Dear friends,
I don’t know about you, but when I first went to Japan, I dreamed of climbing Fujiyama. The Japanese warned me that it was December and therefor absolutely not possible. They also told me that they prefer to address their beloved majestic mountain Fuji San not Yama. Both words are synonyms meaning mountain, but the “san” also means Mr. or Mrs. when calling someone, like Darja san, so for the Japanese using “san” for Fuji is nicer. It evokes an intimate feeling. Fuji mountain is Mrs. Mountain, as if a person.
When I later lived in Japan, I saw Fuji from our balcony. Every day I checked if Fuji can be seen. Somehow Fuji brought me closer to the Japanese nation. It was our Fuji.
The last time when I came up with new Miyabi sushi sets, I named the biggest set Fuji. It’s Sushi san set. Before it was the Nippon set and yet before the Banzai set, that is, the set which jumps into attention. The best set. The idea to change to Fuji set gave way to naming also the other sets after the Japanese mountains. First I named the smallest set. It is Miwa, which is a mountain near the old capital of Nara and is only 467 meters tall.
Miwa is nearly as sacred as Fuji. There is a character for three in her name which corresponds with having in this set three nigiri. These are the most interesting nigiri that Miyabi has to offer. The best nigiri. The next set in row is Seppiko. I named it Seppiko because “ko” sounds like “baby”, even though the mountain has a different character. The Japanese really like to play with synonymous words and I like it too. The set is not big, it’s a baby sushi set. Seppiko measures 950 meters and is in the prefecture of Hyogo.
Mount Kamitaki, after which the Miyabi vege set is named, is a bit higher, measures 1331 meters and is on Hokkaido. Taki means waterfall and it is a waterfall somewhere high in the mountains. Kami is also the name for a deity, god. Yes, the vege set is divine. It reminds us of everything from the kingdom of vegetation that can be eaten. In addition, the meatless meals are associated with shoujin temple cuisine. For all this, our vege set is called Kamitaki.
Then there is the Azuma set. It is noble too. I composed it only from nigirizushi. Moreover I included in it hamachi fish, which is extremely good and of high value. We take hamachi from Japan. Mount Azuma measures 1705 m and is in Fukushima Prefecture. Azuma is also the name of my beloved teacher of Tea ceremony Azuma Gyokushu, thanks to whom I founded Miyabi. Here I pay tribute to him.
And since we have the nigiri set, we must have also maki set. This is our Tsurugi set. It has 32 pieces. Mount Tsurugi is in Tokushima and measures 1955 meters. And from there we jump straight to Nagano. Our hockey players succeeded there, and you may know Mount Tateshina. It measures 2533 meters. According to her, I called the mix set with many pieces of nigiri and maki. It contains 22 pieces of excellent sushi.
So finally we have arrived to the largest set, and it is our Fuji San set. Fuji is the highest and most admired mountain in Japan. It measures 3776 meters and is a symbol of the Japanese nation and Japanese culture. So here we are – the Miyabi’s largest and most popular sushi set must have the same name – Fuji. Fuji san, arigatou!
Fujiyama. Fujisan. My dear mountain, I am still staring at you, wherever I am. You are my Mrs. Mountain. Are you asking happened with my dream to claim you? It remains unfulfilled. Yes, more than forty years passed since that December I came first to Japan and I haven’t climbed Mount Fuji yet. But I’ll. I have to!
