Haiku Travels
Mariko-juku (Shizuoka)
plum blossoms and young greens
in the post station of Mariko
soup of grated yam
ume wakana / Mariko no shuku no / tororo-jiru
梅若菜丸子の宿のとろろ汁
Basho
[Mariko-juku by Hiroshige in The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido]
The Tokaido or Eastern Sea Route was the most important of the Five Routes of the Edo period, connecting Kyoto to Edo, and so named because it meandered along the sea coast of eastern Honshu. Also today the Todaido is still Japan's major route, but now traveled by Shinkansen trains and highways. The old Tokaido has mostly been buried beneath these modern developments, although there are a few spots (usually in the mountains, such as at Hakone) where the Old Tokaido can still be seen.
You'll be surprised how narrow it is: not more than a path, rather than a highway! That is because the standard method of travel was by foot - wheeled carts were almost nonexistent in Edo Japan and there were no stage coaches such as in premodern Europe. Luggage was carried by horses (heavy cargo was sent by boat over sea). Members of the higher class could, however, travel in a kago or litter, carried by two strong men. The more advanced of these litters could be closed so that the occupant would have privacy and be shielded from the stares of other travelers. The space in such a litter was however very cramped, so I doubt it was comfortable.
The Tokaido was divided into 53 post stations between the termination points of Kyoto and Edo, where travelers could rest, have a meal, or stay the night. As most travelers were men, some of these post stations had extensive geisha populations (as described in the literature of the period, such as the humorous novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige ("Shanks' Mare") by Jippensha Ikku. But there were also porter stations and horse stables, as well as government inns for official travelers, such as the daimyo feudal lords on their way between their domain in the provinces and Edo for the alternate one-year attendance at the court of the shogun (sankin kotai).
[Another depiction of the same scene by Hiroshige]
Mariko-juku was one of those 53 post stations on the Tokaido, the twentieth when counting from Edo to be exact, located in what is now part of the Suruga Ward in Shizuoka. Mariko was one of the smallest post stations, but also one of the most famous thanks to the provision of a local dish: tororo-jiru, or soup made from grated yam. This is an early instance of meibutsu, famous local dishes, which today have proliferated all over Japan. The classic Hiroshige ukiyo-e at the top of this article depicts two travelers enjoying the dish at a wayside restaurant called Chojiya.
Tororo-jiru is made by mixing grated wild yam with miso paste and dashi stock. Green laver (aonori) was also added and the dish was served with a boiled rice-barley mixture. It has a light taste and silky texture. Of course, it goes well with a cup of sake! The two eaters on the ukiyo-e could very well be Kitahachi and Yajirobei, the two protagonists from the above mentioned popular novel Shanks' Mare. The prints also include plum trees, thereby intentionally alluding to Basho's famous haiku.
[Chojiya in modern times - you can still have tororo-jiru here, the restaurant has been in continuous operation since 1596!]
There is little to add to the Basho haiku. The season is early spring. According to a short preface he added, Basho wrote this haiku for Kawai Otokuni, a disciple who came from Shiga prefecture and who was one of the famous "Omi merchants." With this haiku, Basho wishes him a pleasant and enjoyable trip down the Tokaido.
One remark about the ukiyo-e I have reproduced here: Japanese visual culture (including ukiyo-e) was not concerned with realistic depictions of certain views, but instead was focused on the intertextual relations between pictorial art and poetry. In other words, although the prints appear realistic due to the abundance of mundane details, they are in fact a mixture of artistic conventions stemming from the existing textual and pictorial depictions of the scene in question (combined, of course, with the creativity of the artist and the commercial strategy of the publisher - these ukiyo-e were a great advertisement for tororo-jiru!). Landscapes without any literary association were not depicted.
And a last remark about meibutsu: in the Edo period, meibutsu were classified as follows:
- simple souvenirs (such as swords from Kamakura or sea shells from Enoshima)
- gastronomic specialties such as the grated yam soup from Mariko
- amulets and other "supernatural" souvenirs (such as powders that were supposed to cure a vast number of illnesses)
- bizarre things that added a touch of the exotic to the location in question (such as the "fire-resistant" salamanders of Hakone)
- and finally the prostitutes who made such locations as Shinagawa, Fujisawa, Akasaka, Yoshida, etc., famous
(Source: The Tokaido Road, Travelling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan, by Jilly Traganou, RoutledgeCurzon, 2004).
From the no 7 bus stop in front of Shizuoka Station, take a Shizutetsu bus bound for Fujieda Station and get off at Akamegaya, about 35 minutes from Shizuoka. A nice article about a walk through Mariko can be found on the Japan Today website.
Tokaidochu Hizakurige by Jippensha Ikku is available in a translation by Thomas Stachell called Shanks' Mare (Tuttle, my copy is from 1980)
[Photo of Chojiya: via Wikimedia Commons]
[Photo of Chojiya: via Wikimedia Commons]