♬Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit… (frog sounds)
There is a kind of rice which every Japanese person knows called “Uonuma Koshi-Hikari.”
Within that particular strain, there is an even more refined strain called “Minami Uonuma.” And within that one is the “Kochi Gawa” strain. Did you know that there were so many different strains of rice? If you go even further, you’ll find the “Minami Uonuma-no-Kocchi Gawa-no-Koshihikari”, which is just about the rarest strain of rice you can get. That strain is only harvested and consumed locally, so it is not widely known.
Now that you know just how rare it is, I bet you want to try this secret rice, right?
Here at Keyaki-En, you can enjoy a steaming cup of this luxurious rice alongside a bowl of Noppe stew, a local Niigata dish. Noppe stew was enjoyed long ago by local landowners who would have their peasants cook and perform as part of their grand feasts. The peasants would return to their homes with the taste fresh in their minds, and imitate the recipe on their own. This is how Noppe stew spread throughout Niigata.
When you visit Keyaki-En, you will immediately be impressed with the building itself: a grand mansion with a thatched roof, where landowners once dwelled. Around the back of the building lies an enormous Japanese elm tree over 1,500 years old. The rice paddies surrounding Keyaki-En, create a different atmosphere with each season. One can hear the croaking of frogs in the summer, and be surrounded by the lights of fireflies in the winter.
Relive the traditional flavors of Japan with a bowl of “Rice and Noppe Stew” here at Keyaki-En.
※Opinions surrounding “Acchi-gawa” and “Kocchi-gawa” rice in the Minami Ounuma area are varied. In general, when it comes to the right and left banks of the Uono river, it is said that the rice from the left side of the bank tastes better. However, the rice grown in Minami Ounuma City, which stretches out 30km south along the Uono river, also varies in taste due to differences in the land, so this rule isn’t unconditional.
When it comes to the “Acchi-gawa” and “Kocchi-gawa” referred to in Keyaki’s explanation, this refers to the difference between the narrow strip of land that includes Itsukamachi and Nagamori Village. The main differences lie in the level of infrastructure development and the time of the year.
The local people are very detailed when it comes to the land, and sometimes even the specific field, and they are able to pinpoint and debate about which rice is the most delicious.
※Reservation Only
Address：24 Nagamori, Minami Ounuma City
Phone：025-775-2419
Price Range：¥5,000円（Before Taxes）〜
URL：http://www.keyakien.com/eigyou.html
Why is the Minami Ounuma Kocchi-Gawa-no-Koshihikari so delicious?
──An interview with Mr. Namuro of Keyaki-En↓
Why have people continued to live in such a snow ridden area?
They were raised with the snow, so they are used to having it around. While it is sometimes called a “Snow Hell,” no matter how much they have to struggle against the snow, people feel an obligation to take care of the land that once belonged to their ancestors. I think it’s a way of life for those who were raised here...but spring is still pretty nice. (laughs)
--Is spring better?
Well, of course, spring is nice. (laughs) In spring, you are constantly watching as the flowers bloom and fall and bloom again. While as a home, this area tends to be pretty dark, living in tune with nature is truly happiness, isn’t it?
What is “A-Class Gourmet” to you?
I think cuisine which uses local ingredients is what really makes the local food what it is. In the spring, we use the mountain vegetables. The vegetables are grown locally and since they are grown in our own backyards, there are no pesticides and we can feel safe eating them. I think vegetables that are in season are the best for your body. These are the kinds of cuisine we should serve to our customers.
What about Keyaki Rice makes it “A-Class Gourmet?”
I use the rice I grew right here in my own rice paddy. The rice paddy is located right behind my house. These kinds of rice paddies are referred to as the “traditional” rice paddies, while the rice paddies located in the front of the house are the “new” paddies. Those who have both front and back paddies say that the rice from the back field is better, so that is the rice they eat. They give away the rice from the front paddies to an agricultural association. In other words, the front paddies were newly developed but the old paddies have been there for quite some time. Since these places got just the right amount of water and sunlight, they were chosen as ideal locations for rice paddies which is why the rice tastes so good.
-Actually, I was talking to a taxi driver and he mentioned that “Even within Ounuma rice, there is Minami Ounuma rice, and within that Minami Ounuma, there are areas which produce rice that is more delicious than others.” He went on to say, “We can’t afford that rice.”
Ah, yes. That’s what everyone says isn’t it. People often say things like, “This rice is better after all,” but I think all of that ties back to the history of the rice paddies. I only have a back field, so I’m not able to compare like other people who have both, but without a doubt there has to be a difference in flavor. The back paddies don’t produce as much rice, so you have to split it up between the rice you’ll give to customers, the rice you will eat as a family, and if you have enough, the rice you will share with your relatives.
--The way you steam the rice is unique as well right?
We aren’t doing anything particularly special, we just use a iron pot over a gas stove. My neighbor has a back paddy, but she often says that rice is more delicious when you cook it over a gas oven. The water also plays a factor, I think. The water around here is carried from the “Thunder and Lightning Spring” through a small-scale water supply system. It’s so delicious that people come all the way here just to get some. We are grateful to have such a luxury at our fingertips. I think water is one of the most important aspects when you are cooking.
