November 2021

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[Local and Modern Mingei Movement]

The "Mingei Movement" is a lifestyle and cultural movement advocated by Muneyoshi Yanagi, Kanjiro Kawai, Shoji Hamada and others in 1926. The goal was to discover old daily necessities and revive their techniques, and to spread the beauty of daily use by unknown craftsmen to the world and popularize new daily necessities.

The term "mingei" is an abbreviation for "minshu-teki kogei (folk craft)." Ordinary people found aesthetic value in the tools they used in their daily lives.

Throughout the pre-war and post-war periods, Muneyoshi Yanagi and his colleagues have spread the beauty of folk art by touching Japan, Asia and the world with their feet and eyes. This aesthetic sense now lives on in our daily lives as a firm value.

The "100 Years of Mingei" exhibition at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, will give you a glimpse into this history. Please visit by all means.

100 Years of Mingei: The Folk Crafts Movement (October 26, 2021–February 13, 2022)
https://mingei100.jp

Reference
https://www.nihon-mingeikyoukai.jp/about/
https://www.nihon-mingeikyoukai.jp/about/purpose/
http://sobanoyokozuki.com/topics3/16/kawai.html

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[Baked Sweet Potato in the Fish Pan]

The temperature in the mornings and evenings drops as the days go by, and it feels as if the season is starting to prepare for winter. As the lingering summer heat lasted for a long time this year, we were thinking about how to enjoy the short autumn to the fullest and received some delicious sweet potatoes from our parents' house.

Wash the sweet potatoes in water, wrap them in aluminum foil with the water still on them, then place them in Rikucho Ogasawara's Fish Pan and cover with the lid, turning them over occasionally to let them cook through. The result is a nostalgic baked sweet potato, just like the ones we used to eat when we were kids. The sweetness of the sweet potatoes will increase as they are slowly roasted over low heat.

With Rikucho Ogasawara's Fish Pan, you can bake long sweet potatoes without cutting them, and the heat will spread to the weighted lid, allowing for full cooking.

Baked sweet potatoes can be topped with salt or butter if you like. The sweet scent when you break it into two pieces seems to soothe your heart.

Rikucho Ogasawara's Fish Pan
https://www.shokunin.com/en/rikucho/fishpan.html

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[Pressed Sushi and Rod-shaped Sushi Made with Grilled Mackerel]

After opening and deboning a delicious-looking grilled mackerel we found at the supermarket, we made half of it into pressed sushi using the Pressed Sushi Box, and half of it into rod-shaped sushi using sushi rolls. We used 1.5 and 1 cup of sushi rice respectively. The grilled mackerel had just the right amount of saltiness to it, and it went well with the sushi rice.

In both cases, letting them rest in the refrigerator for a while after forming will allow the flavors to soak in, stabilize the shape, and make them easier to cut. The advantage of using grilled mackerel is that you can make pressed sushi or rod-shaped sushi as soon as you make the sushi rice. How about this as a "quick menu" for busy times?

By the way, the easiest way to cut is to use the pressed sushi box that has slits in it. Sushi rolls that are suitable for carrying to a party or as a souvenir will be rod-shaped sushi. You can use it for different purposes.

Yamaichi's Pressed Sushi Box
https://www.shokunin.com/en/yamaichi/oshi.html 
Koishiwara ware's Tobikanna Sansunzara
https://www.shokunin.com/en/koishiwara/mame.html 
Kiya's Sushimaki
https://www.shokunin.com/en/kiya/sushimaki.html 
Yoshita Handi-Design Studio's Cheese Board
https://www.shokunin.com/en/yoshita/cheese.html