The Odawara Oden Festival is being held on October 5th and 6th, 2024. I visited today, October 5th!
The event takes place at the Ninomaru Square within Odawara Castle. Around 1 PM, despite intermittent light rain, many people had gathered. In addition to oden sales, there were live performances.
Let’s start by enjoying the oden right at the entrance. You can choose five items from 16 types of oden ingredients. I chose octopus tempura, burdock satsuma-age, squid tempura, local horse mackerel chikuwa, and toto-age. You could freely choose the amount of oden broth, so I opted for a generous amount.
Nearby, there was a tube of plum miso, a specialty of Odawara oden, so I added some. The event provided plenty of eating spaces, with enough tents and chairs. Especially today, the tents were appreciated due to the rain. Although there were enough chairs, they were wet from the rain, and the staff were diligently wiping them down.Now, let’s enjoy the oden. Come to think of it, have I ever had the chance to eat oden outdoors? Last year, I had store-bought oden sets about three times during winter, but I don’t recall eating it at a restaurant… No, I did have this Odawara fish cake-filled oden at the Kaisei Hydrangea Festival last year. It’s been about a year and a half since then.
It’s been a while since I had Odawara oden. The broth seeps into my body. And then I enjoy each fish cake. It’s almost disrespectful to lump them all together as “fish cakes” because each has its unique flavor. Most Japanese people probably categorize fish cakes, satsuma-age, and chikuwa broadly, and I was the same. But fish cakes have their individuality and are deeply flavorful. It’s interesting to enjoy the differences among various fish cakes on the same stage. Next up is Sugisei’s satsuma-age. In fact, I visited Sugisei just two weeks ago. Since I have also visited their individual store, I will write about it in the blog as well. The variety of satsuma-age at this place is overwhelming. Each type of satsuma-age has a different character depending on the ingredients mixed in. This time, I had negi-tako (green onion and octopus) and shirasu (whitebait). Each piece costs 200 yen. Biting into the large satsuma-age on a skewer, the umami of the fish and the roasted flavor of the surface combine to create a deep taste.
Finally, since it was rainy today, I thought about attending the oden festival tomorrow, but I’m glad I went today. I think this event will attract quite a few people. Even at 1 PM, there was a slight queue at the oden stalls. It’s wonderful to see the local community’s efforts to enliven the event despite the rain. The Odawara Oden Festival also recruits volunteers, and young staff members, from high school to university students, were diligently involved in the operation. Given Odawara’s location as a Shinkansen station and a transfer point to Hakone, the event also attracts inbound tourists, making it an appealing tourist event within Odawara Castle. All the oden ingredients I had this time were from stores founded in Odawara. Creating events with local specialties helps rediscover the charm of the region. I believe it is essential for participants to promote and attend such events. Odawara Oden Festival October 2024: Scenes from the venue