伝統文化を知る

宙ちゃんの「伝統文化一直線」　第17回　鍋こそ和食の華（上）

近藤宙時＝日本伝統文化検定協会理事

個性豊かな地域鍋。水戸・山翠「あんこう鍋」（写真左）、東京・駒形どぜう「どぜうなべ」（写真右）

「伝統文化は今どき古くさい」と言う人も、和室の無いタワマンに住んで「そんなの関係ない」と言う人も、伝統文化から絶対逃れられないのが、言葉と食でしょう。日本語を話し、和食を口にする以上は、「伝統文化なんて」とは言えないのです。うれしいことに、伝統文化の塊とも言える和食は、２０１３年にユネスコ文化遺産に登録されたことも手伝って世界的に評価が高まっています。実際、観光庁の２０２３年訪日外国人消費動向調査によると、訪日前に期待していたことを尋ねた質問（複数回答）には、断トツの８３．２％もの人が「日本食を食べること」を挙げたほどです。

その和食の中で最も和食らしい料理はというと、主食のご飯を除けば、鍋と佃煮、そして漬物ではないかと勝手に思っています。特に鍋は、主菜であり、食卓の中心であり、一つの鍋をみんなで囲むという日本ならでは食習慣の象徴でもあります。何より強調すべきはバラエティーの多さ、すなわち、地域ごとの特産物と伝統を生かした「お国自慢の鍋」の存在ではないでしょうか。

世界的に見ても、これほどまでに多種多様な鍋料理が食べられる国を知りません。たとえ訪ねた先に「地域鍋」を家で食べさせてくれる友人・知人がいなくても、地元の鍋料理を長い歴史の中で洗練し、芸術の域にまで昇華させて提供する店がたくさんあることも日本の素晴らしい点だと思います。

と、長々と勝手な講釈を垂れたついでに、「三大」好きの日本人らしく、卓越した地域鍋を三つ紹介します。ただし、全国をくまなく食べ歩いたと自慢できるような食い道楽でもありませんので、本当に触り程度です。日本にはもっともっとおいしい、まさにそのために旅行する価値のある地域鍋があるに決まっていることは最初にお断りしておきます。

まずは北から、鮟鱇（あんこう）鍋。関東圏でよく知られた地域鍋ですが、茨城県北部から福島県南部の太平洋沿岸で食されるのが、海のフォアグラともいわれるアンコウの肝をぜいたくに使う「どぶ汁」で、これを豪快かつ繊細に食べさせてくれる店が水戸市の「山翠」です。地元の味噌（みそ）と乾煎り（からいり）した生のアンコウの肝を溶かし込んだ濃厚な汁。淡泊でいて芳醇（ほうじゅん）な甘みとうま味を持つアンコウの柔らかな身はもちろん、皮、水袋（胃）、肝、ヌノ（卵巣）、エラ、ヒレまでの「七つ道具」を煮込んだ鍋は、臭みが全くなく、最高のシェフが作ったビスク・ド・オマール（ロブスターのポタージュ）をもしのぐ絶品です。

タンパク質と脂質の塊のはずなのに、満腹になっても胃がもたれないのは日本の鍋の特筆すべき点でしょう。知らないうちに美肌効果のあるコラーゲンをたっぷり取れるのも、どぶ汁の魅力です。

続いては、少し南に下って江戸の味。三代目三遊亭金馬の落語「居酒屋」にも登場する東京・浅草「駒形どぜう」の「どぜうなべ」です。ぷっくりと脂の乗った何匹ものドジョウが丸ごと所狭しと並べられ、見た目のインパクトは数ある鍋の中でも指折りでしょう。土臭いかなという予想に反し、むしろ「すっきり」という言葉が似合うほど臭みはなく、骨も全く気になりません。ドジョウの濃厚なうま味が少々甘い醤油（しょうゆ）汁と口の中で溶け合い、どこか懐かしいような「口福」に満たされます。

