If you visit the city of Komatsu, you’ll meet the positive-minded Kabukky. Kabukky who? It’s not a real person but is the city’s cartoon mascot dressed in traditional Kabuki garments—those of the character Benkei from the famous Kabuki story Kanjincho, to be precise. Kabukky is also one of the ways you can tell
that Komatsu, which is in the south-west part of Ishikawa Prefecture, offers a good mix of the traditional and cultural, and the modern and cute. In fact, Komatsu City has so much to offer visitors: arts, culture, nature and science.
The first signs of civilisation appeared in Komatsu about 20,000 years ago. One legend has it that the city got its name from the monk-emperor Kazan who planted a pine sapling in the region. In 1576, Komatsu Castle became the home of the third Kaga Lord, Toshitsune Maeda, whose contributions to the local economy and development have resulted in the modern Komatsu we see today. Komatsu City now has just 110,000 people living across 371 sq km.
Modern Komatsu was founded in 1889 and became a hub of natural resources. These include jasper stone as well as the stone that is used to make the city’s national ceramic wares known as kutani-yaki, which is recognised by its use of vivid colours and overglaze painting. Mayor Shinji Wada tells us, “The stone used to make authentic kutani-yaki has to be from Komatsu. Otherwise, it is not considered kutani-yaki.”
Komatsu also has its share of natural beauty. It is flanked by the Sea of Japan to the west and Mount Hakusan, which means White Mountain, to the east. The latter is one of Japan’s three most sacred mountains.
Besides nature, Komatsu City is famous for its Kabuki scene. Every spring, the Otabi festival, which started about 360 years ago, takes place over three days in May. It is said to have begun at a time when the Komatsu City locals became rich from the silk industry.
And if you are wondering why the city of Komatsu shares the same name as the construction and industrial equipment giant Komatsu, it’s because the latter was founded in this city in the 1920s, making it a truly multi-faceted city to visit.
Learn more about the many marvels of Komatsu City in the following pages!
A temple for nature
(TEXT Pearlyn Tham Photography Ken Nakayama)
A Fresh Feast
Komatsu City has lots of natural resources, which result in delicious produce and seasonal seafood.
In any country, what is served on the dining table generally depends on where it is located on the geographic map.
The city of Komatsu is no exception. Located in the south-west region of Ishikawa Prefecture, the city is flanked by Mount Hakusan to the east and the Sea of Japan to the west. What this means: it has an abundance of natural resources, such as superior clean spring water and the freshest produce that any gourmand would love to cook with and feast on.
A signature produce of Komatsu City is the humble tomato. Here, the juicy red fruit is such an important symbol of the city’s agricultural industry that there’s even a Tomato Harvest Festival dedicated to it.
The Komatsu tomato is plump and sweet enough to be eaten on its own as a snack. Otherwise, it is used in jams and jellies or in curries to balance the spices with its sweet-tangy kick.
For something that is more seasonal, visit Komatsu City in winter time for its buri (yellowtail fish) and the iconic snow crab. The latter is fished only during the winter season, with the male species Kanou Crab surfacing between November and March and the female Kobako Crab appearing towards the end of December.
To pay homage to this delicious crustacean, the Awazu Onsen town in Komatsu City even has its own Crab Festival Special during the winter months. A soak in a hot spring, followed by a dinner of crab hotpot and warm sake—that is the good life for sure.
Komatsu’s proximity to the bountiful Sea of Japan means that it also has many other species of seafood besides snow crab, something that the local Kajisuke restaurant, which has been around for more than 50 years, leverages on.
Here, the kaiseki dinner set may include ingredients such as tai (seabream) and Nodoguro (rockfish or blackthroat sea perch) from Komatsu City. Chef-owner Taro Kaji also uses local hairy crab in the simplest but tastiest way: He boils them in salted water.
Another key Komatsu trait here at Kajisuke? The restaurant serves its kaiseki dinner dishes on traditional kutani-yaki plates and bowls because the 38-year-old chef-owner wishes to promote and sustain the city’s national art form. Local fresh produce eaten off beautiful and prized local ceramics? A win-win situation.
>>Read more about Komatsu Foods
A Taste of Komatsu
Interview
Kajisuke
The married couple, who are in their thirties, run the business with Taro’s parents. They use local produce, such as white oyster, crab and tomatoes, and serve these on valuable, traditional kutani-yaki ceramics. They have recently started offering halal food for tourists and the city’s foreign population.
Tell us more about what’s good to order at Kajisuke.
