Rosanjin was known as a gourmand as much as an artist – he became the creative force behind an exclusive restaurant, pairing ceramics and food – and he was said to have enjoyed the exceptional freshness and variety of ingredients in Kaga.
These days, tourists and locals line up for unpretentious 2,000-yen (S$17.23) lunch sets (they could easily cost five times as much in Tokyo) at Ippei Sushi. On a recent Friday, the chef, Yukio Nimaida, showed me three kinds of local prawns he’d sourced early that morning. The rice he uses, a bouncy sweet cultivar called Koshihikari, grows nearby in paddies fed by clean mountain water.
I asked Nimaida-san what he hopes visitors to Kaga will experience. “Hot springs and fish,” he said. “That’s all you need, isn’t it?”
YAMANAKA: A PATHWAY THROUGH WOODLANDS AND LACQUERWARE
With Kiku no Yu public bathhouse at its heart, Yamanaka’s downtown stretches along one side of the Kakusenkei gorge. On the other side, a peaceful walking path meanders beside the icy aquamarine river; I walk there often, especially in spring, when wildflowers emerge from lush tufts of moss.
