Masuya does eel in Mito

Remember Ushi no Hi? The Day of the Cow? It was a minor non-holiday that happened in my first week of living in Mito. I never figured out exactly why there is an Ushi no Hi or what exactly its significance is, but I did learn that on this day everyone is supposed to increase their strength by eating eels. Here's the approximate conversation I had with my coworker at kencho as to the origins of Ushi no Hi:

Jade: Why do you eat eel on the Day of the Cow?

Coworker: Well, on the Day of the Cow we need to be strong. And eels are very strong animals. So we eat them to gather strength.

Jade: Then why do you call it the Day of the Cow?

Coworker: Because the cow is a strong animal.

Jade: Then why don't you just eat the cow?

Coworker: Because the eel is very strong.

Jade: Then why don't you call it the Day of the Eel?

Coworker: (Pauses. Thinks. Lies through his teeth.) Your Japanese is very good.

Anyway, I remember I really wanted to eat eel on this day because, you know, I wanted to gather strength too. But even though my predecessor (who was still around at the time) and I searched for a place that served eel for at least half an hour, we had no clue where you could get a good bowl of unagi don (eel over rice) in Mito. How I wish my hot, bothered self in July, eel-less and unhappy, knew what I know now—which is that there is a place called Masuya only seconds away from Mito Station.

Now, Masuya is unassuming in appearance (so much so that it has taken me four months to notice it though I walk by it everyday) but its unagi is all sorts of excellent—as it should be, seeing that unagi is the only thing on the menu. Really. The only reason why there is a menu is to inform you that you can order either the medium unagi don, the large unagi don or the really large unagi don.

Now Masuya is not just any unagi restaurant—this is unagi with a history. Hayashi-san, the owner/chef/waiter of this small, one-room restaurant, told me that the restaurant has been in his family for three generations. It was opened 80 years ago by his grandfather. The restaurant is named after his grandmother, Masuko.

While I continued to enjoy my miso soup, pickles, tea and medium-sized eel over rice, Hayashi-san told me a bit more about the restaurant—that it's future is dubious, he is approaching retirement age and his kids, both in their twenties, are not too interested in taking over an eel restaurant (one wants to be a teacher, the other, a musician). It's understandable, if too bad, because really the unagi here is amazingly good.

So hurry and get to Masuya while it's still around. A good medium sized bowl of unagi don is about 1200 yen, with miso soup, pickles and tea included. It's December. Go gather some strength.

Masuya 満寿屋
2-5-2 San-no-Maru, Mito-shi
〒310-0011 茨城県水戸市三の丸2丁目5−2
Phone: 029-221-3822

Cost

Approximately 1200 yen for a lunch set

How to get there

Masuya is located across the street from Marui Department Store, and across another street from a jewelry store. It has a big sign that says うなぎ outside of it, with the う in the shape of an eel. (map)

Editors note: "Ushi" refers to the Chinese zodiac year of the cow. The kanji is in fact 丑 not 牛 like one would expect. Ushi no Hi occurs a number of times during the year. Apparently the Ushi no Hi tradition of eating unagi is a bit like Valantine's Day is in Japan: a big marketing ploy to sell more unagi. The tradition dates back to the Edo period when Unagi restaurantuers were finding it hard to sell the fish in the summer months. They consulted with a famous scholar of the times called Hiraga Gennai who pointed out that since "Ushi no Hi" and "unagi" both started with "U" they should put a sign out the front of their shop when Ushi no Hi fell in summer to remind people that "unagi makes you strong and survive the summer." However, apparently you don't only have to eat unagi on Ushi no Hi but any foods that contain the letter U, such as udon, gobō, etc. There is also a movement to convince people to eat unagi on other Ushi no Hi outside of the summer months.

The next summer Ushi no Hi will be:

2006

July 23rd and August 4th

2007

July 30th

Thanks to http://www.town-hp-mito.com/ for the background information about Ushi no Hi.