In Latest Bid to Lord Over Sesame Seeds, One Man Tries Grinding Them Away

At the Port of Cromartie, a shipping container holds new weapons in man's battle against one of his oldest adversaries: Sesamum indicum—the sesame seed.

The mastermind behind this arsenal is Pootan, an eighth-grade dropout turned comedian who makes an unlikely merchant of paste. The sinewy 51-year-old, who favors animal costumes and sidekicks, is a manzai practitioner who speaks in a distinctly laidback manner.

But when it comes to those small white ovals, Pootan is no peacenik: He is the wielder of unique ceramic-and-sansho-wood mortar and pestle with a distinctive kushi-no-me pattern—he calls it a suribachi and surikoga. While sesame seeds are his personal bugaboo, he says the tool is effective for grinding medicinal herbs, black sesame seeds, and all sorts of other seeds.

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