Activity Overview
Visit a 150-year-old local shop that makes and sells tsukemono, or Japanese pickles, and was once appointed with a royal warrant. Here, you will learn how to make a traditional type of pickle called nukazuke, which uses rice bran for fermentation.
After taking a brief tour of the storefront and the shop’s history, follow the owner back to the private kura warehouse for the nukazuke workshop using a seasonal vegetable such as eggplant.
And lastly, you’re in for a treat! You’ll be served a delicious ochazuke meal complete with a striking array of ten tsukemono pickles including shop specialties and rarities. Of course the nukazuke from your workshop is also yours to keep. It will be ready to eat within a day or two, just store in a cool place and wash off all the nuka (rice bran) before eating.
＊ Please indicate any food allergies or dietary restrictions via the comments section of the online booking form when requesting your reservation.
- Available Dates
- Every Day (unless otherwise marked on calendar below)
- Available Hours
- 3:00pm to 5:00pm
- Maximum Attendees
- 10 people (min. 2 people)
Shop Introduction
Yaoyo, the tsukemono pickle shop, is hard to miss in the shotengai arcade because of its stately Edo Period atmosphere. Since opening in 1850, this shop has been serving as the “neighborhood kitchen” for over 150 years. At one time the shop even acquired a royal warrant, the only tsukemono shop in our entire region to be appointed with this honor. Enjoying wide recognition, they serve customers from all over Japan and even from overseas.
The shop first began as a caterer of shojin-ryori (the vegetarian cuisine of Buddhist temples) to the area’s major temples such as Mii-dera, Enman-in, and Enryaku-ji. However, in the third generation of the late Edo period, one of the tsukemono products, Nagara-zuke (local Omi-kabu turnips pickled in sake lees), was introduced and became their signature product. This product’s popularity soon led the shop to begin specializing in tsukemono, a legacy which they have preserved ever since, operating continuously from the same original location!