The Timeless Love for Sushi: From Edo to Modern Tokyo
Children love sushi. If you visit Sushi restraunt on a holiday in Japan, you will often see smiling parents soothing their children who are excited about sushi.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s ‘Shimazoroi Onna Benkei’: An Artistic Celebration of Food
Although it is not well known, there is a motif of a father and child and sushi in Ukiyoe as well. One such work is Utagawa Kuniyoshi‘s painting of a beautiful woman, “Shimazoroi Onna Benkei.
をさな子も ねたる安宅の松か鮓 あふぎづけなる 袖にすがりて
The above-mentioned kyokyu (a Japanese poem) is inscribed at the top of the painting, depicting a child begging for sushi with his sleeves clinging to his body. The “Matsu ka sushi” shown here refers to a sushi restaurant in Edo. As Mr. Matsushita also introduces, this restaurant is known as the originator of nigiri-zushi, and is said to have had a great reputation for its taste.
(The image has been rotated to make it easier to read.)
Depicting Culinary Traditions: A Closer Look at the Sushi in the Painting
In this painting, a woman who appears to be a mother is about to give a plate of sushi to her child. It must have been taken out of a folded package. The depicted sushi is nigirizushi and egg rolls. Although it is difficult to see, what appears to be pressed sushi is also on the plate. The woman’s red-colored clothes, her gentle face, and the child’s soft skin and innocent expression are beautiful.
Eating delicious sushi together. Such a smiling scene has not changed a bit in the Edo period or today.
(The image of Ukiyo-e in this page is cited from ‘sakana zukushi’, supervised by Yasuo Suehiro)