Article 016: Nukazuke and Mizuna

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Article Summary

In summer's thick air, the year's single encounter with mizunasu pickled in rice bran.

Torn gently by hand, tasted slowly.

The crisp sound of mizuna, olive oil as go-between, citrus rising.

Everything finds its way into belonging, given time.

Fermentation as quiet reshaping, a world where edges blur.

Respect for those who tend the soil, dialogue with vessels that hold.

Sound made word, fermenting onward in the reader.

Category

Cooking, Summer

  • I write of moments touched within Japanese food ways, as I have lived them.
    Read this as you might sit near coals still warm.

1. Mizunasu Pickled in Rice Bran (Kyoto-grown)

  • Mizunasu nukazuke
  • Assorted grilled chicken skewers


Mizunasu nukazuke in Arita-ware small bowl, grilled chicken skewers on Arita-ware round plate

Our garden shows cicada shells scattered in heat's arrival.

Soon again, that voice reverberating deep in the ear canal.

The thought weighs slightly.

I cannot yield to such small burdens, so I ventured out—a longer trip for provisions, a shift in air.

Grateful: this year too, I found "the once-yearly mizunasu nukazuke" (a pickle from Kansai region where soft-fleshed eggplant ferments in rice bran).

Crowds unsettle me. Large department stores rarely see my footsteps.

The purchase feels almost like casting lots.

I hope the familiar clerk, the familiar pickle stall, continue as long as they can.

2. Labor of Those Who Cultivate

  • Mizunasu nukazuke
  • Vegetable tempura
  • Simmered fish


Mizunasu nukazuke on Oribe-ware square plate, vegetable tempura on oval dish, simmered fish

Mizunasu torn by hand rather than blade shows a face of variance I prefer.

I purchase the kind still wearing its bran.

I tried many shops. In the end, this shop's bran-scent held me.

I eat it plain, or over yuzuke (rice met with hot water).

Yuzuke, though simple, lets the material speak clearly.

What strikes me each time: how steady the mizunasu's quality remains.

Skin neither too thick nor thin, flesh yielding, speaking of careful water and soil management by farming hands.

One day I wish to visit the land where it grows.

  • ※ Nukazuke relies on plant-derived lactic bacteria—a traditional fermented food.
    This follows time-honored methods of fermentation, not a beverage containing alcohol to be savored.

3. Mizuna and Cured Ham Salad

  • Mizunasu nukazuke (Kyoto-grown pickle fermented in rice bran)
  • Mizuna and cured ham salad (with olive oil)
  • Simmered fish cake and konnyaku
  • Thread konnyaku and cucumber dressed together
  • Sesame tofu


Mizunasu nukazuke in Arita-ware square small bowl, mizuna and cured ham salad on oval dish, simmered fish cake and konnyaku in Arita-ware square small bowl, thread konnyaku and cucumber in Arita-ware small bowl, sesame tofu

Mizuna's crispness and faint sharpness suit me.

Lately, olive oil and black pepper poured generously, wrapped in cured ham—this has become the pattern.

Olive oil acts as go-between. The more you chew, the deeper meat and green become to each other.

In humid thickness, I would welcome this at table daily.

Still, sometimes I use citrus squeezed fresh.

Unlike olive oil, citrus clears the mouth, so we pair it with meat dishes.

I looked into mizuna, beloved in summer heat, and found it peaks in winter.

Year-round availability comes through farming hands combining open-field and facility cultivation.

When something sits too close, I accept it without question, it seems.

4. Simmered Fish Cake and Konnyaku

This konnyaku simmered with a touch of chili pepper sits well beside rice.

The wish to eat another bowl meets the voice saying "save it for tomorrow"—always a difficult conversation with myself.

I wrote briefly about this dish elsewhere.

Article 004: Konjac and Dashi—A Quiet Conversation

Please see.

5. Citrus wringed Fresh

Yuzu, kabosu—citrus pressed into liquid form comes conveniently bottled.

For a shift in feeling during humid days, I add citrus to ice water or hot water and drink.

Sometimes I wring directly from fruit over warm rice.

The scent rises more fully this way than from bottled juice.

Fragrance and measured sourness draw out rice's sweetness, leave the mouth clear.

Chopsticks move more readily, I find.

When making wringed juice at home, I wait until the citrus skin wrinkles, the whole fruit softens to the right degree, then wring.

For us, this differs from wringing just-picked fruit. Sourness, sweetness, other elements find balance, the taste rounds.

Ripening seems to draw out the citrus's layered character.

May this scent reach your table quietly.

  • On wringing:
    For me, work done by hand falls under "wringing."
    Example: wringing a towel.

6. Arita-ware Small Bowl

The vessel holding mizunasu nukazuke and simmered konnyaku is an Arita-ware small bowl.

Depth and size both convenient, useful daily.

Karatsu-ware small bowls also pair well with such dishes, I think.

For more on Arita-ware small bowls, see

Article 010: Okahijiki, Seaweed of the Land

where I wrote in detail.

7. This Time's Gathering

  • 「ぬかしいな　なれるかもされ　うつせかい」

  • [Noukachiïna Naréloukamosaré Outsousékaï]

  • Nue, Cas, Hi, Inas, Na, Ray, Cam, Sâ, Ray, Ut, Ses, Quais, Hi.

  • Le murmure du sommeil des dents, L’appel du trou de la serrure, L’éveil du souffle.

Related Links

References

For references, please use the link below.

Reference consulted this time: 工 01

Audio data (sound): 2025_016_ja01

Audio data (reading): 2025_016_ja02 (in progress)

　　Microsoft Clipchamp: Brigitte, VOICEVOX: 四国めたん

Article End

  • I hope to bring small discoveries and familiar warmth to your table.