Salmon Day (Sake no Hi)

What Is Salmon Day?

Salmon Day (Sake no Hi) is observed on November 11th. The date comes from the kanji for salmon, "sake" (鮭): its right-hand part, "kei" (圭), can be split into "ten, one, ten, one," which reads as 11/11. In 1987, Murakami City in Niigata Prefecture set November 11th as Salmon Day, and in 1992 the "Salmon Day Establishment Committee," formed by wholesalers and intermediate wholesalers at an Osaka market and renamed the Salmon Day Committee in 1994, chose the same date. It was certified by the Japan Anniversary Association in 2003. It falls right in the season for autumn salmon, so it is a day to spread the appeal of salmon and its food culture.

The Salmon Culture of Murakami

The Miomote River, which salmon run up, flows through Murakami, and people there have long benefited from salmon. Surveys of sites made during dam construction found traces of salmon eating at 19 sites from the Paleolithic to the Kofun period. The Heian-period code Engishiki records salmon being sent from Echigo Province to the imperial court. In the mid-Edo period, when overfishing thinned the salmon, Aoto Buheiji, a samurai of the Murakami domain, devised a way to protect and increase them with a branch channel for spawning called the "tanekawa." It is said to be the world's first success in natural salmon hatching and propagation. Even now, in autumn a fence called the "urai" catches salmon on the Miomote for egg collection, and a traditional method called "iguri-ami" fishing is used downstream.

• Shiobiki salmon:Cured with salt rubbed in, it is cut in a way called "tomebara" that leaves the belly partly closed so as not to suggest seppuku in this castle town, then dried in the cold wind. In early winter, rows of them hang from eaves
• Salmon spirit festival:Every November 11th in Murakami, a Shinto rite offers salmon before the altar in gratitude for nature's bounty, and a "shiobiki dojo" where masters teach how to make the cured salmon is also opened
• Salmon dishes:Murakami is said to have over 100 salmon dishes, and a culture of eating the fish from head to innards without waste
• The dialect word "iyoboya":Murakami people call salmon this. Both "iyo" and "boya" mean fish, because salmon was the fish

The Difference Between "Sake" and "Salmon"

Salmon flesh looks red, but it is classified as a white fish. The red comes from a pigment called astaxanthin in the crustaceans the fish eat, and its antioxidant properties have drawn attention. Just before spawning, the red moves to the skin and eggs, and the flesh returns to its original whitish color. Wild salmon often carry parasites such as anisakis, so eating it raw as it is is not recommended. The raw "salmon" sold in Japan under that name is generally fully farmed Atlantic salmon from Norway and elsewhere, treated as different from Japan's autumn chum salmon.

Tips for Marking This Day

• Choose a salted salmon bento or a salmon rice ball for lunch and enjoy the autumn salmon in season
• For dinner, enjoy salmon dishes such as ishikari-nabe or salt-grilled salmon with your family. Cook wild salmon rather than eating it raw. Salmon provides protein as well as DHA and EPA
• Tell a coworker how the right side of the kanji, 圭, looks like "ten, one, ten, one"
• In places such as Iwate, some schools serve salmon in school lunches on this day. It can prompt memories of school lunches

Salmon, Ainu Culture, and Today

On the Chitose River in Hokkaido, salmon heading upriver to spawn are caught with an "Indian waterwheel," but the aim is to secure parent fish for artificially hatching fry. For the Ainu people, salmon was an important food called "kamuychep," or "god's fish." Salmon Day is also a day to remember the salmon culture handed down across Japan. Enjoy the salmon in season and spare a thought for the history of the places that produce it.