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Shrimp in a light, misty-textured broth

This is the clear-soup course. For the shrimp oboro-style, peel raw small-grade kuruma prawn, mince it with the back of the knife, and briefly cook…

Sakura sea bream grilled with salt-fermented bonito; salt-cured pork, aromatic grill

This is the grilled course. For the warm masago (granular fish-roe-style) jelly, a vegetable gelatin that does not melt below 80°C is set on top of…

River snail in vinegared miso dressing, trout sushi, salted abalone, fine-sliced sea cucumber, sea urchin and fava bean aspic

For the river snail in nuta dressing served as the first hassun course, I paired the nuta dressing with river snail, drawing on the Edo-period custom…

Abalone simmered tender, udo simmered with roasted grain

This is the simmered assortment. For the abalone simmered tender, I prepare the abalone as usual and slowly reconstitute it in sake and water to make…

Crab manju

For the simmered course's crab manju, I use kabocha squash and Japanese mountain yam, but too much kabocha turns it a solid, bright yellow. Kabocha…

Niigata sweet shrimp

Mogami Horse Sashimi Roll, Three Ways

Bamboo Shoot and Yuba Shinjo

The soup course is bamboo shoot and yuba shinjo. The bamboo shoot is simmered in something closer to an all-purpose seasoned dashi than a plain…

Baby octopus quick-simmered, mountain asparagus

This is the season when peach gives way to cherry blossoms, and one senses the fresh start of new life reflected in new graduates and school entrance…

Abalone with Its Own Liver, Green Chili Tofu, Duck and Barley Simmer

This is the appetizer course. For the abalone with its own liver: the abalone is first steamed in sake, then the liver is removed and pressed through…

Honmasu Trout Wrapped and Simmered in Spring Cabbage

This is a mixed simmered assortment. For the honmasu trout wrapped and simmered in spring cabbage: gather the trout off-cuts and wrap them in…

Splendid alfonsino grilled with fragrant miso, and more

For the grilled course's halfbeak sanshoku bonbori, a three-colored lantern-shaped fish-floss garnish, the halfbeak is filleted into three pieces…

Large kuruma prawn dry-braised with shuto, silver-skin young sea bass salt-grilled, crossbred duck two-color teriyaki

As for the bowl-plated hors d'oeuvre's silver-skin young sea bass, salt-grilled — salt-grilling suits young sea bass best. Young sea bass has a bit…

Straw-bundle-shaped grilled roll

Satsuki tofu

For the appetizer I made satsuki tofu — really a shuto tofu, meaning tofu mixed with fermented bonito innards. I named it satsuki, the old name for…

Grated, simmered udo, vegetables and conger eel bundled and set in yuba

For the udo oroshi-ni — a grated-vegetable simmer — the udo is lightly parboiled and run through a food processor, then prepped Ise lobster is added…

Butterbur set in white vinegar dressing, bamboo shoot and rapeseed blossom cured with kombu, udo pickled in plum vinegar

For the vinegared dish's kombu vinegar: add vinegar to the clear liquid that rises when boiling zenmai (royal fern fiddleheads), and mix in a touch…

Halfbeak, flower-cut mirugai clam, snow crab — two kinds of meat

Miso-grilled Spanish mackerel with butterbur sprouts

Scallop grilled with shuto / fat greenling grilled Nanbu-style with a sesame coating / small shrimp grilled with a grated-daikon glaze

For the grilled scallop with shuto (a salted fermented fish-innard paste), the scallop is marinated for about 20 minutes in shuto mixed with beaten…

Kuruma Prawn Ohara-gi Bundles, Layered Kombu-Cured Sea Bream

This is a vinegared dish. For the kuruma prawn Ohara-gi bundles, the prawns are steeped in a light sweet vinegar, combined with Japanese spikenard…

Monkfish in tomo-zu dressing; monkfish, thin-sliced

This is the tomezakana course (a hearty dish that marks the meal's turn toward its close). Records state that monkfish flesh was eaten by tracing the…

Bamboo shoots, spikenard, and horsetail shoots dressed with sansho leaf, and more

As the spring vegetable course, the bamboo shoots, udo, and horsetail shoots dressed with kinome: remove the bitterness from the bamboo shoots and…

Clam shinjo

The soup course is clam fish-paste dumpling. It has a feel similar to an ordinary clam clear soup, but it has been thinned a little with dashi.