Japanese · Japan

Japanese Nanakusa Seven Spring Herbs and January 7 Tradition

Nanakusa (七草 — seven spring herbs) are the seven wild herbs gathered and consumed on January 7 (Jinjitsu) in a rice porridge (nanakusa-gayu) intended to welcome spring, rest the digestive system after New Year's rich osechi foods, and ensure health and longevity for the coming year. The seven herbs are: seri (Japanese parsley, Oenanthe javanica), nazuna (shepherd's purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris), gogyo (cudweed, Gnaphalium affine), hakobera (chickweed, Stellaria media), hotokenoza (henbit, Lamium amplexicaule), suzuna (turnip, Brassica rapa), and suzushiro (daikon radish, Raphanus sativus). The herbs are chopped very finely and stirred into a plain rice porridge (okayu) made with a ratio of 1 part rice to 7 parts water — much thinner than everyday okayu. The tradition reflects Japan's integration of food, seasonal ritual, and preventive health: after the richness of New Year cooking, the simplest possible food (plain rice porridge with spring greens) is both culturally appropriate and physically restorative. The herb set is now sold pre-packaged in supermarkets from January 1, making the tradition accessible even in urban settings.

‹Swipe for the next dish›

ServesFour portions

Sourced1of 12 in BC

Cook

‹ Previous · Japanese Nabeyaki Udon: Individual Pot Cooking and Winter Comfort Architecture|Next · Japanese Nanbanzuke: Southern Barbarian Vinegar-Marinated Fried Fish ›

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

300 g

Japanese short-grain white rice

rinsed

Your own market

2.1 litres

cold water

1:7 ratio with rice by volume

Your own market

1 piece (10 cm)

kombu

wiped clean

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

Seven nanakusa herbs

1 small bunch

seri (Japanese parsley, Oenanthe javanica)

very finely chopped

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

1 small bunch

nazuna (shepherd's purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris)

very finely chopped

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

1 small bunch

gogyo (cudweed, Gnaphalium affine)

very finely chopped

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

1 small bunch

hakobera (chickweed, Stellaria media)

very finely chopped

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

1 small bunch

hotokenoza (henbit, Lamium amplexicaule)

very finely chopped

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

1 small head

suzuna (turnip, Brassica rapa)

greens and root, very finely chopped

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

1 small piece

suzushiro (daikon radish, Raphanus sativus)

very finely chopped

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

1 pinch

fine salt

light seasoning only

Your own market

To serve

umeboshi (pickled plum)

one per bowl, placed in the centre

Origin · JapanT Amano Trading · Vancouver →

Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.

The Method

Place the rinsed rice and the kombu in a heavy-based pot with the cold water — 2.1 litres to 300 g rice, a strict 1:7 ratio by volume. Begin from cold water; this slow starch release produces a creamier, more cohesive porridge. Bring to the boil over medium heat, then remove and discard the kombu.

Reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting. Partially cover the pot, leaving a gap for steam to escape. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent the rice from settling and scorching, until the grains are fully swollen, softened, and the porridge flows easily and thinly when the pot is tilted — roughly 40 to 50 minutes. This is the 1:7 okayu: it should be significantly thinner and more liquid than everyday porridge. If it thickens beyond a loose, flowing consistency, it has reduced too far.

Remove the pot from the heat entirely. Add all seven finely chopped nanakusa herbs and stir gently through the porridge. Cover the pot and allow the residual heat to wilt the herbs for one to two minutes only. The herbs must not cook; they require only brief wilting. They should retain a fresh, spring-green colour.

Season with a single pinch of fine salt. Taste: the porridge should be clean and delicate, with no assertive saltiness. Ladle into four warmed bowls and place one umeboshi at the centre of each serving. The bowl should smell of fresh spring greens over a clean, starchy base.

From the canon — Umeboshi (梅干し, 'dried pickled plum') are salted, fermented, and sun-dried Japanese plums (ume, Prunus mume — botanically an apricot relative, not a true plum… Umeboshi — The Pickled Plum Tradition (梅干し) →

III

Quality Hierarchy

Reserve — Wild-gathered nanakusa herbs identified botanically in their correct season, from unsprayed fields or riverbanks; aged Koshihikari rice of single-origin provenance; hand-foraged umeboshi of a named producer.

Estate — Fresh nanakusa sourced from a specialist Japanese greengrocer or farmers' market; high-quality short-grain Japanese rice (Koshihikari or Hitomebore); traditionally prepared umeboshi.

Market — Pre-packaged nanakusa seven-herb set from a Japanese supermarket (the standard modern solution, expressly noted in the tradition); good short-grain Japanese rice; supermarket umeboshi.

House — Pre-packaged nanakusa set; any available short-grain white rice at a 1:7 ratio; the ritual date and intention honoured even if ingredients are approximate.

Sensory Tests

◇Sight. The porridge flows freely and thinly when the pot is tilted — loose and liquid, not set or mounded.

◇Sight. The seven herbs retain a fresh green colour after wilting off-heat; no browning or dulling.

◇Touch. A grain of rice pressed between finger and thumb offers no resistance — fully swollen and soft throughout.

◇Smell. The finished bowl carries clean spring-herbal freshness over a neutral starchy base, with no cooked or grassy off-note from the herbs.

◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies on the strict 1:7 rice-to-water ratio and the resolve to keep the porridge genuinely thin and flowing — a thicker okayu undermines the restorative lightness that is the entire purpose of the dish.

V · Cross-Cuisine Parallels

Chinese congee (jook): thin rice porridge cooked in excess water, used specifically as a restorative and digestive food after richness or illness — the same logic of deliberate dietary simplicity. Korean juk (rice porridge): eaten after the elaborate foods of Chuseok and other festival periods — the same cultural rhythm of rich eating followed by a ritualized return to simplicity. British January restorative food culture: simple broths, porridges, and plain salads consumed after Christmas excess — the same cultural logic, though in Japan the practice is formally codified by date and by specific ingredients rather than loosely observed.

Pillar V

Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.

The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.

Enter · from $49 a year

What to Pour

The pairing

Nikka From The Barrel

Nikka Whisky — Miyagikyo Distillery · Miyagikyo — Nikka Distillery

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

Whisky

From British Columbia

Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.

Without alcohol

No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.

Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →

The whole pairing

VII · Origin & Lineage

Japan. The nanakusa tradition is recorded in Heian-period court literature, where the gathering and consumption of seven spring herbs on the seventh day of the New Year was already a codified ritual. A rural herb-gathering practice precedes the court version. Over centuries the observance passed from aristocratic ritual into universal popular custom. It now stands as one of Japan's most widely observed seasonal food rituals, the herb sets sold in every supermarket from January 1. Sources: Washoku (Elizabeth Andoh); Japanese Seasonal Rituals and Food Culture (Iwanami Shoten).

Pillar VII

Origin and lineage are part of membership.

Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.

Enter · from $49 a year

Sourced through Provenance

The hands behind the plate.

T Amano Trading

Vancouver · umeboshi (pickled plum)

→

← PreviousJapanese Nabeyaki Udon: Individual Pot Cooking and Winter Comfort ArchitectureOne standard · no exceptionsNext →Japanese Nanbanzuke: Southern Barbarian Vinegar-Marinated Fried Fish