JapanThis
天安の看板・The Ten'yasu Sign
This is an example of Edo Period advertising kept alive. The shōgunate and local military authorities called 大名 (daimyō) usually required that no building exceed 2 stories, As a result, most private businesses that catered to everyone posted the name of their shop on a large wooden 看板 (kanban) sign directly above the entrance. This practice is still followed in many areas where you have to look up to find the shop your looking for, even though today the building may be 10 floors.
天安 Ten’yasu is the name of the oldest extant shop specializing in 佃煮Tsukuda-ni, a dish now available nationwide, but originally developed on Tsudajima. It opened in 1837 – the very late Edo Period. They regularly sell (at least) 3 types of tsukudani that they called 江戸風味 (Edo Fūmi), which basically means the dish is an Edo Period dish untarnished by modern Japanese cuisine. The building maintains a barely modernized, traditional 2 story Edo Period form called a 長屋 (nagaya) row house. This shop didn’t invent tsukudani, but it is definitely the longest running local purveyor.
Tsukuda is a fascinating look at one of the most traditional areas of Tōkyō. Many of the families are descendants of the original fisherman that lived and worked here in the Edo Period. Some can even trace their roots back to the first group of fishermen relocated from Ōsaka by the first shōgun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The area developed a local delicacy, tsukuda-ni which was a kind of seasoned and preserved seafood used as a topping for rice or side dish. After the Meiji Period, the dish spread to all of Japan taking on new forms depending on the local produce. One outstanding characteristic of the neighborhood is the abundance of wells. This is because until 1964, the area was more or less self-sufficient. While central Tōkyō had an abundance of running water, Tsukuda Island was sort of frozen in time. The area of Tsukuda 2-chōme is where you can really feel yourself slip back in time.
Here’s my article about Tsukuda: markystar.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/tsukuda-tokyo-food
Here’s an article from the Asahi Shinbun: ajw.asahi.com/article/cool_japan/fun_spots/AJ201504250048
天安の看板・The Ten'yasu Sign
This is an example of Edo Period advertising kept alive. The shōgunate and local military authorities called 大名 (daimyō) usually required that no building exceed 2 stories, As a result, most private businesses that catered to everyone posted the name of their shop on a large wooden 看板 (kanban) sign directly above the entrance. This practice is still followed in many areas where you have to look up to find the shop your looking for, even though today the building may be 10 floors.
天安 Ten’yasu is the name of the oldest extant shop specializing in 佃煮Tsukuda-ni, a dish now available nationwide, but originally developed on Tsudajima. It opened in 1837 – the very late Edo Period. They regularly sell (at least) 3 types of tsukudani that they called 江戸風味 (Edo Fūmi), which basically means the dish is an Edo Period dish untarnished by modern Japanese cuisine. The building maintains a barely modernized, traditional 2 story Edo Period form called a 長屋 (nagaya) row house. This shop didn’t invent tsukudani, but it is definitely the longest running local purveyor.
Tsukuda is a fascinating look at one of the most traditional areas of Tōkyō. Many of the families are descendants of the original fisherman that lived and worked here in the Edo Period. Some can even trace their roots back to the first group of fishermen relocated from Ōsaka by the first shōgun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The area developed a local delicacy, tsukuda-ni which was a kind of seasoned and preserved seafood used as a topping for rice or side dish. After the Meiji Period, the dish spread to all of Japan taking on new forms depending on the local produce. One outstanding characteristic of the neighborhood is the abundance of wells. This is because until 1964, the area was more or less self-sufficient. While central Tōkyō had an abundance of running water, Tsukuda Island was sort of frozen in time. The area of Tsukuda 2-chōme is where you can really feel yourself slip back in time.
Here’s my article about Tsukuda: markystar.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/tsukuda-tokyo-food
Here’s an article from the Asahi Shinbun: ajw.asahi.com/article/cool_japan/fun_spots/AJ201504250048