「ドジョウの姿はどうも」と腰が引ける人には卵でとじた柳川なべがお勧めです。そして、忘れず味わってほしいのが「どぜう汁」。鍋と同じく丸のままのドジョウを使った江戸甘味噌の味噌汁ですが、これがポタージュをはるかに超える濃さ。にもかかわらず、喉に流し込むとまた口にしたくなること請け合いの、ちょっと謎めいた一品です。

最後は、中山道を南下した美濃国は笠松町にある老舗料亭「安田屋」の「みそ鍋」。笠松町は、平成の名馬オグリキャップや「アンカツ」こと安藤勝己騎手を生んだ笠松競馬場で知られます。江戸時代には幕府直轄４郡代の一つ、美濃郡代の陣屋があり、明治の一時期にはそこに岐阜県の県庁が置かれました。その笠松陣屋跡の目の前に建つのが安田屋です。歴史を感じさせる個室で出される名物のみそ鍋は、八丁味噌文化圏である東海地方ならではのもの。八丁味噌と、恐らくは西京味噌を合わせた秘伝の鍋汁は、ゴマだれをしのぐほどの濃度を誇ります。

ぐつぐつと土鍋で煮込むのは、上質な豚肉と、季節によってカキやホタテの貝柱に和牛ホルモンなど。味の染み込み方は「素晴らしい」の一言に尽きますが、それでも素材のうま味を消してしまわないのは、味噌の力なのでしょう。しかも、その濃い味噌は芳醇な辛みとともにほのかに甘く、「濃い、濃い、濃すぎる～」ともだえながらも、後から後から口にせずにはいられない魔力を持っています。締めには残り汁に卵を落とし、その半熟卵と汁をご飯に掛けてくれるのですが、鍋だけでおなかいっぱいになったはずなのに、われを忘れて平らげてしまうこと必定です。一度食べたら、１カ月もしないうちにまた食べたくなる「禁断の鍋」と言えるでしょう。

念のために付け加えると、安田屋は本来、上質な懐石料理を供する料亭で、鍋専門店ではありません。みそ鍋を堪能した後は、懐石料理も味わいに訪ねていただきたいと思います。

独断で選んだ三大地域鍋を紹介しましたが、今回素通りした和食の聖地京都にはどうしてもお伝えしたい鍋の三大名店があります。次回もぜひ鍋話にお付き合いください。

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【English version】

Chu-chan's ‘Traditional Culture in a Straight Line’ Vol. 17 Nabe is the flower of Japanese cuisine (top)

Kondo chuji = Director, Japan Traditional Culture Certification Association

Unique regional hot pots. Sansui ‘anglerfish hotpot’, Mito (pictured left); Komagata dozeu ‘dozeunabe’, Tokyo (pictured right).

Whether you say ‘traditional culture is old-fashioned nowadays’ or you live in a tower block with no Japanese-style rooms and say ‘that doesn't matter’, the two things you can never escape from traditional culture are language and food. As long as you speak Japanese and eat Japanese food, you cannot say ‘traditional culture is nothing’. Happily, Japanese food, which can be described as a mass of traditional culture, is gaining worldwide recognition, helped by its inclusion on UNESCO's cultural heritage list in 2013. In fact, according to the Japan Tourism Agency's 2023 Survey on Trends in Foreign Visitor Consumption in Japan, when asked what they expected before visiting Japan (multiple answers), a whopping 83.2% of respondents cited ‘eating Japanese food’.

I take the liberty of thinking that the dishes most typical of Japanese food, apart from the staple of rice, are nabe (hot pot), tsukudani (food boiled in soy sauce and sugar) and pickles. Nabe, in particular, is a staple dish, the centre of the dining table and a symbol of the uniquely Japanese custom of sharing a single nabe with everyone. What should be emphasised above all is the variety, or in other words, the existence of ‘national nabe’, which makes use of the specialities and traditions of each region.

I don't know of any other country in the world where such a wide variety of nabe dishes are available. Even if you don't have friends or acquaintances at the places you visit who will let you eat ‘regional nabe’ at home, one of the great things about Japan is that there are many restaurants that have refined local nabe dishes over a long history and sublimated them to the level of an art form.

