Mottainai: In Japan, Creativity Is Key to a No-Waste Ideal

choi

Mottainai: In Japan, Creativity Is Key to a No-Waste Ideal. BBC, Jan 25, 2024 (author not named).
https://www.bbc.com/travel/artic ... to-a-no-waste-ideal

Note:
(a) "The breezy fishing village of Murakami, only three hours by train from Tokyo * * * I've come to the frozen-in-time castle town for respite from the rush and roar of urban Japan"
(i) It is not "village" of Murakami, but City of Murakami (新潟県) 村上市 (population about 53,000 in 2023).
(A) 潟 is a lagoon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagoon
("is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform")
, whereas 瀬 is a rapids (caused by shallow riverbed).
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/瀬
(top photo)

The name of 新潟県 is believed to be the new lagoon formed at the mouth of Shina-no River 信濃川 that passes through the prefecture; the lagoon was converted into a sea port. The shina is neither Japanese nor Chinese pronunciation of kanji 信, but its pronunciation in names only (a third way to pronounce kanji).
(B) The English noun rapids is "singular or plural in construction," meaning may be followed by a verb in singular or plural form.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rapids

Grand Rapids, Michigan has rapids in Grand River, hence the city name.
(ii)
(A) 村上市 was named after Murakami Domain  村上藩.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murakami_Domain
(B) 村上藩's territory is Echigo Province 越後国, which was about coextensive with Niigata Prefecture 新潟県
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niigata_Prefecture
(map)

越後国: so called because in 697, Koshi 越(国) was partitioned into Echigo 越後(国)・越中(国)・能登(国)・加賀(国)・越前(国).  Neither koshi nor echi is Chinese or Japanese pronunciation; these pronunciations appear in (place or human) names only.
(iii)
(A) 村上藩 was based in 村上城, which had been built on elevation 標高135mの臥牛山. The castle was burned down during Boshin War 戊辰戦争 (1868-1869 or 明治元年-明治2年; 戊辰 was Chinese calendar for the year of 1868; war between pro-shogunate and pro-emperor forces (the latter won).
(B) 藩
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/藩
("藩（はん）は、諸侯が治める領地 * * * [section 2] 日本の藩[:] 日本史で言う藩は、江戸時代に1万石以上の領土を保有する封建領主である大名が支配した領域と、その支配機構を指す歴史用語である。江戸時代の儒学者が中国の制度になぞらえて用いた漢語的呼称に由来する")

my rough translation for section 2: The han in Japanese history refers to the territory, as well as its [territory's] 支配機構, of a feudal lord 大名 whose annual stipend was 1万石 [one 石 is the amount of rice that an adult eats in a year; 大名 is relative to and higher than 小名, who were not feudal lord with territory but mere higher-rank samurai). In Edo Period, 儒学者 [in Japan] patterned the name [han] after China's.
(C) You see, 越後国 had been there between 697 and 1871 (when 廃藩置県 was done), but 村上藩 was conferred upon the feudal lord in 1598 (by 豐臣 秀吉, who died that year).

(b) "and to dine at Yururi, a renowned restaurant inside an inn once patronised by the 17th-Century poet and Zen master Basho."
(i) Yururi  (石挽き蕎麦と和食処) 悠流里. in the website of 株式会社 永徳 (永徳 is pronounced nagatoku, where naga is Japanese pronunciation of kanji 永 and toku is Chinese pronunciation of 徳; 株式会社 永徳 (1934- , whose founder was surnamed 永田, doing online wholesale of mainly dried salmon)).
https://www.nagatoku.jp/store/#yururi
(A) 石挽き is sane as 石臼挽き.
(B) 石臼 can mean mortar (with pestle) or millstone -- the former is small and the latter, big.
(C) The hiki 挽き is a noun of verb hiku 挽く(rarely written as 碾).

蕎麦 is pronounced soba, made of buckwheat.
(D) So, 石挽き蕎麦 is soba noodle made of buckwheat flour out o millstones (a millstone of one of a pair used to grind).
(ii) About the meaning of Yururi or 悠流里, you ask?  Japanese like certain combinations of sounds, and Yururi is one of them. For each syllable, one can insert kanji with same orr similar Chinese pronunciations. One does not have to, though, and hiragana or katakana rrepresents the combination of sound. In human given names, the individuals with same combination can be differentiated by family names. This can not be done in a business.
(iii) Basho is MATSU-O Bashō 松尾 芭蕉 (1644 – 1694; born 松尾 金作)

