The clacking of Yoshitake-san’s wooden geta against the imbedded stones of
Lord Shimizu’s courtyard pierced the mist of a chilly autumn night in the third year of Nippon Emperor Shōmu’s reign. Yoshitake-san rushed to tell his lord of a strange food brought by Buddhist monks from the Middle Kingdom across the sea.
They claimed to have made the sponge-like substance from a white liquid obtained by grinding beans. The monks had lean, lithe, muscular bodies, and they swore that the substance had nourished them on their travels without any need for the flesh of animals.
Yoshitake-san hid the beige-colored cake under his kimono, where it was tightly wrapped in a roughly woven cloth and protected by bamboo matting; he was unwilling to share what he had heard and seen with anyone but his master. For if what the Buddhist visitors said was true, this simple monks’ food had the potential to sustain Lord Shimizu’s samurai.