April 8, 2020 Kanbutsue (灌仏会), or Buddha’s Birthday
Despite the lockdown that kind of started yesterday, I decided to go across the Sumida River to Ryōgoku and Kyōshi honoka (蕎肆 穂乃香)for some sakura-kiri soba. I came across Honoka’s sakura-kiri soba several years ago and have been going back at least once every late March or April during sakura season as this shop’s are the best I have ever tasted. Sakura-kiri soba is soba cut with cherry blossom petals collected the previous year that have been preserved with salt. The noodles have a slight pink tint and are served with salt as well as tsuyu dipping sauce. It is a seasonal dish that not too many shops or people make, and well worth a ten-minute bicycle ride.
When I arrived a bit after 1:00 there was only one customer in the restaurant, and she was walking out as I walked in. Without even looking at the menu, and before sitting down, I asked for sakura-kiri zaru soba. Unfortunately, this year’s batch was already gone. The cherry trees have been blooming for an exceptionally long time, which may explain why they are already gone. Instead, I ordered the shops most famous soba dish, Hokusai seiro soba, then opened up my newspaper to read more about the coronavirus.
Honoka’s hokusai seiro soba is two or three seiro (small trays) of ni-hachi (2 parts wheat flour and 8 parts soba flour) cold inaka-style (thick cut) noodles served with a colorful and very picturesque bowl of hot soup filled with pieces of duck meat, negi onions, nasu (eggplant), a piece of pinkish kamaboko shaped like a cherry blossom, shishitō peppers and a big duck and chicken tsukune (minced meat formed into a ball). The name comes from perhaps the neighborhood’s most famous resident, the artist Hokusai (Katsushika Hokusai, 1760-1849), and his series of 36 views of Mt. Fuji ukiyo-e. The dish was inspired by the opening of the nearby Hokusai Museum.
As I ate the more people started coming in for lunch. First a single woman, then two couples, then another single. A few minutes earlier I had been worried about the shop’s life expectancy during this time of corona crisis, but seeing more customers put my mind at ease.
Was I worried about coronavirus when I went out to eat? No. Soba is a healthy food, and helps strengthen peoples’ immune systems. I think a big reason I never catch a cold is because I eat soba almost very day for lunch. Maybe I should start eating soba more than once a day, just to be on the safe side until this has all blown over.
After finishing my soba and a pot of thick soba-yu (the water the noodles are cooked in, with extra soba flour added at this and some other shops) I paid and chatted a bit more with the owner who was by now fairly busy in the kitchen. I also vowed to be more on the ball next spring and come before the sakura-kiri soba is gone for the year.