Southwest Fukui · ObamaNo.1304★★Open in map →
Hamayaki Saba
— Obama's whole mackerel, skewered and grilled
A whole mackerel on a skewer, grilled over charcoal: Obama's way with the fish it once sent to Kyoto. Start where the mackerel road begins, in Izumi-cho near the station, then look for the skewered fish at the town's market.
- FromTsuruga Station
- ~1 hr 15 minJR Obama Line, about hourly
- Get off atObama Station (JR Obama Line)
- On foot
- Hamayaki Saba
The sweet spot
Hamayaki saba is a well-known Fukui speciality, not a secret. What is easy to miss is the setting. The Izumi-cho shopping street that once stood at the start of the road is gone, so the starting point is now marked by a plate and a small museum, and the skewered fish are found at the market instead.
Where it is
28 more notes in Fukui · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Saba Kaido starting platea plate in front of the museum marking where the mackerel road begins, open to view at any time
- Museum gardenthe road to Demachi in Kyoto in miniature, with signposts, a mound for Harihata Pass and gravel for Lake Biwa
- Saba Kaido Museuma free city museum using video and trick art to present the road and Obama's festivals
- Wakasa Obama Fish Centera wholesale market open to the public, with grilled mackerel and heshiko among its goods
How to actually get there
- Tsuruga Station → Obama Station (JR Obama Line, a little over an hour).
- Obama Station → Izumi-cho and the Saba Kaido starting plate (walk northwest, under 10 min).
- Follow the museum garden and look into the Saba Kaido Museum.
- Walk about 650 m north to the Wakasa Obama Fish Center for the grilled mackerel.
- JR Obama Line from Tsuruga
- Tsuruga Station →(JR Obama Line)→ Obama Station, a little over an hour with no change. Trains run roughly once an hour, with gaps of two hours or more around midday. From the station, Izumi-cho is about 500 m to the northwest, under ten minutes on foot.
- Back from Obama Station
- Return to Obama Station and take the Obama Line toward Tsuruga. Trains thin out in the evening; in the timetable checked, the last one toward Tsuruga left at 20:20. From Tsuruga, the Hokuriku Shinkansen runs to Kanazawa and Tokyo, and limited express trains run to Osaka.
About the place
Hamayaki saba is a whole mackerel threaded on a skewer and grilled slowly over charcoal. It is eaten as it is or with ginger and soy sauce. Obama has other mackerel foods too, among them heshiko, mackerel salted and then cured in rice bran, and grilled-mackerel sushi. Wakasa's mackerel once travelled to Kyoto along routes that came to be called the Saba Kaido, the mackerel road, about 72 km to the capital. Grilling a fresh fish whole was one way to keep it from spoiling on the journey. Izumi-cho, near Obama Station, is known as the starting point of that road.
How to enjoy it
Start at the plate, follow the garden's miniature road and look into the museum, then walk north to the fish market. The market opens from about 7 am and its shops close as the fish sells out, so go in the morning if hamayaki saba is what you are after. If you arrive early, reverse the order: the market first, then the museum once it opens.
Background & history
Wakasa was one of the miketsukuni, the provinces that supplied food to the imperial court, and seafood from Obama was carried to Kyoto, where lightly salted Wakasa fish was prized. The name Saba Kaido is said to come from a line in old records of the market's brokers about salting fresh mackerel and carrying it to the capital. The routes and the towns along them are now recognised as Japan Heritage. On 8 March 2020, the date marked as Mackerel Day, the city opened the Saba Kaido Museum in Izumi-cho, at the starting point.
Before you go
- Cash
- The Saba Kaido Museum is free to enter and the starting plate is outdoors. At the market each shop sells its own goods, so check prices at the counter.
- Before you go
- The museum opens 9:00 to 17:00 and closes on Tuesdays and from 29 December to 3 January. The market is usually closed on Wednesdays, and its shops close when the fish runs out, so hamayaki saba can sell out later in the day.
- Another way
- From Kyoto, take the JR Kosei Line to Omi-Imazu, then the JR Bus Jakko Line to Obama Station.
- After you get off
- From Obama Station walk about 500 m northwest to the Saba Kaido Museum in Izumi-cho. The fish market is about 650 m further north, in the Kawasaki district.