Cha Kaiseki, the meal during the tea ceremony

Cha Kaiseki, the meal during the tea ceremony. ちゃかいせき、茶懐石

We often only know the part of the tea ceremony where a bowl of strong green tea is prepared by the host and offered to the guests in the small and soberly decorated tea room. But a full tea ceremony also includes a light meal because strong matcha tea can be a bit heavy on the stomach. This is called “a stone in the bosom” (kaiseki), after the legendary custom of Buddhist monks to hold a warm stone to their chest to combat the feelings of hunger.

[Wanmori]

The menu is seasonal and based on the structure of ichiju sansai. It starts with a tray with three dishes: rice on the left, miso soup on the right, and farthest from the guest mukozuke, “the dish on the other side of the tray” - usually sashimi. Sake is also served at this time. While this tray with bowls is left to eat more rice, a cooked dish follows in a lacquerware bowl with a lid (wanmori) – the ingredients, which are usually seafood, are in a soup or stock. Wanmori is difficult to prepare and has been referred to as the focal point of cha-kaiseki. This is followed by yakimono, a grilled dish, usually fish again, now served on an earthenware dish or plate.

On special occasions, which warrant a more elaborate meal, another course called azukebachi is then served. This means “entrusted bowls” and indeed it involves two dishes, a niawase or several ingredients simmered together, and a cooked salad. More sake is also served here, while guests can also ask for extra rice. Then a clear soup (suimono, also called hashi-arai, literally “to wash the chopsticks”) with hassun, two small delicacies, one from the sea and one from the mountains. The name of this dish comes from the earthenware dish that is used, which measures eight sun (hassun) or 24.1 cm. If the guests allow themselves to be persuaded to more sake after this dish, a small snack is served with it, called shiizakana ("a forced bite"). The meal concludes with konomono (pickled vegetables) and yuto, literally washing the rice bowl with hot water so as not to lose even the last, scattered grains. That hot water, already flavored by boiling it in the rice pan, is presented in a beautiful lacquer pot with a spout and lid.

Cha-kaiseki is light and relatively simple in principle. Initially, it was cooked by one person, the host at the tea ceremony who also had his other duties. However, he did not eat. Cha-kaiseki is served in the tea room and is surrounded by the necessary ritual courtesies and formalities. Japanese haute cuisine, kaiseki, which is more elaborate and festive, finds its origin in this cha kaiseki meal.

Photo own work.

Japanese Food Dictionary

Toso, spiced sake for the New Year celebrations

Toso, o-toso 屠蘇

A spiced medicinal sake traditionally drunk during Japanese New Year celebrations to pray for a healthy and happy year and a long life without illness. It is a fixed part of New Year's osechi cuisine in Japan.

Toso is can be made by steeping a mixture of spices (tososan) in sake (or sake and mirin). Tososan is a medicinal herbal mixture of cinnamon, dried ginger, sansho (Japanese pepper), and the roots of several plants such as Chinese bell flower (kikyo). The ingredients may change somewhat depending on the provider.

The authentic way of producing toso is a lot more complex than just steeping the herbs in sake. First, koji, glutinous rice (mochigome) and mirin are added to shochu. After maturation, this mixture is blended with sake, and finally the tososan is added for steeping. Otoso has a sweet and mellow taste.

[Daishichi’s Shichifuku (“Seven Good Fortune”) Otoso]

The tradition of drinking toso at the New Year began in the Tang Dynasty in China and was adopted by Japanese aristocrats during the Heian period. In the Edo-period this custom became common among the wider population and pharmacies would give out bags of tososan as year-end gifts. Toso is drunk from a special set of three lacquered vermilion flat sakazuki cups, which are used in order of size from small to large. The herbal sake is poured from a sort of tea pot which is equally made from vermilion lacquer.

[Sakazuki set]

Drinking otoso is said to ward off ailments like colds for the year and bring a long and healthy life. For generations it has been said that "if one person drinks this his family will not fall ill; if the whole family does no-one in the village will fall ill."

It is easy to make a simple kind of toso at home by buying tososan (packaged in a sort of teabag) and then steep that for about 7 hours in 300 ml of sake. Sake breweries also offer ready-made otoso, of which the above pictured "Shichifuku Otoso" by Daishichi is the most luxurious - this has been made the authentic way by producing all ingredients including the mirin and shochu in-house, and blending them with top-class sake, a process that including aging took several years. The tososan was obtained from the famous Shingon-Buddhist temple mountain Koyasan.

Photos own work / Wikimedia Commons

Japanese Food Dictionary