Technically speaking “Saijiki” is the word used for an almanac of seasonal words for writing Haiku Poems. In this case it is used to mean that it is a collection of dishes that signify certain seasons.
One of the main aspects of Japanese Cuisine in general and Kaiseki in particular is seasonality! The original Japanese Calender knows 72 micro seasons – each about 5 days long – and each of those seasons has a certain ingredients, decorations, festivals and Ikebana flowers associated to it. Nowadays in Kaiseki Cuisine chefs focus mainly on the 24 so called “Sekki” or just on the months.
This book beautifully illustrates how the menu of a Kaiseki Restaurant changes with every month. Which dishes are served and which ingredients are beloved. Personally I also really enjoy seeing all the plates that Koju uses for his dishes!
I am adding a link to the book here. For transparency I want to tell you that I might earn a small comission (at no additional cost to you) from qualifying purchases as an Amazon associate. You can actually order things directly from Amazon Japan if you can’t find them on your own country’s page! You just need to log into Amazon Japan with your usual username and password and put your home adress in. It will automatically calculate shipping costs and customs taxes (if needed) so you don’t get any nasty surprises. I have personally gotten a lot of stuff from Japan this way when I wasn’t living here.
Kaiseki at Home 
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