🍱 Nishime

The name "nishime" comes from the way it is cooked, which is to simmer it slowly so that no liquid remains. Although it is now a side dish, it was originally an essential dish for celebrations, weddings, and funerals. It is laid on the third layer of the New Year's osechi (New Year's Day meal), and is served at the kagura dedication held throughout the night in Takachiho Town. In Takachiho Town, it is served as a side dish during the nightly Kagura (Shinto music and dancing) ceremonies. In addition, each region has its own unique ingredients. For example, the ingredients used to make dashi soup stock include jidori chicken, iriko (dried sardines), dried horse mackerel, salted sardines, kelp, shiitake mushrooms, wild boar, wild birds, seafood from the sea and the mountains, and many others. The ingredients are also unique to each region: dried bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms in the northern part of the prefecture, chicken in the central part, and dried whole sardines in Nishimera Village.