Village to Table Stories

 

In 2021, It All Began with a simple post on SNS,  “We’ve inherited a kofun. Anyone want to use it?”

—and to our surprise, it struck a chord. Many people asked, “You can inherit a kofun?”

In Japan, there are over 160,000 kofun (ancient burial mounds), many of which quietly exist in everyday life—as farmland, parks, or private land.

At the foot of the 114-meter-long Nishiyamazuka Kofun stood a cluster of seven traditional houses, over 100 years old. Long abandoned, they had fallen into ruin.

From Abandoned to Alive Again as accomodation

The houses were nearly beyond repair—leaking roofs, collapsed beams, ghostly silence. It would have been easier to tear them down.

But we felt something here: a presence of time we didn’t want to erase.

While most architects said it was faster to demolish, "Team Clapton"— a group of architects, believed in restoration. Together with volunteers from across Japan and abroad, we began the renovation.

In 2025, cofunia Opened

Three years later, cofunia officially opened in March 2025.
It’s the first accommodation in Japan where guests can stay at the foot of a kofun.

The concept: Five Senses × Five Elements

 

Welcome to "Course 1: The Essence of Japanese Fermentation"

Discover the Art of Japanese Fermentation

Join Chisato Maeda, a fermenter and ethno-botanist, on a culinary journey through Japan's rich fermentation heritage. Our course, "The Essence of Japanese Fermentation: Comprehensive Guide from Ancient Traditions to Home Cooking," offers a deep dive into the world of Koji, miso, soy sauce, and much more.

Unlock the Secrets of Traditional Japanese Fermentation in Your Own Kitchen!

Free coupon in 31 days

Here are free coupon offering for you, upon launching the new course.

Limited Time Offer: Get 100 Exclusive Udemy Redemptions with Code 7CDF46D90E2A986392AF (Expires in 31 Days)

https://www.udemy.com/course/the-essence-of-japanese-fermentation/?couponCode=7CDF46D90E2A986392AF

Why This Course?

• Cultural Insight: Explore the historical and traditional aspects of Japanese food culture.
• Scientific Exploration: Gain a thorough understanding of the chemistry and biology behind fermentation processes.
• Hands-On Learning: Engage in practical home experiments to bring your knowledge to life.
• Foundation for Specialization: Ideal for culinary enthusiasts, professionals, and anyone passionate about wellness and Japanese cuisine.

Course Structure

• Module 0: Preparation for Your Fermentation Journey
• Module 1: The Culinary Canvas of Japan: Food Culture and Fermentation
• Module 2: Basics of Fermentation Science
• Module 3: Introduction to Japanese Fermented Products
• Module 4: Crafting “Ichiju Sansai (one soup, three dishes)” with Practical Recipes

What you will gain from this course

Benefit 1: Comprehensive Textbook

You will receive a 100-page PDF textbook filled with in-depth knowledge, tips and secrets about Japanese fermentation at the end of the course.

Benefit 2: Seasonal one-soup-three-course recipes

You will receive 10 seasonal one-soup-three-course recipes (5 for spring/summer and 5 for fall/winter).

Assignment 1: Miso Tasting Challenge

Develop your sense of taste through miso tasting. Understand the characteristics of various types of miso and practice incorporating them into your daily diet.

Assignment 2: Making pickling beds

Students will practice making pickling beds and pickle familiar foods. Pickle beds such as miso pickles, yogurt miso, traditional 358 pickles, and amasu-zuke pickles.

Assignment3: Crafting Ichiju Sansai

Apply your knowledge from the course to design a seasonal "Ichiju Sansai" menu that captures the essence of the selected season through a harmonious blend of flavors, textures, and nutrition.

Q&A

Q: What are some of the key ingredients used in the cooking lessons for this course?

A: Key ingredients include various types of fermented seasonings miso, soy sauce, vinegar, sake and mirin. Also Japanese foods such as tofu, seaweed, radish, konjac, etc. 

Q: What should I do, if these ingredients are not available in my county?

A: Alternative ingredients are suggested instead of using specific ingredients which are unique to Japan.

