This Japanese Shop Is 1,020 Years Old

choi

for those who are new to my posts, a bar atop a vowel in Japanese Romanization signifies a long vowel.


Ben Dooley and Hisako Ueno. This Japanese Shop Is 1,020 Years Old. It Knows a Bit About Surviving Crises. A mochi seller in Kyoto, and many of Japan's other centuries-old businesses, have endured by putting tradition and stability over profit and growth.New York Times, Dec 2, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/ ... -old-companies.html

Note:
(a) "Naomi Hasegawa's family sells toasted mochi [kanji 餅] out of a small, cedar-timbered shop next to a rambling old shrine in Kyoto. The family started the business — in the year 1000."
(i) ramble (vi): "to grow or extend irregularly"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ramble
(ii) 元祖・正本家 一文字屋和助.
http://allsweets.info/ichiwa.htm
("今宮神社の参道沿いに軒を構える茶屋。創業は1000年で、現在の店主は24代目の長谷川 美恵子さん。994年とされている今宮神社の創祀の6年後に、店舗が開かれたことになる。名物の「あぶり餅」は、向かい側の「あぶり餅 本家・根元 かざりや」でも同様に売られている。営業時間, 価格などについて両者とも同じであるが、これは両者間で取り決め事が成されているためだとか")

My translation: The teahouse 茶屋 is located along a path approaching the shrine 参道. Founded in 1000, the current owner is the 24th-generation 長谷川 美恵子. 今宮神社 was erected in 994, and six years later, this shop was opened. Its famous product is あぶり餅, which a shop (named あぶり餅 本家・根元 かざりや) across the street sells for the same price with the same business hours. Is this consequence of an arrangement between the two?
(ii) Japanese-English dictionary:
* aburi ryōri 炙り料理; あぶり料理 【あぶりりょうり】 (n): "cooking meat, fish, etc over flames"

The aburi 炙り has a corresponding verb 炙る (japanese pronunciation: aburu), defined as "roast, broil, toast."

美恵子 is usually mi-e-ko. I do not know whether she adopts an English given name also.
(iii) 紫野 今宮神社 Murasaki-no  Ima-miya Jinja.
www.imamiyajinja.org
is located at 京都市北区紫野.
今宮神社 (京都市)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/今宮神社_(京都市)

But altogether there are five shrine in Japan of the same names 今宮神社, and a additional shrine with this as its nickname.
(iv) 一文字屋和助 is shortened to Ichiwa 一和. See 一文字屋和輔
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/一文字屋和輔
("店名の看板表記は「一文字屋和助」あるいは「あぶり餅 一和」とも表記され、通称は「一和」。前述の通り「一文字屋和助」とも「一文字屋和輔」とも書き、正式表記は不明")

My translation: The shop names on billboard are 一文字屋和助, あぶり餅 一和, 一文字屋和輔. It is unclear what is the name it registers under.
(v) 一文字 means just a stroke like Chinese character 一. Compare
十文字 cross or cruciform,
八文字—(in) the shape of the Chinese character 八.

Thus 一文字屋 is a house or building whose layout is linear. In other words, rooms of the house are arranged end- to end, never sideways.
(vi)
(A) One photo in the Nytimes.com shows a cloth sign with いち和 (hiragana for  at the center, with 元祖 and 正本家 on either side. Another sign in the same photo has 一文字屋 at the center, with 血續 and 廿五代 on either side. The modern Japanese kanji is 血続 (Japanese pronunciation chi-tsuzuki_.

Another photo in the online NYT article has a booth with a plaque atop that says お勘定所, which is identical 御勘定所. 勘定所 was (past tense) a government agency in Edo period that assessed and collected tax. Presumably this sign is meant to be grandiose.
(B) I can only see one blue cloth sign in images.google.com, whose center says あぶり餅 flanked by 今宮 and 名物 on either side.


(b) "Such enterprises may be less dynamic than those in other countries. But their resilience offers lessons for businesses in places like the United States, where the coronavirus has forced tens of thousands into bankruptcy. * * * 'Their No 1 priority is carrying on,' he [Kenji Matsuoka, a professor emeritus of business at Ryukoku University in Kyoto] added. 'Each generation is like a runner in a relay race. What's important is passing the baton.' "
(i) Kenji MATSUOKA  松岡 憲司 (PhD in economics 神戸大学 1980) 龍谷大学経済学部 (college) 現代経済学科 (department).

