cultural heritage series

UNESCO recently registered “Japanese Cuisine” as an intangible cultural heritage of the world. To commemorate this event, I did a series of etegami depicting dishes that I felt expressed the connection between Japan’s food and cultural identity.

The first illustration depicts a box having lots of compartments filled with a wide variety of tidbits generally called Osechi, which is the label given to food prepared especially for New Year’s Day. Each item has some kind of auspicious meaning, often based on wordplay, although sometimes the significance is in the shape or color of the item.

The second illustration depicts Ishikari Nabe, a hot-pot dish that represents Hokkaido, the part of Japan I call home. This Ishikari Nabe features sea food and agricultural produce for which Hokkaido is known (particularly salmon and salmon eggs). Many regions of Japan are represented by their own particular nabe recipe.

I used a black felt pen instead of the traditional fude writing brush and sumi ink for these, so they don't look much like traditional etegami.