Today, October 2, two events were held in the Shiozawa area of Minami Uonuma city, again as in last year.
今日、10月２日は、去年と同様、南魚沼市の塩沢地域で２つの行事が開催されました。
The two events are Shinmai no Jin (festival commemorating newly harvested rice) on Bokushi Dori (Street) and Kei Tora Ichi (lit. Light-Truck Market) on Tsumugi Dori (Street).
２つの行事とは、牧之通りの新米の陣とつむぎ通りの軽トラ市です。
When I arrived at Bokushi Dori at around 10:35, the street still looked deserted.
10:35頃、牧之通りに着くと、通りはまだあまり人がいませんでした。
The rice was still being cooked in several large pots, each protected by wooden walls.
ご飯はまだ炊いている最中でした。鍋はそれぞれ、木の壁で守られています。
The rice was soon cooked,
まもなくお米は炊き上がり、
and the large pots were removed from the "nuka gama".
鍋は「ぬか釜」から外されました。
A nuka gama is a traditional rice cooker that used to be used in this region. Nuka usually means rice bran, but in nuka gama, nuka means rice husk.
ぬか釜とは、この地方で使われていた伝統的な、お米を炊く釜です。「ぬか」とは通常、rice branのことですが、「ぬか釜」の「ぬか」は籾殻（もみがら）のことです。
You can see a large pot on the right.
右側に大きな鍋が見えます。
Mushroom soup was being made in it.
きのこ汁が作られていました。
As this sign says, the rice was offered free of charge, but unfortunately, the mushroom soup was offered for 200 yen per bowl. (Last year, it was offered for free.) Later I learned that the price was reduced to 100 yen, but I had already decided not to buy the soup.
看板に書いてあるように、ご飯は無料ですが、残念なことにきのこ汁は一杯200円です（去年は無料でした）。後で値段は100円に下がったと分かったのですが、その前にきのこ汁は買わないことに決めていました。
Exciting moment, as usual!
いつも通り、わくわくするひと時です！
Just cooked Koshihikari rice for me.
炊き立てのコシヒカリ。
A little after 11:00. The street was now crowded!
11時ちょっと過ぎ。通りはもう混んでいました！
Kei Tora Ichi on Tsumugi Dori (Street):
つむぎ通りの軽トラ市：
I bought a bag of "Ishizaka Maitake" for 1,000 yen and a pack of "Hanjuku Cheese" for 500 yen.
1000円の石坂まいたけ１袋（1000円）と「半熟チーズ」１パック（500円）を買いました。
Shinmai no Jin 2009
Shinmai no Jin 2010 and a Kei Tora Ichi
First Kei Tora Ichi
新米の陣2009年
新米の陣2010年と軽トラ市
初めての軽トラ市
7 comments:
I really like your blog! Your bilingual entries are so helpful to us Japanese-learners....the way you write your Japanese sentences is very clear!
David: Thanks for your compliment! From now on, I have to be more carefull in my writing of my native language!
Hiroyuki, I would love so much to taste this rice... The mushrooms look very exotic. I wonder what you will do with them.
I hope one day I will also be able to learn Japanese from your blog (for now I am thrilled if I can recognise all the hiragana in a couple of words)
Sissi: I'm sure that any newly harvested rice will taste as good. While there is no doubt that the Koshihikari rice produced in the Shiozawa and surrounding areas in Niigata prefecture is the best in Japan, I really don't think that the rice is particularly tasty.
I pan-fried one half of the maitake with oil and margarine (sorry if I disappointed you, but I don't have butter in the fridge) and salt, and added some soy sauce near the end of pan-frying. We all loved it.
I used the other half to make maitake miso soup.
Learn from my blog? I will have to improve my writing skills in Japanese then!
Hiroyuki, thank you for the quick recipes. (Actually I don't fry anything in butter... I think, but I don't use margarine either. Just oil and sometimes duck's fat ;-))
Don't worry, it will take me several years to start kanji. I'm sure your writing is perfect.
The mushroom soup looks good. But it is funny how they reduced the price quickly. Guess they were afraid they would not sell enough. Here it is not common to reduce prices - only at the end of an event this may happen too.
Yes, I am also very happy you post in japanese and in english too. Thank you very much for your hard work. Sometimes I copy the japanese text passages first and try to translate. I learned quite a lot.
Kiki: Yes, very quickly, even before they started to sell it. While standing in line a little before 11:00, I heard the staff talking each other, and one person said to another that the price of the mushroom soup had been reduced from 200 to 100 yen.
You, too?? Then I really have to be careful with my wording in Japanese!
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