Unit 12. Engi Shiki and Classics 4:
Seafood—Recreating Recipes
OGURA Shigeji, National Museum of Japanese History

SummaryThis unit outlines an approach for recreating the seafood mentioned in the Engi Shiki andanalysing the components of the food to gain empirical insight into the recipes and the propertiesof the victuals and how they were treated as tax items. Two abalone items are used in thisexperiment. The first is a dried item: naga-awabi 長鰒 (aka noshi awabi 熨斗鰒). The second isa fermented item: sushi awabi.
1. Subject Matter, Perspective
2. Experiment 1: Naga‐awabi
3. Experiment 2: Sushi Awabi

1. Subject Matter, Perspective
The Engi Shiki mentions around 50 categories of seafood (a total of 150 items) thatwere offered as tribute.
Processed seafood formed the bulk of the chō tax that each kuni paid. The tax waspaid once a year. The seafood was stored and used accordingly.
The Engi Shiki offers valuable insight into the realities of the ancient period,
including the tax system, diet, fishing techniques, food storage, recipes, regionspecific produce, and distributions of aquatic resources.
Abalone (awabi) topped the lists of shinsen, kugo tribute, and banquet victuals.

Abalone was the most common food offered up as zeimotsu tax; as many as 21 kuni
offered up an abalone product. The recipes varied widely.
Conduct fieldwork on food producers who make traditional dishes, similar to thosein the Engi Shiki, to explore the culinary techniques.
Use reconstructions, long-term food preservation tests, and component analysis toexamine the recipes and storage methods and thereby gather basic data on the fooditems.
Compare different recipes for a given foodstuff to determine how authorities
maintained an equal tax burden.

2. Experiment 1: Naga-Awabi
During the medieval period, naga-awabi, sometimes known as noshi awabi 熨斗鰒,and it was generally offered up to samurai households. During the early-modernperiod, it was considered an auspicious product. Today, the term noshi denotes thedesign of gift envelopes and celebratory packaging.
According to the Engi Shiki (Shukei Shiki jō): Awabi, Iyo, and Echizen offered up 6kin (c. 4,044 g) of abalone as kugo tribute, along with one seichō labourer.
They offered up the abalone once a year, and it was consumed over the span of ayear, suggesting longer preservability.
A mokkan tablet discovered during an archaeological survey in the Heijō Kyō
palace specifies the length: 7 shaku (c. 208 cm).
Today, noshi awabi is prepared in the same way, and served as a shinsen offering atIse Grand Shrine.
It is unclear how long the abalone were transported for, or how they were processedfor transportation.

Purpose of Study
Identify 1) the recipe, 2) when the food was made, 3) what variety of materials were used, 4) theform into which it was processed (for packaging and transporting as a zeimotsu), 5) how theprocessing affected its components, 6) how it was dried (e.g., Was it dried in the sun or in theshade?), and 7) how long-term storage affected its components.

Method
8. Conduct fieldwork at site for preparing naga‐awabi for offering at Ise Shrine todetermine the recipe, when the food is prepared, and what varieties of material
are used.
9. Reconstruct the recipe, timing, and material.
10. Store both raw and dried naga‐awabi for one year and then analyse thecomponents of each.
11. Collate the findings with information in mokkan tablets (38) and the Engi Shiki.

Results
Recipe:
The abalone are peeled along the rim to form long strips. The strips are suspended so that theyelongate by their own weight. Salty water (seawater) is used. The strips are left to dry in theshade (sun-drying is only effective for short periods after the strips have elongated). They aresuspended and dried for around a week. They are then subjected to secondary processing toprepare them for packaging: they are soaked in the water, after which they are dried for a shorttime (without needing to be suspended).
Processed form:

The abalone are peeled so that the strips are laterally symmetrical (in a technique known
as ryō-muki 両剥き), which ensures the strips elongate evenly.
Each strip measures 1.5 to 2.5 meters (according to mokkan tablets, the Engi Shiki, andreconstructions).
The strips are folded and bundled in stacks measuring 1 to 1.5 shaku (30 to 45 cm) andplaced in a basket (according to mokkan tablets and the Engi Shiki).

It was necessary to control the length prior to folding. Measurements could be taken at this stage,
with the knowledge that weight was proportional to length.
When it was processed:
The season for the abalone lasts from May to July (according to fieldwork interviews). The
secondary processing was undertaken a fortnight before the time (Month 10), as stated in
mokkan tablets (according to mokkan tablets, the Engi Shiki, and fieldwork interviews).

