Column : Famous products and famous shops in meisho (famous places) | The Landmarks of Edo in Color Woodblock Prints

Famous products and famous shops in meisho (famous places)

Edo was a major tourism city. The illustrated geographical booklet of historic sites Edo Meisho Zue includes approximately 750 illustrations and lists meisho and meibutsu (famous products). People would make pilgrimages to temples and shrines and visit a variety of meisho, enjoying outings and entertainment throughout the four seasons including cherry blossom viewing and fireworks.

Shinpan gofunai ryuko meibutsu annai sugoroku by Ichieisai Yoshitsuya, printed by Ebiya Rinnosuke around [1847-1852] <本別9-27>
A number of famous shops and famous products such as Yaozen of Sanya, Ebiya and Ogiya of Oji, sakuramochi (rice cake with sweet bean paste wrapped in pickled cherry leaf) from Mukaijima, etc. in a board game.
(The items circled in red are famous products and famous shops introduced in nishiki-e (brocade pictures) on this exhibition.)

The reasons for visiting temples and shrines were not solely for faith. The areas within the grounds and in front of the gates of temples and shrines were bustling with a large number of tea stalls, shops, entertainment booths and other facilities targeting worshippers. There were also a variety of restaurants, tea stalls and other shops targeting tourists at resort areas which sold souvenirs that could only be obtained at those specific areas. Eating meibutsu and buying souvenirs were some of the ways visitors enjoyed themselves at meisho.

Food

Shinagawa nori
by Toyokuni and Hiroshige,
printed by Hiranoya in 1864
<寄別1-9-2-2>

Nori dried seaweed (Shinagawa)

Nori dried seaweed was a famous product of Asakusa, but the raw seaweed which was the principal ingredient was actually cultivated in Shinagawa.

Junigatsu no uchi Uzuki hatsu hototogisu
by Toyokuni,
printed by Tsutaya Kitizo in 1855
<寄別2-8-1-6>

Hatsugatsuo (the season's first bonito) (Nihonbashi fish market)

The bonito which ride the Japan current and come northward in the early summer are called "hatsugatsuo". In Edo in particular, there was a custom of boasting about eating these particular fish and they were highly valued.

Syohai zasshu. [7] /
edited by Okubo Hasetsu
[ from the end of Edo period to Meiji]
<寄別3-7-2-1>

Umeboshi (pickled plums)

umeboshi (pickled plums) were popular products as souvenirs from Kameido Umeyashiki and Mukojima Hyakkaen. It is said that there were not sufficient ume plums to use as ingredients from just within the Kameido Umeyashiki gardens and that they were supplemented with plums from other sources. At that time, red shiso was not used so mainstream umeboshi (pickled plums) were not red.

Shinpan gofunai ryuko meibutsu annai sugoroku
by Ichieisai Yoshitsuya,
printed by Ebiya Rinnosuke around [1847-1852]
<本別9-27>

Sakura mochi (rice cake with sweet bean paste wrapped in pickled cherry leaf)

Sakura mochi started with the gatekeeper of the Chomei-ji Temple. He would salt-pickle cherry blossom leaves from the banks of the Sumida-gawa River and then wrap those leaves around mochi rice cake filled with bean paste and sell them. Sakura mochi thus became a meibutsu of the area in front of the gate of Chome-ji Temple. According to the Toen Shosetsu in 1824, 775,000 cherry blossom leaves were stocked. Since 2 leaves were used for each sakura mochi, this means that 387,500 sakura mochi were sold in the year.

Incidentally, there is Kanto-style sakura mochi and Kansai-style sakura mochi. The Chome-ji Temple sakura mochi is Kanto-style sakura mochi where flour is dissolved in water, then rolled out thin and cooked, and wrapped around bean paste and then wrapped in cherry blossom leaves. Kansai-style sakura mochi is also called "domyoji", with bean paste rolled into coarse ground mochi rice in a round shape, all of which is then wrapped in salt-pickled cherry blossom leaves.

Souvenirs and good luck charms

Jisha keidai meibutsushu
[18--] <そ-18>

Susukimimizuku (Susuki grass horned owl toy) (Zoshigaya Kishimojin)

A doll of a horned owl made by bundling the heads of Susuki grass plants. These are sold within the grounds of the Kishimojin as a charm of Kishimojin stemming from a story of a young girl. She was very poor and her mother fell sick, but she was unable to buy medicine. Following a divine message from Kishimojin to make and sell Susukimimizuku, she was able to sell many of them and buy the medicine her mother needed.

