The Fifth Year of Chōkyū, Daikon, Acorns, and False Chestnuts: Famine Relief Food for Wagoku

"Oh! Tofu and natto are both delicious too. Especially the 'Tang natto' from Kyoto's temples and shrines—that goes perfectly with rice!... Anything else?"

"Uh... there is..."

The setting sun went west, sinking into a sea of ice and snow. The four of them ate with all their might, and the pot of venison porridge was quickly about to show its bottom. The horse breeder Sukeichiro licked his dry lips, glanced at the last bit of meat porridge in the pot, then looked at the monk-soldier Watanabe Masumi and spoke carefully.

"Lord Watanabe, will you still have porridge?"

"Hah?... Oh! No, I'm full. The Buddha said, 'Do not eat wantonly'... I'll leave this last bowl to you!"

"Hai! Thank you, my lord!"

Sukeichiro hurriedly threw himself beside the pot and scraped the last of the rice porridge clean. Murakami Suemichi smiled, then looked at Watanabe Masumi, whose interest in conversation was still running high, and carried on with the topic.

"Lord Watanabe, besides rice, wheat, millet, barnyard millet, taro, and beans, those six staple foods, there's another excellent thing that the villagers treat as a staple food and the lords treat as a side dish..."

"Oh! Murakami-kun, you mean daikon?"

"Exactly! The tastiest and most lifesaving thing is naturally daikon! Daikon is easy to plant and easy to keep alive, it can be eaten raw, and it can also be stored for a long time. It truly is the villagers' lifesaving grain!... When I was little, during the spring famine, there was nothing to eat at home. One sweetish strip of dried daikon could keep you going for a whole day!... And the radish leaves could be eaten too, much tastier than tree leaves..."

Murakami Suemichi's face filled with sighing emotion as he recalled the spring famine that Wagoku's farmers feared