The Filial Eel
A tale of a parent and a child, told in Ise for generations —
and the moment at which eel took root in this place.
Long ago in the land of Ise there lived a mother, sick in her bed, and a son who loved her.
She lay there and grew thinner by the day. The son cast about for some way to give her strength.
So he went down to the river, caught an eel, and carried it home for her.
She ate the grilled fish, and little by little her strength began to return.
Day after day he went back to the river, and went on catching eels for his mother.
In time word of his devotion reached the magistrate of Yamada.
In 1842 the magistrate commended the son's filial heart and granted him five kan of copper.
The story has been handed down in Ise ever since, as Kōkō Unagi — the Filial Eel.
When eel came to Ise
A true account of filial devotion, recorded in the history of Uji-Yamada City: in 1842 the magistrate of Yamada granted five kan of copper to a son who had cared for his parents.
1842 is remembered as the year eel took root in Ise. It is not the year this shop was founded — Kitaya opened in 1910, some seventy years later.
Care for another person, expressed through a fish. That impulse is where our hospitality begins.
Traditional taste comes from kindness.