Jisha keidai meibutsushu
[18--] <そ-18>

Uso (Bullfinch) (Kameido Tenjin Shrine)

The "Uso Kae ritual" has been carried out at New Year's every year since 1820 at the Kameido Tenjin Shrine. This is a ritual where a wooden carving of an "uso" (bullfinch) is replaced with a newer carving inside the shrine grounds, and it is said that this allows the bad happenings of the previous year become "uso" (lies, a homophone of "bullfinch" in Japanese) and become fortuitous happenings. The ritual is still carried out today on January 24-25 of each year and is very popular with worshippers. In addition, because the bullfinch exterminated destructive insects during the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine festival, and because the kanji character for bullfinch (鷽) looks like the kanji character for "gaku" (學, meaning "study"), it is thought to be deeply connected to Tenjin (the deified spirit of Sugawara Michizane), the god of learning, and the "uso kae ritual" is thus carried out at Tenmangu shrines throughout the country.

Jisha keidai meibutsush
[18--] <そ-18>

Chigibako (Shibadaijingu Shrine ginger market)

A chigibako is an oval, decorated box made of Japanese cypress sold at the ginger market during the festivalheld at the Shibadaijingu Shrine in September. The outside of the box is painted with designs of Japanese wisteria flowers in vermillion, rust green, whitewash and other colors and it is filled with candy or roasted beans. It is said that if the chigibako is placed inside dresser drawers, it will cause clothes to magically increase. Chigi are the ornamental forked roof construction elements found on the main roof ridge on top of shrines. Chigibako are named because they were originally made from material leftover from the construction of the chigi.

Restaurants

After the Great Fire of Meireki in Edo (1657), popular restaurants which served set-menu meals began to appear in areas around Asakusa and Ryogoku. Luxury restaurants with reception rooms and gardens, which served elaborate meals, began to appear during the Houreki Era (1751-64). Restaurants were built near meisho to target worshippers and recreational users, and the restaurants also held gatherings for extemporary painting and writing, haiku gatherings and rakugo (comic storytelling) gatherings, serving as a place for intellectual people to gather.

Later, the restaurants themselves became meisho and came to be pictured in nishiki-e (brocade pictures) and geographical booklet of famous sites. The Edo Komei Kaitei Zukushi nishiki-e series featuring famous restaurants by Utagawa Hiroshige picture not only the Japanese-style drawing rooms, but the finer details like the entrances and gardens.

Yaozen (Sanya)

Founded in 1717 in Asakusa Sanya and became one of the most famous restaurants in Edo, and became a high class salon where a number of writers and artists gathered. Playwright and author of comic poems Ota Nanpo was a regular patron of the restaurant and composed a poem that praised the restaurant as first-class. In 1822 the cuisine text Edo Ryuko Ryoritu was published, which also became popular as a souvenir of Edo.

[Edo komei kaitei zukushi] [Sanya] by Hiroshige <Call no. : 寄別1-9-2-7>

Aoyagi (Ryogoku)

This restaurant that was located at Komadome-bashi Bridge in east Ryogoku.

[Edo komei kaitei zukushi] Ryogoku by Hiroshige <Call no. : 寄別1-9-2-7>

Taishichi (Mukojima)

This restaurant that was famous for dishes featuring river fish, such as carp. The restaurant had a bathhouse and provided a rental yukata (casual kimono).

[Edo komei kaitei zukushi] Mukojima by Hiroshige <Call no. : 本別9-28>

Hiraiwa (Mukaijima)

This restaurant was known for its carp dishes.

[Edo komei kaitei zukushi] Mukojima no zu by Hiroshige <Call no. : 寄別1-9-2-7>

Tagawaya (Daion-ji mae)

This restaurant was located in front of Daion-ji Temple (present-day Ryusen in Taito Ward) to the west of Otorimyo-jin Shrine behind the Yoshiwara rice fields. It was frequented by people returning from Yoshiwara and had a tearoom and bathhouse in its gardens.

[Edo komei kaitei zukushi] Daion-ji mae by Hiroshige <Call no. : 寄別1-9-2-7>

Uekiya (Mokubo-ji Temple)

This restaurant began as a simple teahouse for worshippers within the grounds of the Mokubo-ji Temple during the time of the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu. It was also called "Uehan".

[Edo komei kaitei zukushi] Mokubo-ji yukimi by Hiroshige <Call no. : 寄別1-9-2-7>

Manhachi (Yanagibashi)

This restaurant served as a venue for literary and art gatherings by writers and artists.

[Edo komei kaitei zukushi] Yangagi-bashi yakei by Hiroshige <Call no. : 寄別1-9-2-7>

Bibliography

Nihon no omamori : Kamisama to goriyaku ga wakaru, edited by Hatano Eizo, Ikeda shoten, 2011 <Call no. : GD33-J306>
Nihon zuihitsu taisei Phase 2 Vol. 1, edited by Nihon zuihitsu taisei henshubu, Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 2007 <Call no. : KG294-J48>
Okubo Jun'ichi, Edo komei kaitei zukushi, (Ukiyo-e geijutsu No.156 2008 p.48-49 <Call no. : Z11-304>)
Sato Mitsunobu, Edo no ryoriya Hiroshige no "Edo komei kaitei zukushi", edited by Hiraki Ukiyo-e zaidan Hiraki Ukiyo-e Museum, Hiraki Ukiyo-e zaidan, 1999