Let's read a story in Japanese! Introducing the rakugo "Meguro Sanma"!
hello everyone!
This is an online Japanese reading corner.
Today, I would like to introduce a story for intermediate and advanced people, "Meguro Sanma".
"Meguro" is the name of the place, and "Sanma" is the type of fish.
Let's read what kind of story it is!
"Sanma of Meguro"
This is a story from the Edo period.
One cool autumn day, the lord was out in Meguro with his retainers.
In the Edo period, Meguro was a country town.
Well, lords who have finished their errands, it's time for a fun lunch.
However, the servants forgot their lunches, so they all tried to go home hungry.
Then you can smell something good.
Lord: "It smells very good. Something is being grilled nearby."
Servant: "Lord, this smells like grilled saury."
Lord: "What? Sanma? *I have never eaten such a fish."
Servant: "Sanma is a commoner's food, not a fish to serve in front of the lord."
Lord: "I'm hungry! I don't care if you have anything to eat!"
*Yo: Me
At first, the retainer was embarrassed by the lord's selfishness, but finally went to a farmer's couple who were grilling saury nearby to ask if they would share the saury.
The farmer's couple was also surprised.
Servant: "Your lord is hungry. Would you like some saury?"
Husband and wife: "Huh? Of course I don't mind... Is this a normal fish really for a lord to eat?"
The farmer and his wife are grilling the common people's fish, Sanma.
The couple and the retainers wondered if it was okay for the lord to eat such a dish.
Servant: "Your Majesty, this is the food of the common people. If the superiors find out about this, we will be offended. Please keep it a secret."
Lord: "I understand. Come on, come on, is the saury still there?"
Finally, freshly grilled black saury appeared in front of the lord.
Lord: "Oh! This is a saury! It smells good!"
When you eat a bite of saury...
Lord: "What is this!"
The lord's eyes widened at the taste.
This is because the fish that the lord always eats is sea bream, and he eats the sea bream that has been cold for an hour after his retainer has tasted the poison.
Therefore, the lord was very impressed to see such a warm and oily fish for the first time.
Even after returning home, the lord could not forget the taste of saury.
One day, a retainer asked the lord what kind of food he wanted to have at the next castle party.
Lord: "I want to eat saury."
I ended up talking about saury.
Well, the cooks were in trouble.
Chef: "The lord is eating saury? Is that true?"
Even though they thought it was strange, the chefs went to the market to look for saury.
However, since the season is January and saury is an autumn fish, there are very few of them in the market.
I finally found saury in Nihonbashi, bought some, and started cooking.
To prevent the lord from hurting his stomach, I steamed the saury, removed all the fat from the saury, removed all the small bones, and put the saury into balls like dumplings in the soup and served it in front of the lord.
Lord: "Is this a saury?"
The lord tried to eat saury dumplings, but they were completely different from the saury dumplings he ate in Meguro, and they didn't taste good.
Lord: "Hey! Where did you buy this saury?"
Chef: "This is Nihonbashi!"
Lord: "That's why... After all, saury is limited to Meguro !!"
How was it.
"Meguro Sanma" is a rakugo story.
It's quite famous among rakugo, and it's a short story, so it's easy to get close to.
By the way, have you ever eaten a fish called Sanma?
Pacific saury is a long, thin fish that is in season in autumn.
If you haven't tried it yet, be sure to check it out in the fish section of your supermarket this fall.
It's also great to have it with grated daikon radish.
Now, let's review some Japanese here!
At the end of the story, the lord says, "Sanma is limited to Meguro!"
What does "limited to" mean?
"Nenakeru" is used when you are saying something or something that the person you are talking to thinks best.
Also, it is often used together with the word "as expected".
Example) "Summer is limited to ice cream!"
"Kuu~~! After the bath, I'm limited to cold beer!"
"If you travel in Japan, it's limited to Okinawa."
"Horror movies can only be seen on big TVs."
“When those two are arguing, just don't say anything.
It can be used after nouns and verbs like this.
Please try using it.
Well, that's all for today!
See you next blog!
