Sanma is best in Meguro.

“Come to think of it,”

“Master once said, ‘Takabe is best in Shikinejima.’”

Sukeroku said,

“That was rather elegant.”

After a brief pause, Junki-sensei smiled.

“I should ask him about that again.”

The fish may change.

The places we speak of never do.

Utagawa Hiroshige

Grandpa’s Teahouse in Meguro

From One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Published by Uoei (Uoya Eikichi),

Ansei 4 (1857)

Sanma is best in Meguro.

There is no sea in Meguro.

Yet everyone knows the story.

A lord once wandered beyond the city.

There, he tasted Pacific saury grilled over an open fire.

The memory stayed with him.

Back at his castle, he ordered the same fish.

It was prepared with the greatest care.

But it was no longer the same.

Perhaps the fish had not changed.

The place had.

The moment had.

That is why the story has lived on.