Food & sake食と酒

The iconic Myōkō product. Local Tōgakushi peppers are laid on the winter snow for several days to mellow their heat, then mashed with kōji, salt, and yuzu peel and aged in cedar barrels for three years.

The result is a deep, fermented chili paste, closer to gochujang or umami sambal than to a hot sauce. Use it on monkfish hotpot, miso ramen, or grilled mochi.

Pressed sushi rice topped with mountain vegetables, walnuts, or local fish, wrapped in bamboo leaves for portability. Said to have been Uesugi Kenshin’s field rations during the Sengoku-era wars.

Often served as part of the Nagomi Gozen set, a small platter of regional dishes (sasa sushi, soba, kanzuri pickles, mountain vegetable tempura) found at most local restaurants.

The original. New Misa invented Joetsu’s style of miso ramen and the line at lunch is real. Rich, deep miso broth, mountain vegetables piled high, and a kanzuri pot on every table to fire it up if you want.

For Myōkō-village versions, look for Tōgenkyō in Akakura, or any of the small soba shops that serve a winter miso bowl alongside.

Three independent breweries draw on Mount Myōkō’s snow-melt water and the Koshihikari rice grown in the rice paddies below. Chiyo no Kōbai, Kunizakari, and Komeyamasa, all small, family-run, walk-in tastings during opening hours.

Try a flight of all three in one sitting at Roadside Station Arai alongside kanzuri-cured pickles and mountain-vegetable plates.