He coauthored 京都の老舗企業における事業承継と経営革新. 社会科学研究年報, 2012年5月.
(ii) Ryukoku University
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukoku_University  
(Ryūkoku Daigaku 龍谷大学; It was founded as a school for Buddhist monks of the Nishi Hongan-ji denomination in 1639, and became a secularized university in 1876; private)

龍谷大学 is 1.2 miles (air distance) south of 西本願寺. 西本願寺 sits on the location Ryukokuzan 龍谷山 (in fact, both temples are on flat ground of City of Kyoto. Yet Japanese (Buddhist) temples and (Shinto) shrines fancy themselves atop a mountain and so identify.)

Chinese pronunciations of kanji 龍 is at least two: kyū and kyō. The Chinese pronunciations of kanji 谷 and 山 are kako and san, respectively -- the latter is softened to zan due to its position not as the first syllable of the compound words.
(iii) Departing 天台宗 (Japan), Japanese monk Hōnen 法然 in 1175 (age 43) established Japan's 浄土宗 (Japanese pronunciation: Jōdo-shū; English: Pure Land), having finished reading works of 善導 (613－681; the Chinese 浄土 monk; 浄土宗 got its name from 浄土往生).

法然's disciple Shinran 親鸞 was credited as founder of 浄土真宗  (Japanese pronunciation: Jōdo Shinshū; English: True Pure Land Buddhism), which is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan.
(v) The top temples of 浄土真宗 are two, and only two. Both in Kyoto.
西本願寺 (Japanese pronunciation: Nishi Hongan-ji; English: Western Temple of the Original Vow)
東本願寺 (Japanese pronunciation: Higashi Hongan-ji; English: Eastern Temple of the Original Vow)

The nishi and higashi are Japanese pronunciations for kanji 西 and 東, respectively.
(vi) In 1591 本願寺 moved from Osaka to Kyoto -- the current site of 西本願寺. A section split apart in 1603 to form 東本願寺. The two temples are 700 meters (air distance) apart.
(vii) 本願 is No 18 of the forty eight vows of Amitābha made in the Infinite Life Sutra [simplified Chinese: 无量寿经].
(A) Vow No 18 in simplified Chinese: "十八、十念必生愿。 我作佛时。十方众生。闻我名号。至心信乐。所有善根。心心回向。愿生我国。乃至十念。若不生者。不取正觉。唯除五逆。诽谤正法。"  zh,wikipedia,.org for 无量寿经.

in English: "If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten quarters who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my Name, even ten times, should not be born there, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment. Excluded, however, are those who commit the five gravest offences and abuse the right Dharma."  en.wikipedia.org for "Primal Vow," which further states that "the use of pūrvapraṇidhāna [primal or original vow, in Sanskrit] for the 18th vow of Amitābha is not known in Indian Buddhism, in which the 18th vow was not treated in any special way. The term pūrvapraṇidhāna [in Indian Buddhism] typically refers to all the original vows made by" Amitābha (and later a bodhisattva).

(B) The ja.wikipedia.org for 本願 says, "梵 [Sanskrit]: pūrva-praṇidhāna * * * 原語のうち「プールヴァ」（pūrva）は「以前の」「過去の」、「プラニダーナ」（praṇidhāna）とは「誓願」（せいがん）。  * * * 「仏や菩薩が過去において一切の生あるものを救おうとして立てた誓願」の意味 * * *."

my translation: 本願 in Sanskrit is pūrva-praṇidhāna, where "pūrva" means 以前の or 過去の, and praṇidhāna [means] a vow. * * * [Together the two words combine to] mean Amitābha (and later a bodhisattva) swore to leave behind one's past to save everybody."

(b) (ii) to (vii) are from both Ja.wikipedia.org and en.wikipedia.org.


