This audio is generated by AI, so pronunciation and expressions may not be fully accurate. The narration is only in English.
Kuruma has spent 33 years researching ukiyo-e, the woodblock prints that symbolize Edo culture, and 15 years studying Edo food culture. Her interest in Edo cuisine was sparked when she helped edit Oedo Sampo-michi, a book by writer and essayist Tsuge Itsuka. "Up to that point, I had been researching ukiyo-e, but I knew very little about Edo cuisine, even though it often appears as a motif in those prints. As I began looking into it for the book, I realized—unsurprisingly—that most dishes are based on miso, soy sauce, and salt. The straightforward flavors reminded me of the local food in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, where I once lived, and that's what made me want to delve deeper into the study of Edo cuisine," Kuruma recalls.
She began recreating dishes found in Edo-period literature and posting one each day on her blog. This eventually developed into an online series, and before she knew it, she had recreated more than 1,000 dishes.
There is an Edo-period book called Tofu Hyakuchin that became a bestseller in its day, featuring 100 tofu recipes. Kuruma recreated all of them, particularly during the pandemic.
Through this process, she came to realize that Edo cuisine, though simple, is exceptionally well-balanced nutritionally and well-suited to the Japanese body's nutritional needs.
"If you think about the best way to enjoy fish, it really comes down to eating it raw, as sashimi—that's when you get the most nutrition," Kuruma explains. "That way of thinking gave rise to Japan's knife culture: the knife became the most important cooking tool, and even the word kireaji—meaning sharpness—came into use. The idea was to rely on simple techniques that let seasonal ingredients shine. Seasonings, too, are approached differently. Outside Japan, they tend to be used to add flavor, but ingredients like miso, soy sauce, and salt are meant to draw out the natural taste of the food."
According to Kuruma, dark soy sauce came into widespread use around the mid-18th century. Until then, soy sauce had been shipped by sea from the Osaka area in western Japan. The variety produced in Edo (present-day Tokyo) was more affordable and better suited to local tastes, which expanded the range of cooking methods and ways of eating. It spread rapidly among ordinary people and can be seen as the very root of Edo cuisine.
Another important development of the era was the invention of vinegar made from sake lees. It had the same rich body and gentle sweetness as the cloudy vinegar used previously, but it could be offered more affordably, and it paired especially well with sushi rice. This, in turn, helped nigiri-zushi take root and spread widely. According to Kuruma, dark soy sauce and lees-based vinegar—known today as red vinegar—together sparked a revolution in Japanese food culture.
Kuruma initially shared photographs of finished Edo dishes, but as interest grew in seeing the cooking process itself, she went on to establish the kitchen studio Ukiyo's Kitchen in neighboring Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture. There, she now shares videos of her cooking on YouTube. Drawing on historical sources, the studio recreates the look of an ordinary Edo-period kitchen, with careful attention paid to cooking utensils and tableware that evoke the period as closely as possible.
Kuruma says that more than 200 recipe books like Tofu Hyakuchin were published between the 17th and 18th centuries. Yet most include no photographs and almost no illustrations, and the instructions themselves are remarkably loose. Even the language poses challenges: many ingredient names are unfamiliar, and there are no measurements whatsoever—nothing like the tablespoon-based guidance found in modern cookbooks. Dishes such as sakizuke, served at the beginning of a course, are often listed by name alone, with no description of what they actually contained, making it difficult even to identify the ingredients. As a result, she adds, attempting to recreate these dishes meant constant struggle and repeated trial and error.
She also notes that many of the ingredients used at the time differ completely from those available today.
"Tofu is a good example," Kuruma observes. "Back then, it was much denser and firmer than it is today—solid enough to be tied with rope and carried around. Some records even describe it being cut up, skewered, and eaten as dengaku, a grilled dish served on skewers. That's why you can't recreate Edo-period dishes simply by using modern ingredients. In some cases, you have to rethink the ingredients themselves before you can even start cooking."
Drawing on a wide range of historical sources, Ukiyo's Kitchen recreates the atmosphere of an Edo-period kitchen in meticulous detail, from the ceiling down to the sliding doors.
It is also available for use as a filming studio.
The tableware was selected from antique shops and other sources to reflect items used at the time.
Matsuo Basho Moon-Viewing Banquet. ©Edo Culinary Culture Research Institute. Reproduction prohibited.
Deep-fried daikon radish topped with grated daikon, known as agedashi daikon. ©Edo Culinary Culture Research Institute. Reproduction prohibited.
Grilled tofu dengaku topped with kinome (young sansho pepper leaves). ©Edo Culinary Culture Research Institute. Reproduction prohibited.
In recent years, Kuruma has increasingly been invited to give talks on Edo culture and cuisine to international audiences overseas, drawing such strong interest that registrations often exceed venue capacity by more than double. Reflecting this growing global interest, her latest book, Ukiyo-e ni Miru Edo no Shoku Bunka (Edo Food Culture in Ukiyo-e), was released in a bilingual Japanese-English edition.
"With washoku gaining popularity overseas, many international audiences seem genuinely curious about what Japanese people used to eat," Kuruma reflects. "When I tell them that foods they already love—like nigiri-zushi, eel, tempura, and soba—were all established between the 17th and 19th centuries, they're always surprised. Soba itself goes back much further, but before that time, it was eaten as sobagaki, a kind of buckwheat dumpling served with miso. It wasn't until the 17th century that soba was cut into noodles and eaten with broth. People overseas find this kind of food history fascinating, yet I have the sense that even many Japanese aren't fully aware of it. I believe it's essential to have an understanding of your own food culture."
