STORY BEHIND THE ART OF AKIKO ENOKIDO

Abundant Future: Cultivating Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field

Black Soybeans 'Tambaguro'

Glycine max

Edamame is now a popular appetizer worldwide. In Japanese, "eda" means branch, and "mame" means beans. According to literature from 300 years ago, soybeans were boiled and sold attached to the branches, often on side-streets. It is said that "edamame" originated from this era. Edamame is made from immature soybeans. The most common edamame is green, and when it dries, the color becomes creamy yellow. Black soybeans turn bluish-grey when boiled and when they were first sold as edamame, people thought they were rotten. Now we know that this color is due to anthocyanin in the skin of these beans. Since black soybean edamame is bigger and tastier than normal edamame, it is now considered as a delicacy.

I live near Tamba Sasayama, a city in Hyogo prefecture in Japan. Black soybean is one of the famous traditional foods in this area. In Tamba Sasayama City, mountains surround the city, and the flat part in the center forms a basin. It is hot in summer and cold in winter, and thick fog peculiar to the basin is generated. Also, it is said that this area used to be a lake, and the soil is clay. Such a climate is very suitable for the growth of black soybeans. Farmers have been growing rice with black beans on the side of the rice fields for generations. Due to the government's guidance from 1970 to reduce rice production (to control market price and protect the farmers), black soybeans were grown as a main product of this city as an alternative to rice. This increased production exceeded demand for traditional black soybeans. Up until then, black soybeans had been consumed as edamame only by the farmers, but around 1988, they began to sell them outside as well. And now, the small villages in the area have become popular and crowded with cars with people coming to buy this. Currently at the farms in Tamba Sasayama, one third of black soybeans are sold as edamame in October and the rest of them are harvested in November, dried and used as one of the important ingredients in New Year's traditional dishes since the early history of Japan.

In this painting, I would like to show people that this is the same bean ecology by drawing both the edamame and the ripe black beans in the artwork. There are many Japanese who do not know the true appearance of black soybeans.

The oldest record of black soybeans can be found in China's oldest drug book, Shennong Ben Cao Jing, about 2,000 years ago. It is said that the first description of black soybeans in ancient Japanese documents is "Wamy Ruijush" in the Heian period about AD 735. Tambaguro black soybeans are a variety that come from the area where I live. The origins of Tambaguro cultivation are not clear.

However, in 1698, there are notes that "kuromame" ("black beans") were presented to Shogun Tokugawa from Tamba, and the cooking book 'Ryouri koumoku choumisho', published in 1730, recorded that black soybeans were a local specialty of Tamba Province, an old province of Japan. Accordingly, it is clear they have been cultivated since ancient times. The relationship between Japanese people and black soybeans has a history of more than 1000 years, and it is thought that the reason why it has continued for such a long time is not only the deliciousness of black soybeans but also the reputation from ancient times that they are good for health.

In my painting, I portrayed two black soybeans branches vertically, one at an immature stage and the other at a mature stage. I added the illustration of a pod of raw beans at the bottom. The beans are a beautiful pink color and after a while, they become more of a ruby color. The immature black soybeans are harvested in October for edamame. The farmhouse floor is covered in brown dust which is the hair of pods and stems, as you can see in the painting. Then the mature black soybeans are harvested in late November. The leaves are cut off and the branches are dried upside down. So the black soybean branch on the left is upside down. Some brown colored pods are open and you can see black soybeans like black pearls. When these beans are soaked in water, they become the same size as the raw beans.

It has been a precious six month journey, spending time with the local farmers and their families, watching the life of black soybeans together. I thought about them, as I was drawing the beans one by one, with the feeling of gratitude and joy that their harvest brought to my heart.

Kabocha pumpkin 'Shisigatani'

Cucurbita moschata

Kabocha or Japanese pumpkin originated in Mesoamerica and was brought to Japan in the late 1800s. Shishigatani kabocha was originally a flat, chrysanthemum-shaped pumpkin from Tohoku in the northern part of Japan. According to 1909 literature, a farmer in 1804-18 received pumpkin seeds from Tohoku and brought them back to Kyoto for plantIng. At first, he produced a normal chrysanthemum-shaped pumpkin, but there is a description that a unique gourd- or hourglass-shaped pumpkin was formed after a few years. From then on, it was cultivated in various parts of Kyoto, but after around 1920, consumer tastes shifted to western pumpkins and it gradually disappeared from the market. In Kyoto City, in order to protect various types of traditional vegetables, the city has established ordinances, and it has paid farmers to cultivate these pumpkins from seeds. Currently there are two farmers doing this.

Every July 25th, the Anrakuji Temple in Kyoto provides cooked Shishigatani kabocha dishes for people as a pumpkin memorial service, a traditional event that has continued for two centuries. It has been said that eating Shishigatani kabocha would protect people from illness.

To harvest this rare pumpkin, female flowers are tied up after being carefully pollinated, to ensure other pumpkin pollen does not mix with this rare species. As the fruit matures, it changes from green to orange. It has a higher nutritional value and contains more vitamin C than other pumpkins, but has a less sweet taste.

This pumpkin I painted was green initially, and the farmer waited until it turned orange before harvesting it. He said that his ancestors would polish the Shishigatani kabocha before taking them to the market to give them a beautiful luster. To draw this work, I went to the field every month to observe the process of pumpkin growth. At first, I intended to draw mainly the pumpkin itself, and thought about a simple composition. But as I sketched and observed its growth, I decided to incorporate various parts. The flowers would wither by 8 am, so I drove up to Kyoto at dawn to see them bloom. The female flowers are particularly large and wide, and the ovaries are not visible from the angle I chose for the drawing. When the sun rose higher, the flowers drooped, and seemed relieved to finish pollinating, but they were still beautiful, and now the interesting shape of the ovary was exposed.

Here is the abstract of an article by a cultural anthropologist about this kabocha, which appeared in the journal Food, Culture &Society. The article title is “Everything but the Taste: Kyoto’s Shishigatani Squash as Culinary Heritage”.

“The Shishigatani kabocha, an heirloom squash variety cultivated in Japan’s Kyoto Prefecture, epitomizes the celebrated un-delicious. Farmers, retailers, local officials, and consumers describe this heirloom variety as difficult to prepare and ‘not delicious.’ Yet the squash is valued: Kyoto City restaurants display it outside with other local produce to attract customers, and upscale department stores all over Japan feature it prominently in produce sections dedicated to heirloom vegetables. Kyoto’s Anraku Temple even holds a yearly Shishigatani kabocha ‘mass’ that attracts hundreds of visitors. This paper examines the reasons for the Shishigatani kabocha’s appeal and argues that cultural embeddedness and distinct attributes including an unusual shape can compensate for a less delicious flavor profile. In this paper, data obtained from interviews with farmers, local officials, retailers, and consumers are used, as well as participant observation at events including the annual mass at Anraku Temple. Comparing the Shishigatani kabocha with other heirloom vegetable varieties that have had less success reveals lessons about taste, agrobiodiversity, and the market potential of less palatable heirloom varieties.” 1

1 De St. Maurice, G. (2017). Everything but the Taste: Kyoto’s Shishigatani Squash as Culinary Heritage. Food, Culture & Society, 20, 281-301.

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