Eating horse meat in Nagano is said to have begun in the late Meiji era, when aging farm horses were put to the table, and took root mainly in the central and southern parts of the prefecture. Nagano is often named, after Kumamoto and Fukushima, as one of the prefectures where horse meat is most at home.
Sources: go-nagano.net
This moment in the journey
A drink after the bath
Into a body warmed by the free-flowing spring, I poured, without a moment's pause, that other famous water: a lemon sour. The tavern was Hatoguruma, with a red lantern hanging out front. A hot-spring town truly is a paradise.
The starter was simmered mountain vegetables. The local specialty with a twist, nozawana shumai, is a dumpling coated in chopped nozawana instead of a wrapper, dipped in sauce and eaten in a bite. A small bowl of white soup came with green onion and chili. And in Nagano, with its horse-meat culture, the horse sashimi was superb.
Out on the street again, under the lamps, the night deepened over the hot-spring town.
Watch this scene on YouTube3:33
More notes from this journey
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
Onsen tamago boiled in the hot spring
At the Ogama, the main source of Nozawa Onsen, water close to 90 degrees wells up, and locals have long boiled mountain vegetables and eggs in it.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
Rice bowl with stir-fried nozawana, fried tofu and onsen tamago
Nozawana is said to descend from Tennoji turnip seeds that the priest of Kenmei-ji temple in Nozawa Onsen brought back from Kyoto in 1756.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
The Ogama hot-spring source
One of the springs that feed Nozawa Onsen, with water close to 90 degrees.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
The Oyu and the 13 sotoyu bathhouses
Nozawa Onsen has 13 sotoyu, communal bathhouses, kept up by villagers through a system called yunakama.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
The village with onsen in its name
Nozawaonsen, in Shimotakai District, Nagano, is the only village in Japan with onsen in its name.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
Nozawaonsen, Nagano
Freshly boiled corn and sasa-dango
Eaten with the onsen tamago beside the Ogama.
From: Boiling breakfast in a hot spring: life in Nozawa
More notes from Hokuriku & Koshinetsu
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Jibuni
A simmered dish of Ishikawa made with duck, sudare-fu and seasonal vegetables, said to have been eaten by samurai households since at least the Edo period.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Nodoguro takikomi gohan
Nodoguro is a prized fish, so rich in fat it is called "the toro of white fish." The overnight-dried fish I bought at the market was lightly salted using deep-s…
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Mettajiru
A hearty pork miso soup full of root vegetables, distinguished by using sweet potato in place of the usual potato.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
My take on Yahoo chazuke
The shop known as "Yahoo chazuke" was Shinano, an ochazuke shop in Katamachi 1-chome, Kanazawa.
From: Winter in Kanazawa, from a townhouse kitchen
Shiojiri, Nagano
Rice-flour oyaki with nozawana
Oyaki are the signature home dish of Shinshu: a dough of wheat or buckwheat flour rolled thin, wrapped around a filling and baked.
From: Autumn leaves in Narai-juku and an autumn table in Shinshu
Shiojiri, Nagano
Shinshu beef sukiyaki
Nagano's "apple-fed Shinshu beef" is black wagyu that meets standards set by a producers' association; the cattle are fed by-products of the prefecture's food i…
From: Autumn leaves in Narai-juku and an autumn table in Shinshu