(c) "Japan is an old-business superpower. The country is home to more than 33,000 with at least 100 years of history — over 40 percent of the world's total. Over 3,100 have been running for at least two centuries. Around 140 have existed for more than 500 years. And at least 19 claim to have been continuously operating since the first millennium.  (Some of the oldest companies, including Ichiwa, cannot definitively trace their history back to their founding, but their timelines are accepted by the government, scholars and — in Ichiwa's case — the competing mochi shop across the street.)  The businesses, known as 'shinise [Japanese pronunciation of 老舗, which has relatively less used Chinese pronunciation, too],' are a source of both pride and fascination.  Most of these old businesses are, like Ichiwa, small, family-run enterprises that deal in traditional goods and services. But some are among Japan’s most famous companies, including Nintendo, which got its start making playing cards 131 years ago, and the soy sauce brand Kikkoman, which has been around since 1917.  To survive for a millennium, Ms Hasegawa said, a business cannot just chase profits. It has to have a higher purpose. In the case of Ichiwa, that was a religious calling: serving the shrine's pilgrims.  Those kinds of core values, known as 'kakun 家訓,' or family precepts, have guided many companies' business decisions through the generations. They look after their employees, support the community and strive to make a product that inspires pride.  For Ichiwa, that means doing one thing and doing it well — a very Japanese approach to business.
The company has declined many opportunities to expand, including, most recently, a request from Uber Eats to start online delivery. Mochi remains the only item on the menu, and if you want something to drink, you are politely offered the choice of roasted green tea."
(i) Eight soy sauce makers in 千葉県野田市 in Edo Period consolidated to form 野田醤油株式会社, whose trademark 商標 was kikkōman 亀甲萬 (from 野田市 "香取神社の亀甲と「亀は萬年」" ja.wikipedia.org).
(ii) The Chinese pronunciations of kanji 亀 and 甲 are kin (or kyū)  and kō, respectively.  

(d) "For most of Ichiwa's history, the women of the Hasegawa family made the sweet snack in more or less the same way. They boiled the rice in the water from a small spring that burbles into the shop’s cellar, pounded it into a paste and then shaped it into balls [by hand, rolled it in soybean powder] that they gently toasted on wooden skewers over a small cast-iron hibachi.  The rice's caramelized skin is brushed with sweet miso paste and served to the shrine’s visitors hot, before the delicate treat cools and turns tough and chewy."
(i) burble (vi; imitative): "make a continuous murmuring noise   <a stream burbled through the woods>"
https://www.lexico.com/definition/burble
(ii) hibachi  火鉢
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibachi
(to hold burning charcoal)

The hi and hachi are, respectively, Japanese pronunciation of kanji 火 and 鉢 (bowl), with the latter softened to bachi when the kanji is not in the first position of a compound word.
(iii) "sweet miso paste"

I do not know what this exactly is. It might be white miso (shiromiso 白味噌 in Japanese, which has a shorter fermentation time (3 months) and added less salt than brown miso).

Mirin 味醂 is an essential condiment used in Japanese cuisine. It is a type of (transparent) rice wine similar to sake, but with a lower alcohol content and higher sugar content.

(e)
(i) "Toshio Goto, a professor at the Japan University of Economics Graduate School"

Toshio GOTŌ  後藤 俊夫 (日本経済大学 (1968- ; private; based in 福岡県 太宰府市).
(ii) "For some companies, that has meant updating their core business. NBK, a materials firm that started off making iron kettles in 1560, is now producing high-tech machine parts. Hosoo, a 332-year-old kimono manufacturer in Kyoto, has expanded its textile business into home furnishings and even electronics."
(A) NBK stans for Nabeya Bi-tech Kaisha  鍋屋バイテック会社.
(B) Hoso-o Textiles  (株式会社)細尾
(iii) "Tanaka Iga [株式会社] 田中伊雅[佛具店; ja.wikipedia.org says its original name was 田中 伊賀, but someone with royal connection had that name, so the shop changed to 伊雅, as the two kanji -- 雅 and 賀 -- share the same Chinese pronunciation] has been making Buddhist religious goods in Kyoto since 885. It is famous for what its 72nd-generation president, Masaichi Tanaka 田中 雅一 [代表取締役], jokingly refers to as the 'Mercedes-Benz' of butsudan 仏壇 — household shrines"