Introducing Dekunobonzu, a producer of rapeseed oil.
Ichinoseki’s city flower is the rapeseed blossom (nanohana), and this shop has long produced and sold rapeseed oil with a deep commitment to quality.
It makes a great souvenir for food lovers, or a wonderful addition to your own home cooking.
The rapeseed blossom has long been closely connected to people’s lives as a crop, making it a symbol of Ichinoseki.
Here in Ichinoseki, we’d like to introduce Dekunobonzu, who produces and sells traditional, carefully made rapeseed oil.
Our staff toured Dekunobonzu’s workshop and learned about their production methods and dedication.
Let’s unravel the wisdom of traditional living while enjoying nature’s blessings♪
We Visited Dekunobonzu, Surrounded by Ichinoseki’s Nature!
Dekunobonzu’s president, Mr. Onodera, told us,
“Visitors always get lost, so please call us on the way,”
and indeed, the location was so remote that our GPS couldn’t even display the road. It’s a place with truly wonderful natural surroundings.
↑We made it safely! This is the workshop.
Using local rapeseed, sunflower, and perilla seeds as raw materials, they produce Dekunobonzu-brand oils and press cakes.
Factories that produce vegetable oil using imported raw materials are typically large-scale, with pipes running throughout the site and large equipment lined up, but at Dekunobonzu, everything — the roasting machine that roasts the raw material (which surprisingly uses firewood), the press, filtration equipment, and more — is compactly fitted into a space of about 20 tatami mats, so you can see the entire process.
↑Observing the traditional oil-pressing process.
↑This is the raw material for the oil, rapeseed!
↑The pressed oil is left to settle carefully for about a week, allowing the sediment from the pressing process to sink to the bottom, resulting in a golden-hued rapeseed oil.
After this, it’s boiled, filtered, and bottled.
Of course this pressing process, as well as everything from sourcing to sales, is handled by Dekunobonzu’s president, Mr. Onodera.
The workshop lets you see the entire process, and it was filled with a fragrant, savory aroma.
The Origins of Dekunobonzu’s Rapeseed Oil, Made in Ichinoseki, and the Wisdom of Nature
Ichinoseki is a region centered on rice farming, and in the past there were years when famine made it impossible to pay taxes.
As a countermeasure, cultivating “shiboku isso” (four trees, one grass: the four trees being persimmon, chestnut, mulberry, and jujube, and the one grass being rapeseed) was encouraged, and it’s said that this history led to a large rapeseed harvest in Ichinoseki.
However, imported rapeseed raw materials later dominated the market, and it’s said that the small rapeseed oil workshops that once existed in every town were forced to close.
As mentioned at the outset, Ichinoseki’s “city flower” is the rapeseed blossom, “nanohana.”
(↑Rapeseed blossoms blooming in Ichinoseki)
“We wanted to make rapeseed oil locally, using traditional methods, from this rapeseed blossom!”
With that strong wish shared by local farmers and President Onodera, a group of volunteers set up a workshop here in Ichinoseki 13 years ago and began operations.
Today, they also receive and press rapeseed, sunflower, and perilla seeds from farmers across Japan.
The rapeseed is separated into oil and press cake, both of which are returned to the farmers.
The oil is used for personal consumption or sold, while the press cake becomes fertilizer for fields and livestock.
It’s a well-reasoned, sustainable cycle.
And rapeseed and sunflower fields in bloom are beautiful, too!
Recommended for Your Ichinoseki Visit! Dekunobonzu’s Rapeseed Oil
Perfect for a souvenir! A rapeseed oil you can only taste here.
Available for purchase at BELLINO HOTEL ICHINOSEKI too!
Dekunobonzu is known for its rapeseed oil, but they’ve now introduced a new flavored oil made with local ingredients!
With cute packaging, it makes a perfect souvenir.
Please enjoy it while savoring the nature and history of Ichinoseki.
Mail order is also available on their website.
Actually, “nanohana” is rare to see in the town of Ichinoseki these days.
Dekunobonzu kindly gave us some seeds!
Hoping to help make Ichinoseki a town of nanohana blossoms once more, we’d like to plant them right away at BELLINO HOTEL too!
Recommended spots for souvenir shopping & sightseeing
★Sekinoichi Sake Brewery (about a 5-minute drive from BELLINO HOTEL)
