04/28/2026
The side dishes served at Domo also have a story behind them.This article was posted on Nippon-kan FB and I shared it.
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The Founder of Aikido and His Breakfast when Cherry Blossoms and Rapeseed Flowers were in season:
His morning worship ritual concluded before the small shrine situated just before the back door, where he gazed up at the rising sun and recited a Shinto prayer to Amaterasu Omikami.
fter the morning ritual, he strolled through vegetable fields, still clad in his formal attire. His wife, meanwhile, was already taking a brief rest from having worked in the fields before breakfast.
In the village of Iwama, alongside Sakura Cherry Blossoms, Canola Flowers, heralds of spring, burst into bloom in unison, adorning the season with their vibrant yellow blossoms.
The Founder of Aikido used to gather young stems of rapeseed greens for breakfast. Kikuno, then maid for the Ueshiba family, boiled the rapeseed greens, strained them off water thoroughly before mixing them with a light splash of soy sauce and gently squeezing them to get rid of excess moisture before serving them on a plate on the table.
Meals for the Founder of Aikido were very simple. Yet, there were a few items that were never forgotten on his dining table. They were a single sake cupful of black vinegar and sake, dried shirasu unagi (dried young eels), or chirimen-jako (dried young sardines) and dried shrimp.
He would eat in small portions cooked rapeseed blossoms and these various dried foods by dipping them lightly in vinegar or sake. His staple diet consisted almost entirely of rice porridge. He was particularly fond of “mochi-gayu”, special porridge into which pieces of mochi (rice cakes) that had been offered at the previous month’s shrine rituals were added. (Meals served during “Naorai”, a feast following the monthly shrine rituals will be reserved for future.)
Alongside the Dojo known as Nippon Kan, I manage a Japanese restaurant called DOMO. At this time of year, we go through over sixty pounds of rapeseed greens each week. We utilize the leaves and stems as ingredients, so we rarely actually see rapeseed blossoms; however, every now and then, we do come across a flower or two inside the boxes of rapeseed stems and leaves.
While unpacking rapeseed greens out of boxes to wash and cook them, I paused for a moment to reminiscence my days in Iwama when I was in late teens, realizing once again rapeseed greens had become my own must-have item for breakfast at this time of the year.
