With Lord Takayama Uesugi
Something

About 200 years ago, the ninth lord of the Uesugi clan, Lord Takayama Uesugi, compiled a food guide called ``Kamonono'' and distributed it throughout the domain as a measure to prepare for poor harvests.
This guidebook helped save the food situation not only in Yonezawa but also in other prefectures.
What kind of person was Uesugi Takayama?
And what is the content of ``Kamono'', a food guide handed down directly by Takayama? Let's unravel it little by little.

Master of Yonezawa
Who is Uesugi Takayama?

Takayama was born on July 1751, 7, in the Edo mansion of Takanabe Domain, as the second son of Tanemi Akizuki, the sixth lord of Takanabe Domain in Hyuga Province (Miyazaki Prefecture).

Shigetada, the 8th lord of the Yonezawa domain, had no heir and the domain's finances were under strain, so much so that Shigetada decided to return the fiefdom to the shogunate. During this period of poverty, he was adopted by the Takanabe clan, and Takayama became the lord of the clan at the age of 17.

Takayama immediately began reforming the domain's administration with the goal of rebuilding the domain's economy, and was determined to dedicate his life to the domain's restoration.

Takayama retired at the young age of 35 and handed over the headship of the family to Haruhiro. At that time, he gave Haruhiro a book on the rules of a monarch called ``Denkoku-ji.''

Thereafter, he assisted and guided the politics of the 5th generation, Haruhiro, and the 1822th generation, Narisada, until his death at the age of 72 in 10, devoting his life to stabilizing the domain's government.
What is "Kamono", the origin of Yonezawa's local cuisine?

prepared for famine
Lord Takayama's wisdom

During the time of Lord Takayama, devises were devised to save the people from starving due to poor harvests due to famine. One was to increase the amount of stored rice, and the other was to search for food other than rice and wheat, which led to extensive research into foods that could be used as staple food, and ways to eat and store them. did.

It is said that the research on ``kamono'' was carried out by Lord Takayama at the request of the domain doctor after the poor harvest in 3, and it took a long period of experimentation, including requesting the herbalist Heizaburo Sato to conduct research. .
The results were compiled into a book called ``Kamono'' by the domain doctor, and 1,575 copies were printed and distributed throughout the territory.

As a local dish
inherited

The content includes 82 types of plants that are used as staple foods, and detailed explanations of how to eat them, as well as various ways to make miso, what to sow, dried fish that can be eaten even if left for several years, and finally, fish. The meat of birds and animals is also mentioned.

This book was very useful during the great famine that followed, and was useful not only in the Yonezawa region but also in other prefectures to save the food situation. Much of this teaching has been passed down as local cuisine, and continues to be a part of life in the Yonezawa region.

*``Kamono'' means something that is mixed with staple food and cooked to increase the amount of staple food and soothe hunger.