary greatly depending on the household and region, just like New Year's ozoni. The vegetable stock gives it a gentle flavor. Personally, I get excited when it contains shiitake mushrooms.

(2) Horogam

This dish does not appear in the film, but is often eaten during Obon along with Okuzugake. It is a type of so-called "hato," made by kneading wheat flour with water, cutting it into triangles, and then sprinkling it with plenty of sugar and soybean flour. Horogi is a dialect word "horogu," which means to remove, that is, to brush off excess soybean flour, or conversely, it is said to derive from the act of sprinkling soybean flour over hatto. Many homes eat it on the morning of Obon on August 8th, and for those who have left Kesennuma, it could be considered a taste of returning home. It has a simple, elegant taste that you will never tire of.

▲If you visit someone's home for an interview during the Obon period, there is a high probability that you will receive this gift.

Conclusion

This has gotten long again... At first, I was planning to introduce about 15 types of food, but halfway through writing the description of the seals, I realized that this was impossible, so I gave up on introducing everything. In the end, I couldn't introduce even half of it, so I'll continue to introduce Kesennuma's food culture in another article. If there is a food in this article that interests you, please go and check out "Come here!"and"Ke (eat)!'

See you in the next article!
Thank you for reading until the end

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Person who wrote this article

Masamitsu Kayaoka

Masamitsu Kayaoka was born in Fukui Prefecture in 1990. After working as a cultural property researcher in Morioka City, he moved to Kesennuma in 2014 for work. Currently,Rias Ark Museum of Art(http://rias-ark.sakura.ne.jp/2/) is a curator in charge of historical and folklore materials. She specializes in the study of festivals using cultural anthropology/folklore methods. Since coming to Kesennuma, she has also been researching aquaculture and the lifestyles and culture of mountain villages. Her life's purpose is to walk around the town and find old things, and to listen to old stories from local elderly people.

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