川上村の鮎釣り解禁日はいつもお祭りのようだ。毎年６月１日、この特別な日を、村の学校は休みにすることが決まっていた。前日から地元のお母さんたちは家庭料理である柿の葉寿司を作り、翌日の解禁日まで保存した。お父さんたちは前日の夜から河原で釣りをする場所を取っておいた。もちろんよく釣れるところが取り合いになった。お父さんたちは毛針を竹の竿で鮎の泳いでいたところへ投げた。子どもたちはたまにお父さんの竿を借りて、釣りの技を練習した。河原には空いているところがないほど、人がたくさん来ていた。昼頃、地元のお母さんたちは柿の葉寿司を風呂敷に包んで運び、お父さんと子どもたちと一緒に河原で食べた。
「この下でよう釣れたけどな」。おじさんは下の吉野川を眺めながら、懐かしそうに言った。彼は村外から来ているが、川上村の『大前釣り具』の常連客だ。この日は今年の鮎釣り解禁日なのに、手前の川では誰も釣りをしていなかった。地域の過疎化とダムの建設の後、この辺で人は釣りをしなくなった。おじさんが山奥の渓流に出ようとした時、「ちょっと持っていきや」と『大前釣り具』の山本おばちゃんは言い、柿の葉寿司の小さな箱を客に持たせた。
鮎釣り解禁日は、もう昔ほど賑やかではなくても、まだ特別な日だ。山本おばちゃんを含め、地元のおばちゃんたちはこの特別な日を祝うために、毎年柿の葉寿司をまだ作っている。「便利な、いろんなものがあるからな。伝統は失われていくけども、ちょっとこういうものをできる範囲で残していけたらいいな」と山本おばちゃんは言った。海に面していない地域で貴重な魚をより長く保存するために、人は寿司を柿の葉で包むようになった。６月上旬の葉っぱの大きさが寿司を包むにはちょうどよく、お祭りではなくても、家で柿の葉寿司を作るのは季節の伝統行事だ。
柿の葉に包まれた寿司を押し木箱で保存して、時間が経つと、葉っぱの風味が寿司飯に「馴染む」と言われている。翌日か２日後の味が一番おいしい。この知恵を話すおばちゃんたちの声から楽しみの要素が聴き取れた。自分の子どもや孫、店の客に食べてもらいながら、葉っぱの風味と同じように、その楽しみはみんなにだんだん「馴染む」と思う。社会や環境にどんな変化があっても、このおいしい伝統行事はその気持ちで続いてきた。僕が帰る前に、「エリックもちょっと持って帰りや」と山本おばちゃんは押し木箱から柿の葉寿司の数個を取り、小さな箱に入れてくれた。
Vol.14 A Tradition Wrapped in Leaves
The opening day of ayu fishing season was always like a festival in Kawakami Village. Every June 1st, it was a given that all village schools would be off on this special day. The day before, local mothers would make the household staple of sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves, and store it for the first day of the season. Fathers would go out to claim their fishing spots along the riverside the night before. They were of course competitive for the best places to catch fish. Fathers would use their bamboo poles to throw their flies to where the ayu were swimming. Children would borrow their father’s pole and practice the tricks of fishing too. So many people came that there would be no more space on the riverside. Around noon, local mothers would use a cloth to carry sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves, and eat with the fathers and children along the riverside.
“I used to catch a lot of fish down there,” the old man said nostalgically as he looked down onto the Yoshino River. Though he comes from outside of our village, he is a regular customer at Omae Fishing Supplies in Kawakami Village. This day was the opening day of ayu fishing season, but no one was fishing in the river in front of us. After depopulation of the area and construction of a dam, people stopped fishing in this area. When the man went to leave for one of the clear streams deep in the mountains, Ms. Yamamoto of Omae Fishing Supplies said, “Here, take some of these with you,” as she handed him a small box of sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves.
Even if the opening day of ayu fishing season is not as lively as it was a long time ago, it is still a special day. Local women, including Ms. Yamamoto, still make sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves to celebrate this day every year. “Since we have so many convenient things these days, some traditions are being lost, but I just hope that we can do what we can to hold on to things like this sushi,” Ms. Yamamoto told me. In order to preserve precious fish for a little longer in this landlocked region, locals began to wrap sushi in persimmon leaves. The leaves are the perfect size for sushi in early June, and even if this is not a festival, making sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves at home is a tradition of the season.
It is said that after storing sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves in a wooden pressing box, as time passes, the taste of the leaf is “absorbed” into the sushi rice. It is most delicious the following day or the day after. I could hear an element of excitement in the voices of local women when they talk about the wisdom. As their children and grandchildren, as shop customers eat the sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves, I think that excitement will be “absorbed”, just like the taste of the persimmon leaves. No matter what kind of social or environmental changes there have been, this delicious tradition has continued on with that feeling. Before I went home, Ms. Yamamoto said, “Eric, take a few of these home with you,” as she took a few sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves out of the wooden pressing box and put them into a small box for me.