We have a lunch set with sashimi (including tuna and snapper), egg tofu, nameko mushrooms, a soup with puffer fish and mitsuba vegetables, and apple compote for dessert. The set also includes a tofu bowl made with yam, red konjac and winter melon. Every day, the lunch set changes, so do call to enquire and make your reservation a day before. At night, we serve a kaiseki set. What’s special is we serve the food on traditional kutani-yaki ceramics because we wish to help promote and preserve this craft from Komatsu City.
You also added a halal menu in 2016.
Yes, we are one of a handful of halal-certified restaurants here. We were sent for a course on halal food preparation. We have pork-free dishes as well as dishes prepared with halal-certified meat. Private dining rooms are available too and so are prayer spaces and disposable dining ware. We also do not prepare the food with shoyu as it has alcohol; we use a non-alcoholic form of shoyu instead.
What do you like most about Komatsu?
Hiyo Moss Garden because it’s a peaceful place with the sunlight filtering through the many trees. Also, the four seasons in Komatsu because they are very clearly defined. For food, it would have to be nodoguro (black throat sea perch) and local mushrooms, although they have an acquired taste!
Kajisuke
141, Yamato-machi, Komatsu City, Ishikawa 923-0952
Tel: 0761-22-8314
Higashi Sake Brewing Company Ltd
The seventh-generation owner works with a team of fewer than 20 people to churn out 30,000 bottles of sake every year. These are exported to countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Germany. He tells us what makes his award-winning sakes so popular and special.
Why do you think your customers love your sakes?
If you want to drink Komatsu sake, come to us. We produce about 12 varietals. One of our junmai daiginjo sakes also won a prize in France. Our sakes are brewed using Mount Hakusan mountain spring water and local rice. Most sakes are sweet or dry, but ours are unami because we add an extra step in our sake-making process. Generally, in the brewing process, the rice is fermented then squeezed. For us, we add more rice just before it is squeezed. This gives our sakes a special sweetness. I also like to make the sakes taste smoother, so that they can go with most kinds of food. You can visit us to see how sake is produced and to sample a few of them. It’s a form of sake tourism that we are interested in.
Is sake making a very precise art?
Yes, we have a 150-year-old stone warehouse that helps to regulate the temperature during summer and winter. We have to check on the temperatures of the sakes and record them at different intervals on a scoreboard. Over-fermentation can lower the quality of the sakes. We also have a shrine for the god of sake to bless our goods!
What is a new sake trend?
Sake has been around for more than 2,000 years but its flavours have always been evolving. For instance, nobody would have thought that sake could be sweet a few years ago. Now, I find that customers like more dry sakes or those with a more unique taste.
What would you recommend about Komatsu?
Natadera Temple, because it is a very cultural place for tourists to experience.
Higashi Sake Brewing Company
35 Noada-machi, Komatsu City, Ishikawa 923-0033
Tel: 0761-22-2302
Indulge Your Senses
Whether you appreciate ceramics, nature or even vintage cars, you will have lots to do in Komatsu City.
Bask in Nature at Hiyo Moss Garden
Enter a tranquil, serene world where soft sunlight filters through overarching cedar trees (the garden is named after them). About 50 types of moss are grown here, some for export to make vertical gardens as the plant is known for its hardy nature. Because so many varieties of moss are grown here, university students visit the garden to do research on the moss. Symbolic in ancient samurai culture, moss flourishes only in areas with very clean water—an indication of how pristine the resources are here. There’s a small shrine here too. So who takes care of all this scenic beauty? A few families living in the neighbourhood—they have been maintaining the garden for hundreds of years. Visit any season except winter.
>>Read more about Komatsu Sights
Bring Home a Piece of Komatsu
From pretty ceramics to delicious jams, these are the souvenirs you’ll want to share with family and friends.
>>Read more about Komatsu Souvenirs
Komatsu In A Year
Blessed with mineral-rich fertile soil, clean rivers, abundant agricultural land and a subtropical climate, Komatsu City has the perfect conditions to produce the finest fruit and vegetables, and livestock. Here’s the best of what the prefecture can offer over the four seasons.
春 – Spring (March to May)
夏 – Summer(June to August)
▶Enjoy the sweetness of the tomatoes.
秋 – Autumn(September to November)
▶Nothing beats the view of red leaves at Natadera temple. Let it take your breath away.
冬 – Winter(December to February)
▶Only in winter can you see Yukitsuri, a structure that prevent damage to trees in heavy snowfall.