Seafood ── Fish
Hobo
gurnard — a spiny, winged fish valued for its firm winter flesh
A fish that spreads its wing-like pectoral fins to 'walk' along the seabed, fattening in winter. Its delicate white flesh goes into sashimi or clear soup, and it favors calm, sandy-bottomed bays, where it has long been eaten as a local catch.
- White fish
What it's made of
It spreads wing-like pectoral fins wide, and despite its red skin, the flesh underneath is a fine white meat. It's said to carry strong umami along with plenty of fat, protein and minerals. In the Edo period it was prized enough to be offered up to feudal lords as a 'lord's fish', and it has also served as a celebratory dish. Its bones are hard but give off a good stock, prized for hot pot and clear soup alike.
How it's made
It's taken by bottom trawl, worked either by two boats together or by a single boat alone. It suits everything from sashimi and simmering to deep-frying, hot pot, and drying, and among fishers, simmered hobo is the everyday favorite. It's sometimes presented whole with its fins spread, prized as much for the display as the taste.
Why it took this shape
It favors calm bays with a sandy, muddy seabed, and ports with that kind of terrain have long landed it steadily, or so it's said. Ranked highly enough to be offered up in the Edo period, and used as a celebratory fish for its red color, it has long reached the table as a prized local catch. Its range, from shallow water down to 600 meters, is also said to reflect real adaptability.
Before You Go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- Roadside stations, direct-sale stands, and marketsHow to enjoy buying food near where it's produced, visiting and shopping at morning markets and fish markets, what to expect at farm stands, and finding local food at roadside stations (michi-no-eki).
- Foods to look for in springA guide to foods often seen in Japan around spring — early bonito, bamboo shoots, sakura mochi, hanami bento, new-season tea, and butterbur sprouts — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- AinameA white-fleshed fish of rocky shores, served raw or simmered in old Edomae style. Sedentary by nature, it varies by region, and in some Tohoku ports its liver is eaten too — a fish long prized as a local catch.
- AmadaiA pink-skinned fish with a subtle sweetness, known in Kyoto as 'guji'. Fish caught in Wakasa Bay were lightly salted and carried inland along the old Saba Kaido route, a history that made lightly-salted Wakasa amadai prized in Kyoto cuisine.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known source
Contrast
- KasagoA big-headed fish of rocky reefs whose bones give off a rich stock, so it is often simmered or served whole in clear soup. Sedentary by nature, it varies noticeably by fishing ground and is mostly eaten as a local catch near where it's landed.
- KisuA white-fleshed fish of sandy shallows, best known as a tempura staple. Mild and thin-fleshed, it fries through quickly, and shallow-bay towns have also long prized it as a favorite target for shore anglers.
- AinameA white-fleshed fish of rocky shores, served raw or simmered in old Edomae style. Sedentary by nature, it varies by region, and in some Tohoku ports its liver is eaten too — a fish long prized as a local catch.