also: たつくり
candied dried sardines; gomame simmered in soy sauce and sugar
A traditional Japanese dish made from small dried sardines (gomame) cooked in a sweet soy sauce glaze until almost dry. Often served as part of osechi ryōri for New Year's, symbolizing a bountiful harvest. Also called ごまめ.
See also: ごまめ
Candied dried sardines are indispensable in osechi cuisine.
The candied dried sardines my mother makes are sweet and salty and very delicious.
tilling a rice field; person who tills a paddy field
Rare, literal meaning referring to the act of cultivating a rice paddy or the person who does it. In modern Japanese, this sense is almost never used independently; the word is overwhelmingly known as the food sense.
The word '田作り' originally meant tilling a rice field.
Standard kanji spelling for both senses; reading たづくり is the most common.
Alternate reading; less common than たづくり.
Literally 'field making' (田 + 作り). The food sense is said to derive from the practice of using dried sardines as fertilizer in rice fields, symbolizing a wish for a good harvest.