Variety used:
The average weight was 1,057 g; therefore, the species must have been madaka-awabi (Haliotismadaka), the only variety of abalone that is heavier than a kilogram.
The average weight (1,057 g) was determined by converting 4,044 g (the weight of 6 kin ofabalone offered up as kugo tribute) into the weight at production, with a throughput yield of
7.5% (gleaned from fieldwork interviews and reconstructions) and dividing the result by 51, theaverage number of abalone according to the mokkan tablets.
Component analysis:
Processing significantly increases the umami component in free amino acids.
Effect of storage on component:
Year-long storage has a negligible effect on components. As a zeimotsu, the food product wasdesigned to be consumed within a year.

3. Experiment 2: Sushi Awabi
Today, only carb or mackerel, not abalone, are used in this dish. Recipe andmaterials are unknown.
2 to according to Buyaku Ryō. 46 kin according to Shokoku Chō jō 諸国調条 of theShukei Shiki jō. It seems that the Buyaku Ryō and Shukei Shiki meant the same
weight. Likewise, the ryō and shiki stated the same weight for other sushi products
such as igai (Korean mussel) sushi.
Note the difference in volume from naga-awabi (which was just 6 kin).

Purpose of Study
Identify 1) the recipe, 2) the relative share of abalone, rice, and salt, 3) the form into which it wasprocessed (for packaging and transporting as a zeimotsu), and 5) how the processing affected itscomponents. Most importantly, compare its value to that of dried abalone products to see
whether the tax burden was fair and consistent.

Method12. Conduct fieldwork at site in Obama, Fukui, where mackerel are made into nare‐zushi. Examine the literature on modern recipe for nare‐zushi. Use the data todetermine the recipe for sushi awabi, when it was prepared, and what therelative share of each ingredient was.
13. Conduct reconstruction experiments using the information gleaned from 1.
14. Analyse components to confirm lactic‐acid fermentation and how it affected thecomponents.

Results
How it was processed:In light of modern-day recipe for funa-zushi, recipe reconstruction was conducted with
1.84 parts of rice to 1 abalone.
Like modern-day nare-zushi, the abalone is gutted and salted. Subsequently, the rice ispickled.
A jar was used for pickling, given the counter suffix used in the mokkan tablets and Engi
Shiki. Today a wooden barrel called a ki-oke 木桶 is used. The ki-oke is a product of themedieval period, which saw the proliferation of the hirakanna planer. With wooden
round containers, there was an issue about whether they could withstand the weight of thestone for the long period of storage.
The rice is pickled in brine and weighed down with a stone. After pickling, the food isstored. It is still stored in this way after delivery.

Measurements could only be taken when the rice was being pickled. The volume stated in thesources (2 to or 46 kin) must have been for the pickling stage.
When it was processed:
The food was pickled during winter, same as with mackerel nare-zushi. Abalone lipids
are lowest during this season.
The abalone would have been salted for one month and the rice for six months, leading
up to the time the food was offered as kugo tribute in Month 10.

Component analysis:
Lactic-acid fermentation confirmed: 8.1 × 106 / g lactic-acid bacteria, pH 3.6, produced at 1.66 g
per 100 g. In an additional experiment, the food was pickled for a short time (two months
beginning on 20th July 2021—the doyō of summer); similar results were obtained in terms ofsalting and pickling throughput, pH, lacto-acid production, and lacto-acid bacteria propagation.

46 kin (31 kg) of sushi awabi versus 6 kin (4 kg) of naga-awabi
Compared to processed weight, raw naga-awabi is just 15 kg (23 kin). Sushi awabi is 1.84
parts rice to 1 part abalone, which equates to 29 kin (20 kg; in the ancient period, thiswould be 1 to 2 masu 3 gō) of rice to 16 kin 3 ryō (11 kg) of abalone. Thus, the abalone
with the rice correspond to the volume stated in the Buyaku Ryō (2 to).
Abalone ratio is based on the time of salting. According to reconstruction, salted abalone
is 68% of raw abalone; therefore, raw weight would be 23 kin 10 ryō.
Thus,

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the naga-awabi levied per person weighed the same as the sushi awabi levied per person.
the tax per person was fair as the awabi used in both victuals was of equal weight; therice and salt were not included in the scope.
the food would have been made by teams (as opposed to having individuals make it bythemselves). The rice and salt were themselves offered up as tribute tax by groups ofpeople recognised as tribute tax units and may have been adjusted based on otherburdens.

Sources

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