🍱 Kishizu

Daishoji-machi in Kaga City once prospered as the gateway to Daishoji Temple, one of the five Hakusan temples (Hakusan-ji's five branch temples). Kishizu" is a vegetarian dish served at Buddhist memorial services and on the occasion of Hoonko (a traditional event held around the anniversary of the death of Shinran Shonin, the founder of Jodo Shinshu). Kishizu" is a dish of delicacies from the mountains and the sea arranged in a brocade dish (the sauce is called "kishizu"). Kizuzu is a colorful arrangement of long, thin slices of kuzukiri, wakame seaweed, kikurage, bamboo shoots, sudare-fu, yuba (dried bean curd), and other delicacies. Like the traditional vegetarian dish "suizen" (pure white kuzu-kiri made of agar and rice flour) in Wajima City, it is eaten as a substitute for sashimi. Kuzukiri, divided into red and white pieces, is used especially for large-scale events, but is generally substituted with harusame (bean-starch vermicelli). In recent years, cucumbers and other vegetables have been used as chrysanthemum flowers to add a green tinge. The use of refreshing ingredients goes well with the savory sauce made from white sesame seeds and sakekasu (sake lees). In the old days, keshi nuts were used as seasoning, and it is said that the name "kishizu" came from "keshi vinegar.