Modernisation and dried kombu in Japan, traditional production methods

Dried kombu was a trump card for trade at home and abroad
Hokkaido produces 90% of Japan’s kombu
The wetlands of Russia and the nature of Hokkaido nurture the deliciousness of dried kombu.
Traditional production methods handed down from the indigenous Ainu people
Dried kombu production, where experience and skill determine the quality
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Dried kombu was a trump card for trade at home and abroad

Sea vegetables and kombu have a long history in Japan. Since ancient times, high-quality Japanese dried kombu has been valued as a medicine substitute. As a result, it has significantly contributed to Japanese history and industry as a significant domestic and international trade commodity.

_{Kai-sen(means shisp that carries passengers and cargo from port to port) / Kaisen ship and iron grapnel anchors depicted on the votive picture dedicated to the Engaku-ji temple in 1633.}

For the history of dried kombu, a group of merchant ships known as the Kitamae-bune, active mainly in the middle of the 18th century, is significant. The Kitamae-bune, whose owners traded in local specialities at their ports of call, was known as “mobile general trading companies”, and dried kombu was one of their most important products.

The influence of the Kitamae-bune was not only Japan’s domestic economy but also also on its culinary culture,and it is no exaggeration to say that the activities of the Kitamae-bune laid the foundations for the Japanese cuisine of today. Moreover, around this time, dried kombu, a luxury item, became available to the commoner.

At the same time, an endemic disease of an enlarged thyroid gland due to insufficient iodine intake was prevalent in inland China, where people had few opportunities to eat seafood. Japanese dried kombu, which contained high concentrations of iodine in small quantities, was prized as a medicine because of its light weight and long shelf life. The Satsuma clan (located in present-day Kagoshima prefecture, the southernmost part of Kyushu), which traded dried kombu to China via the Ryukyu Kingdom (located in present-day Okinawa prefecture, the southernmost part of Japan), made a significant profit. These profits helped to finance the overthrow of the shogunate and the Meiji Restoration, but this is a story for another time.

Hokkaido produces 90% of Japan’s kombu

90% of Japan’s kombu is produced in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido is Japan’s second largest island, cool and dry, with an average annual temperature of 5-10°C and an average yearly rainfall of 700-1700 mm. The vast land and rich nature are one of its attractions, and Niseko in Hokkaido, known for its powder snow, is a popular tourist spot for foreign visitors.

Hokkaido has a thriving agriculture, dairy farming and fishing industry and is famous as Japan’s most significant food source. The development of Hokkaido’s food industry is closely linked to the modernisation of Japan and the history of Hokkaido’s settlement. It is also a region where various culinary cultures, including Western and indigenous Ainu cuisine, brought in during the pioneering process, have intermingled and given birth to distinctive specialities.

The wetlands of Russia and the nature of Hokkaido nurture the deliciousness of dried kombu.

As it is said that species originate from seawater, the distribution of mineral concentrations in seawater correlates with the mineral balance in human body fluids, and the sea, the mother of life, has great significance for human health. And kombu is a vegetable of the sea that retains minerals similar to those in seawater while condensing many things helpful to humans.

Hokkaido, where 90% of Japan’s kombu is grown, is surrounded by the Sea of Okhotsk and the Oyashio region and has some of the world’s most outstandingly productive marine areas. The ocean’s productivity indicates the extent to which marine phytoplankton can photosynthesise and produce organic matter.

The name of the cold current Oyashio comes from the character Oyashio, which means ‘parent’ in Japanese, as it is rich in nutrients and nurtures fish and sea vegetables. The bounty of the Sea of Okhotsk and Oyashio is supported by the presence of iron supplied from the surrounding land areas, which is sourced from the wetlands in the basin of the Amur River in Russia.

Hokkaido’s large number of active volcanoes also positively impacts kombu. There are 31 active volcanoes in Hokkaido, including those in the Northern Territories. From these geological features and rivers, water containing rich minerals flows into the sea and nurtures kombu.

Shiretoko, located in the northeastern corner of Hokkaido, was recognised as a World Natural Heritage site in 2005. Shiretoko, which means “end of the earth” in the Ainu language of the indigenous people of Hokkaido, and the surrounding sea are bordered by drift ice created in the Sea of Okhotsk. The plankton carried by this drift ice attracts a wide variety of organisms, including rare species, and the salmon and trout nurtured by this rich sea run up the rivers and become a plant resource for birds of prey. The lives of living creatures circulate through the sea, rivers and forests to form a rich ecosystem, of which dried kombu is a part.

Traditional production methods handed down from the indigenous Ainu people

_{Portrait of two Ainu men from Sakhalin.}

Before the settlement of Hokkaido, Hokkaido was known as Ezochi, and from around the 13th century, it had a unique culture, including the Ainu and Okhotsk cultures, which were different from those of the main island of Japan, named Honshu and other parts of Japan.

The indigenous Ainu were animistic in their belief that everything had a deity. They were grateful to the gods of nature, the gods of fire, the gods of the mountains, the gods of the forests and the gods of hunting, and they lived a life in which they took the foodstuffs provided by the gods when they needed them and in the quantities they required.

Dried kombu was also an important trading commodity for the Ainu, and records show that they fished diligently in summer.

Dried kombu production, where experience and skill determine the quality

The production process of dried kombu, which has paved the way for the history of Japan, is traditional. Although some methods can be mechanised, most work is done by hand.

For kombu producers, the sea means the field. They learn from the wisdom of their predecessors and their own experience not only how to care for the fishing grounds and grow kombu to produce good quality kombu but also how to harvest the kombu without damaging it and catch good kombu the following year. The drying process after unloading and the maturing method and period called anjyo also require skill and technique.

_{Sun-drying of kombu. Many producers have now switched to machine drying, but some traditobal producers still insist on sun-drying natural kelp.(Photo by Kumi Matsushita)}

The producers say that “Dried kombu production is hard work. But we can’t cut corners”.

The main flow of kombu production consists of five stages: growing, landing, drying, cutting, sorting and packing, but there are many work processes, and it takes two years before the dried kombu is ready for shipment. The deep flavour of Rausu dried kombu, produced through a 23-stage process from landing, is one of the reasons it is known as the king of dried kombu.

Japanese soup stock called “dashi” ingredients takes a long time to produce. However, boiling it out of water for a few minutes can have a nutrient-rich, deep-flavoured dashi soup stock. Dried kombu is a superfood suitable for busy modern people.

Be continued in the following article on the umami of dried kombu and recipes.

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