SEASON
Four seasons on a plate
Season is not a calendar — it shifts with place and year.
Final course of a kaiseki dinner at Hiiragiya Ryokan, Kyoto: setoka orange, strawberry and mint — Photo: Paul Keller / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Japanese cuisine places great weight on bringing seasonal ingredients into the menu. In kaiseki, course by course, the turning of the season is told in sequence.
Yet the same ingredient comes into season at different times depending on where it grows, the climate and the year. 'Spring' in Hokkaido and in Kyushu brings different things to the table.
Rather than declaring when an ingredient is in season, this archive presents seasonality as a tendency of each place.
Further reading
Photo credits
Final course of a kaiseki dinner at Hiiragiya Ryokan, Kyoto: setoka orange, strawberry and mint
Hiiragiya Ryokan, Kyoto
Photographer / creator
Paul Keller
Source / licence
Paul Keller, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Displayed with colour adjustment
Taranome (Japanese angelica tree shoots), a spring mountain vegetable
Photographer / creator
Kentin
Source / licence
Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kentin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Displayed with colour adjustment
Kaiseki course with sashimi and matsutake at Tsukiji Jisaku (the former Iwasaki mansion), Tokyo
Tsukiji, Tokyo
Photographer / creator
Unknown
Source / licence
Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Chris 73 / Wikimedia Commons
Displayed with colour adjustment
Hassun course of a kaiseki dinner at KAI Tsugaru, Owani Onsen, Aomori
Owani, Aomori
Photographer / creator
663highland
Source / licence
663highland, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Displayed with colour adjustment