The ja.wikipedia.org says he adopted this 号 when 門人の李下 his pupil 弟子 named 李下 presented him with the plant of 芭蕉. The a.wikipedia.org did not mention the year, but zh.wikipedia.org says it happened in 1681.
(iv) On 元禄2年 (1689)・6月28日, 松尾 芭蕉 (together with another pupil 河合 曾良; both having departed Edo which is the present-day Tokyo), while engaging in the famous Oku [which is Japanese pronunciation of 奥, meaning back country] no Hosomichi [細道] 奥の細道の旅 [奥の細道 = narrow path in backcountry (my words)] and visited the present-day City of Murakami. They spent two nights in what was then called 旅籠 then named 井筒屋, which is now called "千年鮭きっかわ 井筒屋" (the first food store selling salmon in that city 村上市初の鮭料理専門店 and 国の有形文化財). See 千年鮭きっかわ 井筒屋. 村上市観光協会, undated.
https://www.sake3.com/spot/3798

The Kikkawa きっかわ in the store's present name is 吉川, as store owner 代表 is KIKKAWA Shinji 吉川 真嗣（きっかわしんじ). 吉川 may be name of place or person (as surname) and has two pronunciations Yoshikawa or Kikkawa, the latter from the Chinese pronunciations of kanji 吉: kichi or kitsu.
(v) The truth is that Yururi is in a stand-along, one-floor, concrete building (that looks like having been built recently), and separately (google as I may), is not physically within anything, let alone an inn.


(c) "every part of the fish, from the coveted o-toro [no corresponding kanji] (luxurious belly fat) to the organs, finds delicious expression. * * *  The meal – an edible ode to silky, orange fish flesh – beautifully expresses the Japanese ideal of mottainai, finding creative ways to eliminate waste.   Mottainai translates to English as 'What a waste!' but the term most closely mirrors the old saying, 'Waste not, want not.' * * * kintsugi, the tradition of restoring cracked pottery with molten gold seams * * * As with ratatouille in the French countryside or Italian pani câ meusa (bread stuffed with grilled organ meat), scarcity was the muse that inspired iconic Japanese dishes like ochazuke (green tea poured over leftover rice), kasuzuke (fish giblets pickled in sake) or kasu jiro (a hearty soup made from spent sake mash [or lees])."
(i) Japanese-English dictionary:
* mottai-nai もったいない (adj): "(1) wasteful; a waste; (2) too good; more than one deserves; unworthy of  <とてもいい天気だから家の中にいるのがもったいない。 It's too sunny to stay inside.>"
* kin-tsugi 金継ぎ 【きんつぎ】 (n): :repairing pottery with a lacquer mixed with gold, silver, etc"
* ochazuke お茶漬け
   ^ tsukeru 漬ける 【つける】(v): "1: pickle; 2: soak"  (The tsuke is its corresponding noun; the tsu is softened to zu because the syllable is not situated at the beginning of the compound words.)
   ^ Presence or absence of o 御 makes no difference.
* kasu かす 《粕》 (n): "lees (esp. sake)"
(ii) ratatouille
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratatouille
(iii) pani câ meusa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pani_câ_meusa
are Sicilian words, not Italian.

(iv) kasuzuke  粕漬け
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasuzuke

The kasu and zuke are defined above in Note (c)(i). The kasu is Japanese pronunciation of kanji 粕.
(v) The author misspelled "kasu jiro;" it should be "kasu jiru" 粕汁.


(d) "A few kilometres inland from Murakami, in the shadow of the Japanese Alps, Satoyama Jujo is a Michelin-starred restaurant helmed by chef Keiko Kuwakino. * * * matsutake mushrooms * * * In the hours before dinner, Kuwakino and her team pulverise dehydrated fish bones into pungent powder – fairy dust as deliciously briny as an ocean breeze. The powder enlivens buttery wagyu [和牛] and bowls of rice, and it shines in her kenchinjiru, a soup made of freshly picked seasonal vegetables such as aubergine, mushrooms and sweet potatoes. * * * Before beginning the first course – an amuse-bouche of fresh tofu, melon and pickled sardines – Kuwakino joins me at my table to say the traditional Japanese grace of itadakimasu, an expression of gratitude for the life sacrificed for the meal.  * * * 'Things gathered from nature are imbued with kami [which is Japanese pronunciation of kanji 神 (or 上, for that matter)] (divine spirit).' * * * Throwing away food – even scraps – is akin to sacrilege."
(i) Satoyama Jūjō  里山 十帖
https://en.satoyama-jujo.com
is a hotel 温泉旅館 with restaurant, whose name means "10 stories of a mountain village."
(ii) Keiko KUWAKINO VOICES 桑木野 恵子 (The kiwa, ki and no are all Japanese pronunciations of respective kanji 桑, 木 and 野. 桑木 is mulberry tree(s); 桑 alone may mean either a tree or its fruit.

