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Monday, October 26 (archive)

Today in Japan

Watercolor of fresh and hanging dried persimmons, steaming broad kishimen noodles, chestnut rice and chestnuts in burrs, a temple bell and frost-tipped autumn grasses

What day is it?

  1. 2005年制定Persimmon Day柿の日

    This day was set up in 2005 by the persimmon section of a national group of fruit growers. It comes from a famous haiku by Masaoka Shiki, written on his trip to Nara in 1895: "Eating a persimmon, I hear the bell of Horyuji ring." October 26th is linked to that trip, and late October is also when persimmons are at their best.

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  2. Kishimen Noodle Dayきしめんの日

    Kishimen are flat, wide wheat noodles, a local specialty of Nagoya. This day was set up by a noodle makers' group in Aichi Prefecture. The date is a word game: 26 can be read as "tsu-ru," like tsuru-tsuru, the Japanese sound for smooth, slippery noodles. Nobody is sure where the name kishimen comes from, and there are several theories.

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  3. First Frost Falls七十二候「霜始降（しもはじめてふる）」

    The old calendar splits the year into 72 short seasons of about five days each. From around October 23rd to 27th is "First Frost Falls." In the mountains and in the north, the first frost of the year starts to appear on the fields. In big cities like Tokyo, though, the first frost usually comes much later, around December.

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If someone asks you

Q

Why do people hang rows of orange fruit outside their houses in autumn?

A

Those are persimmons being dried. Some kinds of persimmon make your mouth feel so dry and rough that you can't really eat them fresh. But if you peel them and hang them in the cold autumn air for a few weeks, that dry feeling goes away and they become very sweet. We call them hoshigaki, or dried persimmons. You'll see them in the countryside more than in big cities.

In season Chestnuts 栗 Chestnuts are one of the tastes of autumn in Japan. From September into October, they fall from the trees, still inside spiky shells. A popular home dish is kuri gohan, or rice cooked with chestnuts. Peeling the hard skin takes time and effort, which makes it feel like a special autumn treat. Sweet chestnut desserts also fill the shops in this season.
Micro-season 52 of 72 霜始降しもはじめてふる First Frost Falls The first frost of the year appears in the mountains and on northern fields. Farmers race to bring in what is left before it hits the crops.

Phrase of the day

Persimmons are in season now. Want to try one?

Sentence of the day

October 26th is Persimmon Day, named after a famous haiku by Masaoka Shiki. It's also Kishimen Noodle Day, and in the old calendar it's the time when the first frost falls.

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Sources

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