Japan’s Tohoku region is blessed with dramatic nature and a fascinating cultural heritage, with towering volcanoes and placid crater lakes, and feudal-era castles and ancient pilgrim trails. It covers the northernmost stretch of Japan’s main island, Honshu, an upturned thumb of land surrounded by water on three sides and with a formidable spine formed of mountainous peaks.
Tohoku encompasses the prefectures of Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Yamagata, Miyagi and Fukushima. Running north to south are the Ou Mountains, the longest mountain range in Japan. Long considered remote, Tohoku is now easily accessible via the Shinkansen, Japan’s high-speed train.
Yamagata prefecture, situated in the southwest of Tohoku, borders the Sea of Japan on one side and mountains on all others. It is the mountains that define this rugged land, which feels wild and remote—though it is less than three hours from Tokyo via Japan’s smooth-running, high-speed bullet trains. Few international travellers find their way to Yamagata—a boon for those who do; but for those who do make the journey, there is samurai culture to admire, regional delicacies to sample, and mystical mountains to explore.
Before the modern era, present-day Yamagata—then part of Dewa Province—was ruled by a series of warrior clans, none of whom proved as successful as the Uesugi clan. The Uesugi clan were an old, powerful family who, having chosen the wrong side in a decisive, domestic battle in the year 1600, were awarded control of Yonezawa domain partly as penance, and partly as a consolation prize. It was an impoverished domain, but success generations of Uesugi lords—who ruled Yonezawa for just over 250 years—turned it around through canny reforms, earning them a definitive place in Japanese history and the begrudging respect of the shogunate (military leaders) that sought to demote them. Among the most famous of the Uesugi lords is Uesugi Yozan (1751–1822), a savvy, disciplined statesman well-known to any Japanese history buff.
Today, the city of Yonezawa—the closest major city in Yamagata to Tokyo—draws visitors with its feudal era history and its culinary delights, namely sake and beef. Where the Uesugi’s castle once stood, there is now an attractive public park encircled by the old castle moats and dotted with cherry trees and historic attractions. Among the latter is a shrine dedicated to Uesugi Yozan and another to his storied ancestor, Uesugi Kenshin (1530–78), a fierce general nicknamed the ‘Dragon of Echigo’. There is also a history museum that house artefacts belonging to the Uesugi clan—elaborate, lacquered armour; fearsome helmets decorated with dramatic crests; and long, elegantly curving swords, which serve well to bring the samurai era to life.
Yonezawa also offers another way to experience old Japan: a visit to Kojima Sohonten, a sake brewery that has been in operation for 24 generations—since 1597—had the honour of being the official supplier to the Uesugi clan. Kojima Sohonten produces award-winning sake under the label ‘Toko’, which, poetically translated, means ‘from the direction where the morning light rises’.
When it comes to sake, Yonezawa—and especially Kojima Sohonten, the closest brewery to the source of the mighty Mogami River—has an enviable location. Heavy mountain snowfall feeds the river, and in turn, the wells and the rice paddies. Good clean water is crucial for brewing sake, which happens during the long cold winters. Understanding how important the environment is for sake, present and future, Kojima Sohonten has pledged to shift to 100% local renewable energy by spring of 2022. The brewery runs a museum, the largest of its kind in Tohoku, that details the sake making process and finishes with a tasting session.
Kojima Sohonten has been in operation for 24 generations—since 1597—and had the honour of being the official supplier to the Uesugi clan
”
While sake has been produced in Japan since time immemorial, beef is a more recent addition in the country where the consumption of animals was taboo for over a thousand years. All the more impressive that Japanese beef—called wagyu—is now beloved by gourmands around the world for its exquisite marbling and rich taste. Yonezawa is one of the top wagyu producing regions in Japan, where the cattle feed on rice straw from the same mineral rich soil that produces the rice that goes into Kojima Sohonten’s sake. Many local restaurants serve it, and at a far better price than you’d find in Tokyo.
Tohoku: A destination for sake enthusiasts
Tohoku is famous for its pristine nature and unique cultural traditions, but also for its sake. In fact, Tohoku produces some of the most lauded sakes in the country, with a typically light and crisp flavour profile that also makes them popular and easy to drink. Climate plays a big part—those long cold winters that are ideal for brewing—but so does the region’s agricultural and artisan traditions, which engender the kind of technical skill and commitment required to produce best-in-class sake.
To learn more, watch the webinar: Culture and Sake in Tohoku: An Evening with Alex Kerr and John Gauntner
Toward the northern end of Yamagata prefecture is Dewa Sanzan—the Three Mountains of Dewa—one of Japan’s oldest centres of mountain worship, and among the most spiritual places in all of Japan. For some 1,500 years, these mountains have harboured a unique folk religion; one that blended Buddhism, Shinto, and nature worship. Practitioners, called yamabushi, seek spiritual rebirth by performing austerities and rituals deep in the mountains, and they continue to do so to this day.
But one needn’t go to such extremes to experience the culture of these mystical mountains. The first of the three peaks, Mt. Haguro, has plenty to impress lay visitors, and is easily accessible from the nearby city of Tsuruoka. There is the five-storey wooden pagoda, built in the 14th century and without a single nail, surrounded by centuries-old cedar trees taller still. Beyond the pagoda is a stone staircase, deeply worn from generations of pilgrims, that leads to the shrine atop the mountain—a breathless, but rewarding climb of 2,446 steps. Like Yonezawa, Dewa Sanzan has its culinary charms, too—though they couldn’t be more different. As part of the Buddhist tradition, worshippers on Dewa Sanzan eat shojin ryori—the vegetarian cuisine of Buddhist monks. As the yamabushi spent long stretches of time in the mountains, the shojin ryori of Dewa Sanzan has a unique twist: an emphasis on foraging—nuts, shoots, roots, mushrooms and flowers—and preparation techniques that can be done on the fly, such as salting and sun-drying. The result is full of colour, textures and seasonal inspiration, including dishes such as oil-roasted butterbur and bracken fern flavoured with ginger.
In fact, the cuisine of Dewa Sanzan has earned recognition from UNESCO, with Tsuruoka being named a Creative City of Gastronomy—the only place in Japan with this distinction. At the foot of Mt. Haguro, there are dozens of pilgrim lodges that serve spreads of shojin ryori; and staying in one of these humble, historic lodges—which have housed centuries of pilgrims—is, of course, a memorable experience in its own right.
Please visit Japan National Tourism Organization’s website for more information.
