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Author Kirshner, Hannah, author.

Title Water, wood, and wild things : learning craft and cultivation in a Japanese mountain town / Hannah Kirshner.

Publication Info. [New York, New York] : Viking, [2021]

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Middletown, Russell Library - NEW Adult Nonfiction  394.12 KIR    Missing
 New Britain, Main Library - Non Fiction  394.1 KIR    Check Shelf
 Wethersfield Public Library - Non Fiction  394.12 KIRSHNER    Check Shelf
 Windsor, Wilson Branch - Adult Department  394.12 KI    Check Shelf
Description 358 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
Contents A saké evangelist -- The tea path -- Chrysanthemum water -- Saké goddess -- Turning wood -- The lacquer tree -- A forest hearth -- Lost and found -- Samurai at the duck pond -- On paper -- Year of the boars -- Mountain meijin -- Eighty-eight troubles -- Totoro's garden -- Koi Koi Matsuri.
Summary "An immersive journey through the culture and cuisine of one Japanese town, its forest, and its watershed--where ducks are hunted by net, saké is brewed from the purest mountain water, and charcoal is fired in stone kilns--by an American writer and food stylist who spent years working alongside artisans. One night, Brooklyn-based artist and food writer Hannah Kirshner received a life-changing invitation to apprentice with a "saké evangelist" in a misty Japanese mountain village called Yamanaka. In a rapidly modernizing Japan, the region--a stronghold of the country's old-fashioned ways--was quickly becoming a destination for chefs and artisans looking to learn about the traditions that have long shaped Japanese culture. Kirshner put on a vest and tie and took her place behind the saké bar. Before long, she met a community of craftspeople, farmers, and foragers--master woodturners, hunters, a paper artist, and a man making charcoal in his nearly abandoned village on the outskirts of town. Kirshner found each craftsperson not only exhibited an extraordinary dedication to their work but their distinct expertise contributed to the fabric of the local culture. Inspired by these masters, she devoted herself to learning how they work and live. Taking readers deep into evergreen forests, terraced rice fields, and smoke-filled workshops, Kirshner captures the centuries-old traditions still alive in Yamanaka. Organized into four parts--water, wood, wild things, and cultivation--Foreign Woman Works in Sake Bar invites readers to see what goes into making a fine bowl, a cup of tea, or a harvest of rice and introduces the masters who dedicate their lives to this work. Part travelogue, part meditation on the meaning of work, and full of her own beautiful drawings and recipes, Kirshner's refreshing book is an ode to a place and its people, as well as a profound examination of what it means to sustain traditions and find purpose in cultivation and craft"-- Provided by publisher.
Subject Kirshner, Hannah -- Travel -- Japan -- Yamanakako-mura.
Food habits -- Japan -- Yamanakako-mura.
Drinking customs -- Japan.
Cooking, Japanese.
Workmanship -- Japan.
Yamanakako-mura (Japan) -- Social life and customs.
Yamanakako-mura (Japan) -- Description and travel.
Cooking, Japanese. (OCoLC)fst01753363
Drinking customs. (OCoLC)fst00898195
Food habits. (OCoLC)fst00930807
Manners and customs. (OCoLC)fst01007815
Travel. (OCoLC)fst01155558
Workmanship. (OCoLC)fst01180677
Japan. (OCoLC)fst01204082
Japan -- Yamanakako-mura. (OCoLC)fst01207741
Other Form: Online version: Kirshner, Hannah. Water, wood, and wild things [New York, New York] : Viking, [2021] 9781984877536 (DLC) 2020030525
ISBN 9781984877529 (hardcover)
1984877526 (hardcover)
9781984877536 (ebook)
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