Sanma (Pacific saury fish) are at their best just now. On Sunday, there was a 'Meguro's Sanma Festival' on the East side (Shinagawa-ku) of Meguro station. I wanted to see lots of people queue for 6500 of free chargrilled sanma (donated by Miyako city in Iwate prefecture), but I couldn't go there because of my work. There is an another Sanma festival on the East side (Meguro-ku) of Meguro station next week (pdf). They grill 5000 of sanma from Kesen-numa city in Miyagi prefecture. 'Meguro's Sanma' is very famouse phrase although there is no sea in the Meguro area. That's because of an classic Rakugo (a Japanese comic story telling).

Rakugo: Meguro no Sanma

In the Edo period, the Shogun, who knew little of the real world, felt hungry on the way home from falconry in Meguro. He dropped by a farmhouse, and he was served a grilled sanma (which was known as a vulgar fish at that time). He had never seen the fish. It was sizzling, very fatty, and he loved it.

After a while, he was still thinking about a tasty sanma in his castle. He ordered the chef to cook sanma for him. But the chef there, afraid of making the great man get an upset stomach, had steamed the fish after removing the skin, fat and guts. It was a compleatly wrong way of cooking sanma. After tasting the steamed sanma, he asked where the chef got sanma from. The chef answered that it was from Nihon-bashi fish market. The Shogun said, 'Sanma caught in Meguro is incomparable'.

In fact, Meguro was a poor rural inland village without any fresh fish. It was just the way of cooking was different. This was a funny joke in Edo times to make fun of the ignorant Shogun.