Station #50: Kato Yoshinori was appointed daimyo or local governor of this area in 1712. To take advantage of its position on the highway, he developed a new food speciality, kampyo. Here we see women performing the first step for producing kampyo - shaving gourds and laying the strips out to dry. Later the strips are cooked with a special broth to produce a local delicacy enjoyed by many Tokaido travelers. Daimyo actually competed to develope the most desirable local food products and crafts that would increase their revenues. Daimyo spent one year in Edo attending to the shogun then one year in their province. As they traveled back and forth they had plenty of opportunity to see the competition and time to concoct new schemes.

Image Copyright: Minneapolis Institute of Art