Kakinoha Sushi
In September of 2014, I was on a bullet train, or shinkansen, from Shin Osaka to Kagoshima when two sisters in their eighties boarded the train and sat across the aisle from me. Chieko was 82 and her sister, Emiko, was 88 (fictitious names). I told them I was stopping in Kagoshima for a couple of days before visiting family in Miyakonojo. They were on their way to Ibusuki, the famed sand baths, to get health treatments.
Chieko gave me a dessert called manju from her purse and so did Emiko. Emiko chuckled and said it might be a bit stale because it was from a hotel. I had four pieces of kakinoha sushi left from my lunch that I had picked up at the train station in Shin Osaka and decided to offer them to the sisters. I had to do some quick thinking…I knew that the number 4 in Japanese culture signified bad luck because the number is pronounced shi, similar to the Japanese and Chinese word for death, so four is avoided just like the number 13 in America. Quickly considering their advanced age, I handed them three pieces and ate the other surreptitiously. They had heard of kakinoha sushi but had never tasted it and I could tell that they savored the vinegared rice and pressed fish immensely.
After they finished, they started digging in their purses and handed me candy. Chieko gave me a hand-beaded bear with a bell in the center. A few minutes later, she handed me a new handkerchief as another gift. When the train vendor came along with her cart, I asked for green tea but she was out so I took canned coffee. Chieko interrupted and the young vendor told her she was completing the sale to me, but Chieko said she would pay for my drink. When the train stopped in Kagoshima, they even took my trash, saying they would dispose of it for me.
I had no idea that my kakinoha sushi was filled with magic. Wherever you are, Chieko and Emiko, I wish you good health and long and happy lives.