Q: What is "Ichiju Sansai," and how is it relevant to the course content?

A: "Ichiju Sansai" refers to the traditional Japanese meal structure of one soup and three side dishes. The course teaches how to create meals using this structure, highlighting the use of fermented seasonings.

---------------

Please find the detail in the link below:

udemy course  "Course 1: The Essence of Japanese Fermentation"

"GOLDEN FERMENTATION WEEK!"

■What is Fermentation School?

With the basic course of "5-day fermentation school" by the Food Expert Ms. Izumi Iguchi, there will be two optional courses; "koji malt studies" and ""ethnobotany.

You can choose the schedule by yourself based on your interests and convenience. 

The venue of Uda city in Nara has been known as historical town of plant medicine, which is recorded in the " Nihon-shoki" (the oldest chronicles of Japan). 

How about learning the art of fermentation and biodiversity of fungi and plants in Nara?


ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

■Basic Class "5 day fermentation"

Lecturer : Food Expert  Ms. Izumi Iguchi 

You can learn "Do-It-Yourself wildcrafting" by using local daily ingredients, and enjoy living together with invisible microorganisms.  

You can get more than 100 of recipes, written by Izumi, after a lot of trials and efforts.  Once you learn from this lesson, you can use it in your lifetime! 

Duration of the Basic Class would be 5 days, however, you can come whenever you like based on your schedule. (The lesson fee will be same how many times you come)

What you can learn from this lesson:

* How to use fermented products
* Make fermented foods
* Make your own body to be fermented

What you make
✴Germinated Rice bran malts 
✴Fermented rice water and recipe 
✴Enzyme of Seasonal herbs and fruits  
✴Yogurt (soy milk yogurt by using plants), and mayonnaise by using soy yogurt
✴Naturally fermented water kimchi without using vinegar 
✴Cabbage Choucroute
✴How to use sake lee, and how to make aging lees 
✴Fermented seasonings (natto shoyu, vinegar onion)
✴15 minute miso  
✴Wild cidar by using fruits 




ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

■Optional Class "koji malts" 

Lecturer：Malicafe Marika Groen 


You can learn whole process of making koji malts at your home; how to control temperature, formation of enzyme, with both lecture and practical lesson. It will need 3 days.

You can learn:

* Diversity of Koji malts in Asian countries
* What is koji, where is it from?
*Asperguillus Flavus
* How to make koji starter by using wild fungi (such as rice malt starter)
* History of koji and brewing in Japan
* Bodaimoto, the older method of brewing in Japan
* How to make bean koji and wheat koji
* How to make soy sauce, etc

Schedule 
3rd May   Steaming, inoculating, Lecuture
4th May   Managing koji malts, Lecture
5th May   Finishing process

■Optional Course "Ethnobotany1: foraging and medicinal sake making"

Lecturer:  Satoyama Library and Mr. Plant Hunter

Fieldwork of plant medicine with a local plant hunter. You can learn how to distinguish medicinal plants and make your own medicinal sake. 

■Optional Course "Ethnobotany2: Natto by using wild plants"

Lecturer:  Satoyama Library 

Natto can be made from varieties of wild plants with conbination of varieties of beans and peas.  You can taste how it will be deferent depending on the types of beans and peas,





ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

■Program 　

2nd May
13:00-17:00　Basic Course 「5 day fermentation 1 」
3rd May
10:00-13:00 Basic Course 「5 day fermentation 2」
14:00-17:00 Optional Course「Koji malt 1」
18:00-20:00　Fermentation Night (option)
4th May
10:00-13:00 Basic Course 「5 day fermentation 3 」
14:00-16:00　Medicinal plant2 How to make natto by natural plants
17:00-19:00 Optional Course「Koji malt 2」
5th May
10:00-13:00 Basic Course 「5 day fermentation 14」
14:00-16:00 Optional Course: Medicinal plant2 How to make natto by natural plants
17:00-19:00 Optional Course「Koji malt 1」
6th May
10:00-14:00　Basic Course 「5 day fermentation 5」

