there's a nice article about kaiseki in the food section of today's LA
times. if you're not in the southland, you can catch the article here
(you may have to register with the rag, but...):

http://www.latimes.com/features/food...ck=1&cset=true

one of the interesting things i found in the article is the
painstaking detail involved just for making dashi.

"i can spell. i just can't type."