Recently, did a couple of days of Rohatsu at home. Actually, it was more like tangaryo, no toys, sesshin (to gather the mind/heart). Plain sitting. I was the doshi, the tenzo, the ino, the soku. Not the doan….. there were no bells, no toys. No robes.
Ok, there was one embellishment. There was oryoki. Laid out the bowls, changed it up, instead of three bowls, there were four. And there was natto in the fourth bowl.
Natto, according to Wikipedia, was an accidental discovery circa 8th c. Japan. Fermented soybeans was meant to be horse food…. but turned out, when fermented by hay baccilus, to be one of those, “and its good for your gut biome” foods.
Natto is an acquired taste. Ika too is an acquired taste. But natto separates the sheep from the goats. Natto is delicious but uber slimy. Thats the baccilus I guess. Natto in nigiri, natto over rice, natto with soba noodles, natto garnished with mustard, green onions and a raw egg.*
It dawned on me during my rohatsu breakfast that sesame soybeans (which i was introduced to…. at Tassajara) is meant to be the simulacra of natto.
Natto: its for the individual and collective biome.
*(health note here: I might eat a raw egg in Japan but not in the U.S.).