Mirukashi

Experience Japan’s 72 Microseasons at Mirukashi Salon - AFAR

"I spent 24 hours with Prairie Stuart‑Wolff and Hanako Nakazato in a kitchen in the countryside outside Karatsu, where I measured rice with a small wooden masu, watched Petite, translucent kernels poured into a pot, and learned to slice bitter melon with a masterfully engraved knife and roast shishitos using cooking chopsticks called saibashi. A black kitten played at our feet as the room filled with the aroma of warm rice, and the experience was explicitly tied to Japan’s seventy‑two microseasons: Prairie and Hanako help guests appreciate those almost imperceptible seasonal shifts through specific culinary preparations—often served in Nakazato’s stoneware—and thoughtful, food‑focused programs. What I experienced in mid‑September (Sekirei naku, “wagtails sing”) was both a 24‑hour taste of their offering and a reflection of their approach: sessions that emphasize in‑season ingredients, small groups, and deep connection to landscape and community. Mirukashi Salon hosts seven sessions a year, invites up to seven guests to four‑day itineraries of cooking classes and immersive activities (foraging edible ferns, making soba, visiting a soy brewery, attending a tea ceremony), and—beginning in October 2024—will move from the couple’s home into a soothing, purpose‑built space nestled among tea plants with a copper kitchen and many handmade elements that reflect the salon’s intention that every object, ingredient, and action has meaning and purpose." - Elena Valeriote