Last Updated: Jul 14, 2024

The Shio-no-Michi

On Iwate’s Shorthorn Bovine & Salt Road

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium.

It was late February, and we were taking refuge from the cold at a ski lodge up in the Appi Highlands of Iwate. Outside, soft, powdery snow fluttered down tenderly from the heavens above. The journey that led us here is a story in itself, but somehow, we found ourselves gathered around an open fire encircled by an iron grill. Our host, the butcher Fugane-san, expertly prepared some of the finest beef we had ever tasted. As he worked, he posed a question that lingered in the air, “Do you want to come back in June for the bullfights?” There was only one acceptable answer…

Truth be told, I had long been fascinated by Iwate’s history of using cattle to haul the precious commodity of sea salt over the Kitakami Mountains to the administrative nexus of Morioka. Known in Japanese as the Shio-no-Michi, or “Salt Road,” this crucial highway was essential for transporting salt from the coastal areas of the prefecture to the more populated core of the domain. In flatter parts of the country, horses or other means could have been used to transport the salt. However, in this rugged terrain, only the Tankaku, or Japanese Shorthorn cattle, could manage the task.

The following account retells my recent adventures in the mountainous and coastal…