🍱 Maruyaki saba

The Wakasa area has been known since the Asuka and Nara periods as a "miketsukuni" (province of food), where people were allowed to deliver foodstuffs to the Imperial Court in the capital, and the area played an important role in the food industry. Mackerel, in particular, was fatty and tasty, and large numbers were transported to Kyoto along the "saba kaido" (mackerel road) by "back-breaking" fish carriers who carried the fish on foot. It is said that the salt used to prevent spoilage was just the right amount by the time the mackerel reached Kyoto. From the time of the Goshoku era to the present, seafood from Wakasa Bay has been prized throughout Japan as "Wakasa mono" (Wakasa fish). In the Wakasa region, where mackerel of such high quality are caught, "Maruyaki Saba" is a local dish made by grilling the whole fish on bamboo skewers. In the Ono City area of the Reinan region, the custom of eating grilled mackerel on July 2, the 11th day after the summer solstice, is called "Hangesho," and it is said to have originated when the lord of Ono (present-day Ono City) distributed grilled mackerel to his people after they were tired from rice planting. （In the Wakasa area, there is a custom of distributing Kashiwa-mochi (oak cakes) and grilled mackerel to relatives during the May vacation (after rice planting is finished, a vacation is decided by the district).