Sokuseki ryori (zen)

Osaka, Kawachiya Kasuke, 1802.
Second-hand softcover

Anonymous. Sokuseki ryori (zen). Kawachiya Kasuke: Osaka, 1802. (170x1700mm) leporello/ohirin doublesided title label, blue wrappers (np). Wrappers scuffed, sm loss, lightly soiled

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ANONYMOUS


精進魚類 即席料理 (Shōjin Gyorui Sokuseki Ryōri; Quick Recipes for Vegetarian and Fish Dishes Complete)  

Osaka : Kawachiya Kasuke and Kawchiya Gisuke and Kawachiya Kashichi, Kyowa 2 (1802).  First Edition.  In Japanese.

Orihon (170x58mm) woodblock printed, original publisher's blue wrappers with cream title label.  Thirty folds, printed on both sides, with the two sections arranged dos-à-dos: Shōjin (vegetarian) from one direction and Gyorui (fish) from the other. [60]pp., with endpapers.   Wrappers worn, scuffed and lightly soiled, small loss to edges; internally clean and crisp.


¶   An exceptionally rare early Japanese cookbook, and an unusually fine example of the practical sokuseki ryōri genre of the late Edo period. Combining shōjin (Buddhist vegetarian) cuisine with fish cookery, in a single dos-à-dos volume, the work reflects the increasing circulation of practical culinary knowledge beyond the professional kitchen and into the households of Japan's urban merchant and educated classes.

The phrase sokuseki ryōri (“immediate” or “quick” cookery) refers to dishes prepared from ingredients readily at hand, emphasising economy, adaptability and seasonal availability, rather than the modern concept of convenience food.
The work belongs to the flourishing period of Edo culinary publishing, when practical recipe books increasingly circulated among merchants and educated townspeople. The recipes emphasise seasonal ingredients and economical preparation, whilst maintaining connections with the traditions of shōjin and ceremonial cuisine.

For example, in the shōjin section there are seasonal variations of namasu, vegetables dressed or marinated in vinegar, while the fish section gives corresponding preparations of sliced raw fish. This parallel treatment illustrates the book's practical, ingredient-led approach to seasonality and preparation.

The use of the orihon format is uncommon in Japanese culinary literature, despite being well suited to practical use. The unusual dos-à-dos construction is particularly noteworthy: rather than binding the two sections conventionally, the printer has arranged them back-to-back, each beginning from an opposite direction, allowing the two cuisines to function almost as independent manuals within a single compact volume.

Opposite the publisher's colophon there is an advertisement for Ryōri Hayanabe (hot-pot cooking), providing a useful indication of the commercial milieu in which practical culinary books were being produced and marketed.

Of interest, not merely for its recipes, but also as evidence for the increasing accessibility and commercialisation of practical culinary knowledge in mid Edo-period Japan, when cookery books became an important part of the wider printed culture of the urban household.

Rare.  An important and exceptionally uncommon survival of an early nineteenth-century Japanese practical cookbook, notable both for its culinary content and its unusual dos-à-dos construction.

§ No copy recorded in OCLC; one copy recorded in the National Diet Library.

Item #11603

Price: $2,000.00 AUD