--How does this affect the Noppe Stew?
Noppe Stew is local to the Niigata area and is often eaten during the New Year holidays. Depending on the area, there are small differences in the ingredients used and how they are cut. The Niigata version is pretty extravagant because it includes salmon and salmon roe in it’s ingredients. In this area, we include larger chunks of vegetables in the recipe, then we serve it in a large dish. Each family has their own version of Noppe Stew, and depending on the person, the flavor could be different as well.
-What ingredients do you need to make Noppe Stew?
The stock is made using the juices from scallops. But scallops alone aren’t enough, so we also add regular dashi stock, but without scallops, it’s simply not Noppe. Hmm, what else? Many people add root vegetables like taro, carrots, or lotus roots. We also like to add in mushrooms and make what we call “mountain noppe.”
--Mr, Nomuro, when you married into this family, you weren’t a chef, right?
At first, I wasn’t. We lived in my wife's room and the current guest room wasn’t used at all. We would host important family ceremonies at our house, but that was the only time we would clean that room and use it.
--And you just suddenly decided to start cooking?
This house was too expensive for us, really. You have to repair the roof constantly...a craftsman would come every year and replace the hay after it grew mossy. Even now, that is what costs us the most. My stepfather is a doctor, so he was earning the money we needed, but we wanted to find a way to pay for it ourselves. We started thinking about ways to take care of this when we took over the family...It may seem a bit arrogant, but we wanted to keep the house no matter what. Our whole family is really fond of it. It’s the kind of house which can’t be built nowadays. It’s a mystery for us, but we feel this obligation to protect it. Since we were working so hard for the house’s sake, we wanted to find a way to incorporate it into the solution. That’s when we decided to start a restaurant.
-Even if you suddenly decide to start a restaurant, it’s not something you can easily do right?
When I consulted with my cooking professors, he said I should just go for it. If you think too much about it, nothing really comes of it. We just decided to try it out and open a restaurant and think about the rest as we went along. We started out right before the bubble period, and just as we got used to everything the economy started to grow. The first 10 years were extremely busy. If you asked us if we want to go back to that time, I would say, not really. I was young then, so I was able to do it, but I wouldn’t be able to now. We would rather have a few customers in a relaxing environment over being so busy again.
-- You could say you have grown alongside the restaurant right, Mr. Nomura?
Have you ever seen a Keyaki tree before? There were plenty of stressful things over a long time, but when I looked out at the Keyaki tree from the window, I would suddenly feel like everything was going to work itself out.That tree is supposedly 1500 years old, but it hasn’t changed at all in the last 500 years. That tree has continued to protect this house, and protecting us in turn. Our ancestors supposedly have lived here for 500 years, and so they have also protected this tree. That’s where the name “Keyaki” comes from.
-This house is really beautiful, but since it was built in 1870, that means it is almost 150 years old right?
My ancestors built it to be sturdy. It seems older houses were all built with one sturdy beam running the length of the house. A carpenter once told me that adding additional wood after the fact wouldn’t provide the same level of support, so when you were making the house, the size of the house would be determined on the length of the wood you were able to find. That said, one can’t help but wonder how they were able to find such thick wood and how they were able to work with it at a time like that though.
-But that means the original house was built before 1870 right?
It doesn’t seem like this house was expanded by much when it was rebuilt. The house before only had woven carrying baskets and the entrance was a bit more sturdy than it is now, but the house actually got smaller when it was rebuilt in the Meiji Era. It’s possible that the beams and pillars used in the house were here before the Meiji period. There are probably a lot of materials which were used in the prior house that are still here.
That means there are some materials that aren’t only 150 years old but some that are 200, even 300 years old right? You don’t see many thatched roof homes here though. Even if they wanted to, there were people who couldn’t keep that old style.
It’s really just our pride. I don’t know how long we can keep this going, but we will probably try for as long as we can.
-It must be pretty competitive amongst the houses when it comes to cuisine right?
Rather than trying to compete with others, it’s more like we want to make food that is truly unique to us. The Rice and Noppe Stew is one example of this, but we cook all of our food in that hearth right over there. We always have our guests eat in a private room, because we want them to experience eating and relaxing in this kind of traditional home. We want them to experience what it is like to slip back in time to 150 years ago.
I think this is due to the fact that the most famous rice in Japan “Ounuma Koshihikari,” is produced right here in this area.
This trip is one way to truly understand what Snow Country A-Class Gourmet really is. After trying the Minami Ounuma Kocchi-Gawa Koshihikari rice, you could go and try the “Thunder and Lighting” spring water. This spring water has been the main water source for the Ounuma rice paddies and it’s safe to say that the Keyaki rice you have just eaten was also made using this water.
Mr. Nagumo said that the sound we hear at the beginning of this clip wasn’t the sound of food being prepared, but rather the sound of the cry of a Higurashi cicada in summer.
As its name implies, the cicadas begin to cry when the evening comes, bringing an end to the day. But they also cry in the morning as well. They must have a natural instinct when it comes to the coming and going of darkness. Mr. Nagumo also stated that he can sometimes hear the sound of the cicadas when he is dreaming. That is when he can truly feel the joy of living in an area surrounded by nature.
