Kelp from Hokkaido came south and then west on the kitamaebune trading ships, and Tsuruga in Fukui was one of the ports at which they called. Prosperity came with the boats. So did other people's ways of cooking.

Kobumaki is dried herring wrapped in kelp and simmered until both are soft enough to eat through. The construction of it is simple enough. The symbolism attached to the thing is not simple at all.

Kelp is konbu, which chimes with yorokobu, meaning to rejoice, so kelp counts as auspicious on the strength of a sound. Herring, kazunoko-bearing, stands for descendants and the continuation of a family line. And the roll is cut into circles, which is a wish for things being round, meaning harmonious and complete.

Three separate pieces of good fortune loaded into one object, and not one of them has anything at all to do with how it tastes. It is required at celebrations here, particularly at the autumn festivals and at the new year, and no household would leave it off the table. Kelp from a northern sea and a fish out of that same northern sea, carried down the coast by boat, tied together on a table in Fukui and then simmered for hours.