Contest! Big Prize!

[Dave Lowry]

Come on, guys. Action on this site has been drooping more pathetically than Steven Seagal’s okole in a damp Speedo.
So how about a quick quiz to enliven things around the campus here? Anyone can enter, but if you don’t know tonjiki from onigiri, maybe you’d be better off spending your time on one of those sites where they debate whether Bruce Lee could have beaten up Spiderman or something.

Okay, here’s the question: What respectively did Tokugawa Ieyasu and Takeda Katsuyori bring to the battlefield for inter-inning snacking at Nagashino in 1575? (Clue: no fair if you’re from Aichi or Gifu prefectures.)

Winner will receive a Kojiro 2002, the world’s newest katana with an onboard computer, including infrared capabilities for up to the second readouts on your opponent’s blood viscosity, bone density, and immediate postmortem analysis of your swing. That’s the Kojiro 2002, the katana that puts the “cutting” in cutting edge computer technology.

[Walker]

So I guess from the tone of your question they didn’t have a weenie roast with smores and hot chocolate?

BTW- Does the Kojiro 2002 scan for blood borne pathogens? Gosh can you post a picture? Were can I get one as I’ve been waiting my whole life for a sword like this!!! :kiss:

[will]

Winner will receive a Kojiro 2002, the world’s newest katana ...

Uhhh... does that come in a sakabato version? :D



--------------
Will Schutt

[john mark]

I'll give it a try --------------> Great Dane stirred fried with black bean and hot peppers!

[joe yang]

Was it grilled cheese sandwiches?

[J. A. Crippen]

No, no, silly. It wasn't grilled cheese sandwiches, it was those wasabi flavored dried peas! Those are my favorite too!

Seriously, did they bring umeboshi? Those seem to me like good snack food.

[red_fists]

Naah, they went for "nattou". :idea:

Wife concurs on that one. :smash:

[Dave Lowry]

Oh, I’m sorry. That sound of the buzzer means this week’s contest has ended and we don’t have a winner.
If you’ll remember, the question was: What foods did Tokugawa Ieyasu and Takeda Katsuyori bring to eat during the 1575 battle of Nagashino? Closest answer was from a reader in Iowa who guessed: “The Norman Conquest.” Ohhhh, darned close.

The correct answer was: gohei mochi and kassen musubi.
Gohei mochi is named after the Shinto wand. It’s made from glutinous mochi rice that’s pressed onto sticks, then grilled and brushed with kurumi miso, which is a combination of pulverized walnuts, miso, sake and a little bit of sugar. Eaten a lot up around Nagano and Gifu. The smell, when it’s grilling, is spectacular. Supposedly, Takeda’s troops carried it into battle as a pick-me-up in between moments of beheading and disemboweling.
Kassen (“battle”) musubi is a rice ball that has an oval of aka-miso stuffed inside. It’s grilled and brushed with tamari now, but you can still get it in Aichi Prefecture made the old way, brushed with shottsuru, which is how Ieyasu’s crew would have had it.

[Arman]

Soooo, is that a "no" on the weenie roast? Or am I missing something? Hello? Guys?

Arman Partamian
Daito-ryu Study Group
Maryland

[Wu Wei]

I think Mr. Lowry just made that up. None of us know the real answer so none of us can contest his.:nono:

[HanashiBugeisha]

Mr. Wei,

I am certain that you do not know Mr. Lowry nor are aware of his reputation. I would be inclined to believe that Mr. Lowry most certainly does know the correct answer and would be equally as certain that he would never make an answer up.

Do a little research...check out the following books....Autumn Lightning, Persimmon Wind, Moving Toward Stillness, Bokken: Art of the Japanese Sword, and Sword and Brush. All of Mr. Lowry's books have a very special place in my library and in my heart and soul.

Do a search on Mr. Lowry's numerous articles. I am sure you would find them not only enlightening and motivational, but also interesting and often times entertaining.

Respectfully,

Matthew Ash
Wichita, Kansas

[Wu Wei]

Sorry, I was merely being facetious. I was following the tone of the thread. Mr. Lowry wanted to liven things up so I was just following along. (And I guess I did :laugh: )

Although I'm sure Mr. Lowry is correct, there was no where near a reply close to the correct answer. In other words, none of us really know whether he is giving us a line or providing us with correct information. I'm sure the latter is the case, I was simply making an observation

[HanashiBugeisha]

No harm, no foul.

Regards,

Matthew Ash
Wichita, Kansas

[Dave Lowry]

Reference for musubi/gohei question:

Shioya Junsuke. 1969. Nihon Konjaku Inshoku Ko. Tokyo: Kinensha. pp. 113-114.

Sakurai Shu. 1973. Shokumotsushi. Tokyo: Yuzankaku Shuppan. p. 75.

Can't read Japanese? Then try:

Ogawa Seiko. 1998. Fun & Fancy Sushi. Tokyo: Japan Publications. p. 24, notes the connexion with the battle at Nagashino and gives recipes for both.

Cordially,

[Wu Wei]

Is there a consolation prize?