■Venue 

Inasa yuto 
1312 Nunobiki, Haibara, Uda city Nara

■Participation fee

【Basic Class】5 day fermentation workshop　32,000 JPY including recipes
【Optional Class】Koji malts 12,000JPY (for 3 days)
　　　　　　　   Ethnobotany　2 Days 8,000JPY  1 Day 4,000JPY
【All Classes】　50,000 JPY
【Fermentation Night】One Fermented Food

*Schedule could be changed
*Not Included : Lunch of 2rd May (Included on the 3rd to 6th),Dinner, Accommodation

■Min.&Max. Participants

8-15 persons

■Inquiry

Please Inquire (info[at]satoyamaplan.com)

■Profile of lecturers

Basic Class "5 Day Fermentation"｜ Izumi Iguchi
She learnt cooking at Fukuoka, Tokyo and France, and continues to explore food ingredients grown from the earth. In her cooking class, freshly picked herbs and vegetables from the garden are used, and theme of the lesson would be seasonal preserved food and enzyme. She also engages in developing products, working together with produces. 

Optional Class "Koji malts studies" ｜Malicafe Organic Vegan Food, Marika Groen（茉莉花）
She lives in Amsterdam, teaching koji malts, miso, and fermentation in the Netherlands. When she is back to Japan, she travels all around Japan in seek for breweries, tradition, arts, and fermentation. Freelance photographer.  

Optional Class "Ethnobotany"｜Satoyama Libarary, Chisato Maeda
After completed Master degree of Agroecology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, she travels around Asian villages to learn about traditional knowledge of farming and food preservation, seed saving from local elderly villagers. She moved to Uda city in seek for medicinal plants, and opened  a share house, "Commons Garden".
■Photos taken at the time of last 3 day workshop








保存保存

We organized an event to produce kudzu (vegan starch made from kudzu roots).

"Indeed, this is ultimate!", said everyone during the workshop.


First, we went to mountain to find and harvest kudzu roots.

Kudzu is very pervasive weeds in summer, which can be seen everywhere, however, in winter season, the sign to find their roots is just vine and beans.
It is said that roots grown in the sunny mountain contain good quality of starch.

3 Day Fermentation Workshop in Kyoto

We are happy to announce our Koji (a kind of mold grown on produce such as boiled rice) making workshop on this coming April by Mr.Sukeno, the owner of 360 year old Hishiroku-Moyashi ,the only active Moyashi (koji starter) company in Kyoto.

After visiting a traditional indigo dyeing atelier, which inherits 150 years old indigo vase, we explored edible forests. Uda city is a historical land, where wild medicinal plant has been conducted, since ancient Yamato dynasty in 7th century.

Wild medicinal plants master taught us how to distinguish  porcelain berry (or wild grape, scientific name: Ampelopsis glandulosa) and ornamental grape vine (scientific name: Vitis coignetiae), how to make yakushu, alcoholic beverage for medicinal purposes by using natural resources such as Linden arrowwood (gamazumi in Japanese, scientific name: Viburnum dilatatum), silver vine, cat powder, matatabi in Japanese (Scientific name: Actinidia polygama), deodeok or lance asiabell (Tsuruninjin in Japanese, Scientific name: Codonopsis lanceolata), and so on.

Pick and eat, eat and learn, by using five senses, we learnt traditional knowledge of ancient people on living in co-existent with nature.

only use mountain water for 150 years in kasama indigo atelier

"When father-in-low went hospital, I thought someone has to learn how to take care of 150 years indigo vase. My husband is a business person, and only I could do that for the time being. This is how I started to learn, and got deep into this world."

Said the 4th generation of Kasama indigo dyeing atelier, Ms Kayo.  

In the village of Kasama, there are households earning their livelihoods by dyeing, blacksmith, farming... Nowadays, this knowledge is gradually disappearing. Dyeing workshop and black smith are also last one craftsman.

Ms. Kayo, still has hope to keep the lifestyle living with indigo as it is.

walk and eat: medicinal plant hunting in the forest. 

After lunch, expedition for edible forests.