When the ayu fish arrive, it’s the sweet sign of summer
There is a little fish that swims in the cleanest of rivers in Japan. It looks an ordinary fish; slim, silvery grey with gleams of gold. The largest is no bigger than an outstretched palm. It’s part of the salmon family and lives in fast-flowing rivers in
More than the fact that its flesh is sweet and tastes like melon, the fish is deeply connected with the Japanese culture. Ayu, also known as Sweetfish, has been likened to the cherry blossom, heralding the arrival of summer just as cherry blossoms signify spring – or just as grilled hot dogs and hamburgers spell summer in the US.
“Ayu makes us feel the seasons,” says a Japanese connoisseur I meet at the Gifu Ayu promotion at Ten Japanese Fine Dining at the Marc Residence in Kuala Lumpur. And seasonality is the soul of the Japanese.
Ayu is born in autumn, swept out to sea in winter, swimming upstream in spring, bulking up in summer and spawning and dying the next autumn. It lives briefly, for one short year.
The Gifu Ayu Cooked Three Ways presents the three chefs best interpretations of the iconic Japanese freshwater fish.
The very transient nature and elusiveness of the ayu makes it desirable; like how a weak and fragile child has a special place in your heart. Even in Japan, ayu is only eaten fresh next to the river. Wild caught ayu is hardly found away from its source. If available, the price would be prohibitively expensive, in the region of ¥1,000 (RM38) for a little fish the size of a kembung, says Yuki Yoshimi of Akindo Inc. Tokyo, a facilitator for the ayu showcase.
Ten Japanese restaurant Signature Ayu menu promotion with chefs (from left) Chikara Yamada, Daisuke Miyake and Hisashi Yamashita.
Ten Japanese restaurant Signature Ayu menu promotion with chefs (from left) Chikara Yamada, Daisuke Miyake and Hisashi Yamashita.
Ayu thrives only in clean rivers and dam building across Japan has wiped out suitable habitats for fish, and the ayu finds itself in the middle of stimulating a growing environmental awareness in Japan.
The region famous for ayu is Gifu in central Japan where the three great rivers of Nagara, Ibi and Kiso flow. The deeply cleft mountains of Gifu hide many cold, clear springs and brooks where the finest ayu are caught.
Come June, the start of the official ayu fishing season, anglers whip out their 10m long rods and head for the mountain streams. Fishing for ayu is prohibited except during a specified season, to make sure the ayu remains a plentiful species.
Anglers bait ayu with another live ayu – ‘buddy fishing’ – taking advantage of the fish’s territorial instinct. Each ayu defends a 10m to 20m territory where it feeds on algae that clings to rocks and will attack any fish that comes near. It gets hooked when it rams the live bait.
Yamada’s sashimi starter platter of two kinds of tuna, octopus, scallop, prawn, and sea bream with el Bulli inspired “nube” soy sauce cubes.
Later in the season, in early autumn, they begin to swim downstream, growing meatier and larger. Now they are caught by diverting part of the river into a broad bamboo deck – a yana – where they are collected in a traditional fishing technique. One yana can catch tens of thousands of ayu a day.
Yamada's sashimi starter platter of two kinds of tuna, octopus, scallop, prawn, and sea bream with el Bulli inspired “nube” soy sauce cubes.
Yamada’s sashimi starter platter of two kinds of tuna, octopus, scallop, prawn, and sea bream with el Bulli inspired “nube” soy sauce cubes.
On the Nagara River, bonfires are lit to attract ayu to fishing boats, and trained cormorants are sent to catch the fish and bring them back to the boat. This ancient way of fishing dates back 1,300 years and now serves as a tourist attraction – Charlie Chaplin was so moved by the experience he came to see it twice. Edo poet Matsuo Basho wrote two haikus about it.
Ayu of the Nagara River has been mooted for United Nations certification under the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) for sustainable, significant agriculture to safeguard indigenous knowledge and resilient ecosystems. As of 2015, it is pending approval from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Considered the most important species in Japanese freshwater fisheries, farm-raised ayu, as for wild ayu, survives in pure, fresh water. In Gifu, ayu farming channels natural spring water flowing from the same mountain streams that harbour wild ayu and Gifu’s ayu farming leads the world in both technology and technique, according to an official brochure on the region.
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3 Jalan Pinang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2161 5999
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