A new famous water spot: Gion Ishidanshita/KyoSushi Izuju ~Rice and fried rice cooked at Okudosan
Yoshie Doi
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The sacred water and power water gushing out from the renovated KyoSushi Izuju store.
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Cooking rice and aburaage in a new oven with a chimney
KyoSushi Izuju has been under renovation for over a year.
KyoSushi Izuju has been open since March of this year. For 120 years since its founding, Okudosan has been cooking rice and aburaage, and its taste has been well-received.
I was finally able to visit there the other day, and I was treated to new well water and sushi. The area around Gion was apparently a river during the Edo period, and stones were buried in the river to make it easier for people to live there.
During the Jomon period, the Kamogawa River was a raging river that ran between 700 meters from Higashioji-dori Street to Teramachi. I once saw a drawing from the early Edo period that showed the torii gate of Yasaka Shrine in the current location of Teramachi. We can find out the history of the land by digging, but it’s very interesting.
In Izuju’s recent renovation, stones excavated from the site were used as paving stones for the pillars of the new store, and all of the wood from the old store was used in the new store. Perhaps that’s why the newly renovated store feels so calming. The storehouse built in 1744 in the garden has also been preserved.
I heard from the owner that the store was designed in the style of the Muromachi period. Very calming. Also, when a well was dug on the grounds of Izuju, very good water came out, and it was named Chikaramizu. It was the first sacred water to spring forth after Akiyoshi Nomura, the chief priest of Yasaka Shrine, took office. When you enter the store, anyone can use the water, so please make sure to drink some of the famous water and take it home with you, the owner said. We are grateful.
Yasaka Shrine is dedicated to the gods of the mountains and the sea, so sushi using delicacies of the sea and mountains are on the menu at Izuju. Mackerel sushi is famous, but they also have a variety of other menu items, and my favorite is seaweed sushi, which is a sushi roll made from seven types of seaweed.
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Translated by Masami Otani
