🍚 Tako-meshi (Octopus Rice)
The history of octopus consumption in Japan is long, and in Mie Prefecture, fishing tools that look like octopus pots have been excavated from a shell mound in Kakizuka Shinden (named after the large number of oyster shells that were found there) in Kuwana City. In the Yamaguchi Festival, one of the festivals held at Ise Jingu Shrine, octopus is served along with dried shark and shrimp. A dish of octopus and taro cooked together is also served at the Tsu Hachiman Shrine festival held in October, and the custom of preparing this dish for the festival is still practiced today in the homes of the old clansmen of Hachiman-cho. As described above, octopus, which is caught year-round, has long been used as a familiar food ingredient. In Mie Prefecture, there are many common octopus and long octopus. On Toshishima Island in Toba City, various types of fishing, such as sash netting, seine netting, and fishing, as well as wakame seaweed and nori seaweed cultivation are popular, and a large amount of seafood is caught throughout the year. Dried octopus is one of them. When it gets cold, octopuses dried in the sun with their legs spread out can be seen swaying in the fishing port. The octopus grown in the fast currents at the mouth of Ise Bay is very tasty, and the octopus from Kamijima, which is caught in the rough waves of Irago Channel, is called "tidal wave octopus," and is very popular. In Toba City, there is a town called Adako, which is famous for octopus rice. The origin of the name of the place is unknown, but it is said that "on a stormy day, an octopus rode a big wave to the rice paddies," or," on a moonlit night, an octopus swam up to the waterway of the rice paddies. It is also called "takou-meshi" (happiness rice) in city of Adako.