Having said that, I would like to introduce three outstanding regional nabe dishes, as the Japanese are fond of the ‘three greats’. However, I am not a gourmand who can boast of having eaten all over the country, so this is really just a quick rundown. Let it be said at the outset that there are certainly much more delicious regional nabe dishes in Japan that are worth a trip for their own sake.

Let's start with the monkfish hotpot from the north. This is a well-known regional nabe in the Kanto region, but the one eaten along the Pacific coast from northern Ibaraki to southern Fukushima is dobu-jiru, a soup rich in anglerfish liver, also known as the foie gras of the sea, and served with great panache and delicacy at Sansui in Mito. The thick soup is made by mixing local miso (soybean paste) and raw anglerfish liver that has been dry-roasted. The tender flesh of the anglerfish, with its light yet mellow sweetness and umami, as well as the skin, stomach, liver, nuno (ovary), gills and fins, are all stewed in a pot that has no smell at all and is a superb dish that even surpasses the best chef's bisque de haut-mar (lobster potage).

It is a notable feature of Japanese nabe that it does not upset the stomach even on a full stomach, despite the fact that it is supposed to be a mass of protein and fat. Another attraction of dobu-jiru is that you get plenty of collagen, which is effective for beautiful skin, without even knowing it.

Next, a little further south, a taste of Edo. This is the Doze-nabe from Komagata Dozeu in Asakusa, Tokyo, which appears in the rakugo story ‘Izakaya’ by Sanyutei Kinma III. The visual impact of this dish is probably the most impressive of all the nabe dishes, with many plump, fatty whole loaches arranged in a narrow space. Contrary to expectations of an earthy smell, the loach has no odour and the bones do not bother you at all, so much so that the word ‘refreshing’ is more appropriate. The rich umami of the loach blends with the slightly sweet soy sauce broth in the mouth and fills you with a nostalgic feeling of ‘mouth-feel’.

For those who are not so keen on the sight of loach, we recommend the Yanagawa nabe with egg. And don't forget to try the ‘doze soup’. Like the nabe, it is a miso soup made from whole loach and Edo sweet miso, but it is far thicker than a potage. Despite this, it is a slightly enigmatic dish that is guaranteed to make you want to eat it again once it has been poured down your throat.

The last dish is Miso-nabe at Yasudaya, a long-established restaurant in Kasamatsu-cho, Mino Province, down the Nakasendo Highway to the south. Kasamatsu is known for the Kasamatsu Racecourse, where the famous horse of the Heisei era, Oguri Cap, and the jockey Katsumi Ando, known as ‘Ankatsu’, were born. In the Edo period (1603-1867), there was a camp of the Mino County Governor, one of the four counties under the direct control of the shogunate, and at one point during the Meiji period (1868-1912), the prefectural office of Gifu Prefecture was located there. Yasudaya stands right in front of the ruins of the Kasamatsu camp. The speciality miso nabe, served in a private room with a sense of history, is unique to the Tokai region, which is part of the Hatcho miso culture. The secret soup is a combination of Hatcho miso and possibly Saikyo miso, and boasts a density that surpasses that of sesame sauce.

Stewed in an earthenware pot are high-quality pork, oysters, scallops and wagyu beef hormones, depending on the season. The way the flavour seeps into the meat is nothing short of ‘wonderful’, but the power of the miso is that it doesn't erase the umami of the ingredients. Moreover, the thick miso has a mellow spiciness and a hint of sweetness, which has a magical power that compels you to eat it again and again, even as you squirm and say ‘thick, thick, too thick~’. To top it off, they drop an egg into the leftover broth and pour the half-boiled egg and broth over rice, and even though you should be full from the nabe alone, you're bound to forget about it and eat it all up. Once you've had it, you'll want to eat it again in less than a month.

Just to be clear, Yasudaya is originally a ryotei restaurant serving high-quality kaiseki cuisine, not a restaurant specialising in nabe. After enjoying the miso nabe, we hope that you will visit the restaurant to taste the kaiseki cuisine as well.

We have introduced the three major regional nabe restaurants, but there are also three other great nabe restaurants in Kyoto, the holy land of Japanese food, which we have skipped over this time. We hope you will join us again next time for more nabe stories.