The kanji 恵 has two Chinese pronunciations: kei and e.
(iii) matsutake  松茸
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsutake
(Tricholoma matsutake; *section 2 Habitat and distribution: forming a symbiotic relationship with roots of maily pines)

The take is Japanese pronunciation of kanji 茸, meaning mushroom.
(iv) enchin-jiru  巻繊汁
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenchin-jiru
("It has been suggested that kenchin jiru originated from Kenchō-ji, located in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, which was the first Buddhist Zen Temple in Japan")
(A) The ha.wikipedia.org for 巻繊汁 says 神奈川県鎌倉市にて建長寺の修行僧が作っていた「建長汁（けんちょうじる）」がなまり. It is the same as the English version, except that the verb (なまり; in the last of the quotation) is an addition whose kanji would be 訛, to be corrupted (from 建長汁 to similarly sounded 巻繊汁).  
(B) The kanji 汁, pronounced shiru, and now softened to jiru, for its position in the compound words) can mean either juice (as from fruit) or soup.
(v) itadakimasu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itadakimasu
Is simply the first-person, present tense of the verb stem (or dictionary form) itadaku, the humble form for "receive."
(vi) sacrilege (n, etymology)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sacrilege


(e) "New York City sushi master Masa Takayama echoes the sentiment that squandering food, even water, induces a feeling of haji (shame or sadness) [kanji 恥 has Chinese pronunciation chi and Japanese pronunciation aji]. At Masa [the restaurant name], a Manhattan omakase counter boasting triple Michelin Stars, Takayama uses every part * * * While the most delicate cuts of fish become sashimi, Takayama boils down heads, tails and skeletons to make sauces for nightly specials or for makanai, the staff family meal. * * * A perennial special on Masa's menu is grilled buri head. The fish, yellowtail amberjack * * * [yields sashimi] garnished with shiso flowers. But the real piece-de-resistance, said Takayama, is the skull, a mass of bone jacketed with marbled flesh."
(i) Masayoshi TAKAYAMA 高山 雅氏

Kanji 雅 may have pronunciation masa in names only (neither Chinese nor Japanese pronunciation). However, for Masayoshi to be 雅氏, there is no logic at all but was made up (as to kanji 雅氏, by his parents).
(ii) Japanese-English dictionary:
* makana-u まかなう 《賄う》 (v): "to provide meals"  (The makana-i is the corresponding noun.)
   ^ makana-i ryōri まかない料理; 賄い料理 【まかないりょうり】 (n): "meals prepared for employees (e.g. of a restaurant); staff meals"
   ^ 賄 in Japan does have the meaning of bribe, but is pronounced differently.
* buri ぶり; ブリ 《鰤》 (n): "Japanese amberjack (species of yellowtail, Seriola quinqueradiata)"
(iii) English dictionary:
* pièce de résistance (n; French, literally, piece of resistance)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pièce%20de%20résistance
(iv) shiso  紫蘇
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiso
(an herb in the mint family; is native to the mountainous regions of China and India; section 5 Culinary use, section 5.1 East Asia, section 5.1.1 Japan; leaf, seed, flower)


(f) "Back in Murakami, I meander down the village's narrow, stone-cobbled alleys to Kokonoen, a cosy tea parlour constructed of sandy-coloured Japanese cypress. Seated in front of a manicured Zen garden, I sip fragrant sencha  * * * paired with chazuke (jewel-like confections of preserved strawberries, mulberries and other local fruits). Each pour [of hot water] from the lacquered tea kettle * * * The leaves finally spent"
(i)
(A) Kokonoen  九重園
https://www.kokonoen.com/
(B) The koko is Japanese pronunciation of kanji 九, and en Chinese pronunciation of 園. Kanji 重 is unaccounted for, which share the same meanings as in China (including multi-layers).
C) One can search images.google.com with 九重園, and see façade, but no zen garden.
(ii)
(A) sencha  煎茶
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sencha
explains well in the introduction. It is whole leaves, not powder. The ja.wikipedia.org for the same says sencha means 煎じる茶.
(B) Japanese-English dictionary:
* senjiru 煎じる 【せんじる】 (v): "to boil; to decoct; to infuse" (basically to soak with hot water)
   ^ To mean roast, 煎 is differentiated with a different form 煎る and pronounced as iru. Further, senbei 煎餅 is Japanese rice cracker.
(iii)
(A) The chazuke is definitely wrong. Most likely, it would be 茶菓子/ 和菓子 -- specifically, the subset of 和菓子 consisting of fruits preserved with "sugar" 砂糖. See 和菓子
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/和菓子
(section 3 種類, section 3.1 製法による分類, section 3.1.9: 砂糖漬け菓子 with a photo)
(B) Japanese-English dictionaryL
* kashi 菓子 【かし】 (n): "confectionery; sweets; candy; cake"