🦌 Hiraga Gennai-emon~! The venison isn't selling!
"Hiraga Gennai-emon~!"
"What is it? Are you in trouble again?"
"There are too many deer and I'm in trouble!"
"I see."
"They're eating the crops and ruining the forests. But you see..."
"But?"
"The venison... it just doesn't sell well!"
"............"
"Hiraga Gennai-emon, please do something about it!"
"Hmm..."
"Like how you sold the eels!"
"............"
"Think of something!"
🐟 First of all, what was the Day of the Ox during the Doyo period again?
Every Japanese person knows it.
The Day of the Ox during the Doyo period.
When this day comes, eels line the supermarket shelves.
Unaju, unadon, hitsumabushi.
"Since it's the Day of the Ox today, shall we have eel?"
Conversations like that are perfectly normal.
But, what exactly is 'Doyo' in the first place?
Doyo is a period of about 18 days during the change of seasons.
And the 'Day of the Ox' is a day counted using the twelve zodiac signs.
In other words,
the Day of the Ox arrives during the Doyo period.
That's all there is to it.
Yet, for some reason, Japanese people eat eel.
That man is involved in this.
Hiraga Gennai.
An inventor, scholar, and writer from the Edo period.
Consulted by an eel shop owner,
'Today is the Day of the Ox during Doyo'
he posted at the storefront.
It became popular, and the eel sold well.
...That is the famous anecdote.
There are various theories as to whether Gennai really came up with it.
But, if it were true,
what was amazing about Gennai was,
not that he invented eel.
it was that he invented 'the reason to eat eel'.
🦌 Then, what about Hiraga Gennai-emon of the Reiwa era?
"I can't sell this venison!"
"If that's the case, why don't you create a day to eat venison?"
"It's not that simple..."
"You have the Day of the Ox during the summer Doyo period, don't you?"
"Yeah. That's the day for eel."
"Well then, did you know that there is also a Day of the Ox in the autumn?"
"Huh?"
That's right.
There are four Doyo periods in a year.
It's not just in the summer.
There's one in spring, too.
And in autumn.
And in winter.
Among them, a "Day of the Ox" also arrives during the autumn Doyo period.
"So, on the autumn Day of the Ox..."
"Let's eat venison."
"Why!?"
"On the summer Day of the Ox, we eat things that start with the sound 'u'."
"Eel!"
“Yes. In that case, for autumn...”
“...‘Shi’?”
“That’s right.”
“Eat something that starts with ‘shi’?”
“Exactly.”
“Deer (shika)?”
“That’s it.”
“...That’s all!?”
“That’s all you need.”
🍂 The Day of the Ox in Autumn is the Day of ‘Shi’
The Day of the Ox in the summer.
Eat something that starts with ‘u’.
Unagi (eel).
Udon (noodles).
Uri (melon).
Umeboshi (pickled plum).
And then, autumn.
Eat something that starts with ‘shi’.
Shiitake (mushrooms).
Shimeji (mushrooms).
Shishamo smelt.
New rice.
And then—
Deer (shika).
Somehow, I can see an autumn dining table.
Grilling mushrooms.
Cooking new rice.
Grilling shishamo smelt.
And eating venison.
"Today is the Day of the Ox during the autumn doyo period, you know."
"Huh? Isn't it eel?"
"That's for summer."
"What about autumn?"
"It's 'shi'."
"...Deer (shika)?"
"That's right."
Doesn't that sound a little fun?
🦌 From 'pests' to 'bounties of the mountain': Venison
The deer population is increasing.
There is also damage to agricultural crops.
There is also an impact on the forests.
That is why we capture them.
But what do we do with the captured deer?
So, even if you say, "Let's eat more venison,"
"Where can I eat venison?"
"How do you cook it?"
"Is it even tasty in the first place?"
is what people ask.
Therefore, what is needed
is not "selling venison,"
but perhaps "creating a reason to eat venison."
That might be it.
What Hiraga Gennai is said to have done was exactly that.
"Please buy eel"
was not it.
"Today is the day to eat eel"
was what it was.
If so, for deer too,
"Please buy venison"
is not the way, but rather
You could start with, "Today is the day to eat venison."
Summer is for "u". Autumn is for "shi".
The Day of the Ox during the summer Doyo period.
Eat things that start with "u".
Eat eel.
The Day of the Ox during the autumn Doyo period.
Eat things that start with "shi".
Eat venison.
Of course, this is just my fantasy for now.
There is no rule that says you must eat venison on the Day of the Ox in autumn.
But, what if someone started it?
At first,
"What's that?"
would be the reaction,
but then it would become,
"Are you going to try eating venison this autumn on the Day of the Ox?"
And eventually,
it would become,
"Autumn Doyo means venison, right?"
and that would be that.
In a few decades,
"They say people didn't really eat venison back in the day."
A day might come when people say things like that.
Perhaps food culture is just like that, surprisingly.
It starts when someone says,
"Let's eat this this year."
That is how it begins.
So, if Hiraga Gennai were here in the Reiwa era,
he might say this to someone dealing in game meat.
"That's a problem, but it's not that the deer won't sell. It's just that there isn't a reason to eat deer yet."
And then, he would post a single sheet of paper in the storefront.
🍂 Today is the Autumn Doyo no Ushi no Hi. Let's eat something that starts with 'shi'. Why not have venison (shika) this year?
...Well then.
This year's Autumn Doyo no Ushi no Hi,
what will you eat?