Kaiso

First Published: August, 1995 by Mirage Publishing

• Miyamoto Usagi
• Kichiro
• FIXME char-yamanaka

Kaiso

Nori is seaweed layer dried into thin, black sheets about eight inches square. There are three types: seasoned, non-seasoned and toasted. It is used to add flavor to a variety of Japanese dishes such as soups, deep-fried as tempura fritters, with vegetables or wrapped on various kinds of sushi such as in the case of kappamaki (seaweed rolled around vinegared rice with a piece of cucumber in the center).

Kichiro's seaweed farm is based upon a farm in Tokyo Bay shortly after the turn of the century. The seaweed fences and geta-stilts may have been unique to this time and/or area since I didn't find any mention of them in descriptions of such farms further north. Each family in the village had their own plot in the off-shore field, however, poaching was a very real problem. So much so that the police would regularly cruise the area to deter thieves.

Most of my research for this story came from an exhibit and video on kaiso farming that was shown at the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts in 1993 (they have an excellent Asian wing, by the way).

Books included Japan Day By Day and Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings, both by Edward S. Morse, one of the museum's founders. These references gave wonderful insights into daily life in Japan, complete with illustrations such as a drawing of a kaiso pole or the architecture of a fisherman's home.

Peabody Museum of Salem, E.S. Morse Collection/Photography, published in Japan by Shogakukan Publishing is a wonderful collection of three hundred hand-tinted slides, taken from 1890-1909, depicting many aspects of Japanese life from the most mundane activities, such as farmers husking rice, to elaborate festivals.

Other books used were: Everyday Life in Imperial Japan by Charles Dunn, which pictured a wood cut of the interior of a seaweed shop on which I based Yamanaka's establishment (Incidentally, the -ya at the end of his name in the first panel of page 11 indicates a place of business as opposed to -san at the end which would indicate the name of a person.); Dictionary of Japanese Culture by Kojima and Crane; and Quick and Easy Sushi Cookbook by H. Toyama and Y. Moriyama, which contained information on nori. (By the way, this is also a great step-by-step cookbook on making sushi in case you're wondering what to do with those cuttlefish tentacles you've got in the refrigerator.) And lastly, my parents took a few pictures of a seaweed farm in northern Honshu when they visited Japan a few years ago. (Maybe now they can deduct the cost of the trip from their taxes. HA!)

Usagi stays at a Kaiso farm with Kichiro, where he learns about seaweed farming. Unfortunately, The farmers to the north appear to be poaching on their fields.

Usagi and Kichiro go to town to sell the seaweed to the distributor, Yamanaka. He apparently has proof of the poaching, but advises against acting. Usagi then sets a trap for the poachers, by getting them to raid an isolated spot.

That night, he confronts the poachers, who have been sent by Yamanaka to keep the two villages from forming their own distributorship. The farmers from both villages witness the confession, and agree to work together to drive out Yamanaka.

Last change: 19. May 2003

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Usagi Yojimbo, including all prominent characters featured in the stories and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Stan Sakai and Usagi Studios. Usagi Yojimbo is a registered trademark of Stan Sakai. Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric content, is coincidental.