This tour is themed “Gastoronomy of Minamiboso City”, where you will find and experience food related places in Minamiboso, Chiba by bus. It features a special knife worship ceremony only held 3 times a year and will be specially done for this tour at the one and only shrine worshiping the God of Cuisine. You can also enjoy two cooking class in this tour. You will experience traditional Minamiboso cuisine to its fullest.
Minamiboso is an area in Chiba Prefecture (next to Tokyo, approx. 2 hours by private coach)
surrounded by water, making it rich in seafood. Here, the one and only shrine in Japan that
enshrines the God of Cooking stands, and a special cooking ritual called the Hocho-shiki, or Knife
Ceremony, has been held since the 800’s. Experience this ritual, created for the Emperor, and
learn about appreciating your food through the ritual, as well as other activities including Gibier
(wild gaming meat) experience and hakko (fermented food) workshops.
Hocho-shiki (Knife Ceremony) is a ritual created for the Emperor, having been passed down
for more than 1,000 years. The ritual shows the Master worshiping a fish, cutting the fish
without using the hands to show how holy our ingredients are. It is held at a special shrine
called Takabe Shrine, which is the only shrine in Japan that enshrines the God of Cooking.
Many chefs and people of food related businesses visit the shrine throughout the year to
get prayers towards their cooking. It is only held three times a year, and will be done specially
for the group. Regarding Gibier experience, wild animals have been a problem in the area, as they started ruining crops. Gibier, wild gaming meat, started in order to stop the wild animals to ruin crops; in
order to not waste the wild animals that were caught, the locals started Gibier food. Learn
about the wild animals, see the traps inside the forests, and if interested, see a dismantling
of a wild animal before your eyes. Specialist about Gibier will show you around where he actually works.
There are two cooking class in this tour. First one is Hakko (fermented food) workshop, you can learn how hakko dishes came to be and how it affects local lives, and experience making hakko food as well. Another one is trying to fillet the fish and make a traditional local fish dishes with local chef.
Encounter many local people will make your trip the best.
Tokyo station
