March 2023

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[Matsuyama Tokojo's Atatamenabe L and Dobai Hanten Donabe Are Back in Stock]

Matsuyama Tokojo's Atatamenabe L and Dobai Hanten Donabe, which have been out of stock for a very long time, are back in stock today. Both are traditional earthenware pots using only heat-resistant clay from Iga.

It is the season of flowers, but the mornings and evenings are still very cold, and there are still many days when we miss warm food. We recommend making chai or soup in the morning with the Atatamenabe, or warming yourself from the inside out in the evening with a pot full of spring vegetables. The Dobai Hanten Donabe that we have specially commissioned to be made by our store are perfect for large pots for several people and small pots for one person, such as nabeyaki udon noodles or one-pot meals.

The small Atatamenabe and all sizes of Yukihira Pots will be restocked in the near future. Why not start this spring with a warm meal prepared in your favorite donabe?

Matsuyama Tokojo's Atatamenabe L
https://www.shokunin.com/en/matsuyama/
Matsuyama Tokojo's Dobai Hanten Donabe
https://www.shokunin.com/en/matsuyama/donabe.html

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[Serve Bitterness on a Spring Plate]

It is the season to enjoy the taste of spring. There is a saying, "Serve bitterness on a spring plate." In the book "Shokoku Yosei Hou," written by Sagen Ishizuka, a doctor and pharmacist in the Meiji era (1868-1912), it is written, "Eat bitter in spring, vinegared in summer, spicy in autumn, and oil in winter." (Eat bitter in spring, sour in summer, pungent in fall, and fat in winter, and eat what is available in each season)

Ishizuka Sagen was the first person in Japan to advocate "Shokuiku" (food education), which consists of six precepts. The six are,
(1) Nutrition education at home is important.
(2) Our bodies are made of what we eat.
(3) Humans are grain animals that eat mainly grains
(4) Eat whole foods (shin-do-fuji)
(5) Eat local, fresh, seasonal foods for local production for local consumption
(6) Eat a well-balanced diet of everything

Sagen warned that the westernization of food and food culture during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) would lead to an increase in illnesses in the future due to the disruption of the traditional Japanese diet. Sagen's disciple, Sakurazawa Jyoichi, based on Sagen's dietary method, developed it as "macrobiotics" and preached a longevity method based on the idea of harmonizing human beings with nature and achieving a healthy lifestyle through a diet based on traditional Japanese food.

Speaking of spring bitterness, there are wild vegetables such as butterbur sprouts, taranobuds, and udo (udo), as well as rape blossoms. As the temperature rises in spring, insects and fungi become more active, and wild vegetables produce "bitterness" and "acridity" to protect themselves from these insects and fungi. The bitterness comes from ingredients called "vegetable alkaloids" and "polyphenols. They act as antioxidants, improve the liver's filtration function, detoxify the body to expel wastes, and promote metabolism. Animals that hibernate prepare for hibernation by accumulating nutrients before the cold winter. In the same way, humans accumulate fat to protect themselves from the winter cold. It is said that the first thing bears eat when they wake up from hibernation is "butterbur. Bears instinctively take in the bitterness of butterbur to awaken their sleeping bodies.

Spring is a season when the autonomic nervous system is easily unbalanced due to the temperature difference and atmospheric pressure fluctuations, and it is easy to get sick. Let's detoxify our bodies with spring vegetables to improve our condition and create health through food.

About a 7-minute walk from our showroom in Ginza, there is a standing noodle restaurant called "Yomoda Soba. With homemade noodles and no chemical seasonings, they have a menu of wild vegetables and wild plants from Aomori, and are currently serving Fukinotou Ten-soba. Why not stop by when you visit our Ginza showroom?

Yomoda Soba
http://www.yomoda-soba.com/menu/sanyasou.html
Nakamura Douki's Copper-Made Tempura Pot
https://www.shokunin.com/en/nakamuradouki/tempura.html

References
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/石塚左玄
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/マクロビオティック
https://www.pref.fukui.lg.jp/

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[Rikucho Ogasawara's Bookends has been added]

These beautiful bookends, left behind by casting artist Rikucho Ogasawara, look like contemporary sculptures. The stately, still black appearance of this bookend exudes a sense of dynamism, as if full of life.

They not only support books, but also have a presence that seems to divide space. While practical as a bookend, it sometimes stands beside books as if it were art. It can be used as a bookend, an objet d'art, or a door stopper. Please enjoy it with your own ideas.

Rikucho Ogasawara's Bookends
https://www.shokunin.com/en/rikucho/bookends.html