Seafood ── Fish
Tobiuo
flying fish — a lean summer fish that leaps from the water
A fish that glides above the waves on outstretched pectoral fins. Its lean white flesh is grilled, and because it spoils fast, coastal towns developed a grill-then-dry method whose product, 'ago', underpins a whole dashi tradition.
- Blue-backed fish
What it's made of
Its name comes straight from the way it glides just above the waves on spread pectoral fins. The flesh is startlingly lean, and grilling firms it into a light white meat. It spoils fast, though, so it demands quick handling the moment it's landed — a race against time. Even in towns that eat it raw, the rule is said to be finishing it the same day it's caught.
How it's made
Around Tsushima, each fish is grilled and then sun-dried right after landing, a method called 'yaki-ago'. Raw, it wouldn't survive the trip inland, so cooking it first became the way to preserve it. The dried, grilled fish is then used whole as a dashi stock base, lending soup a refined sweetness and depth — a way of wasting nothing, bones and head included, while preserving and flavoring at once.
Why it took this shape
Facing the Tsushima Current, the island sits on rich fishing grounds but far from any table that could take the fish raw. Grilling and drying it as preservation ended up creating a distinct dashi culture built entirely around this one fish. That flavor now reaches well beyond Tsushima's fishing villages, quietly underpinning ramen and New Year's soup across Kyushu.
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
- AjiA blue-backed fish sold year-round, served raw, minced as tataki, or fried. Fish that settle in one fast-flowing strait rather than migrate firm up and fatten, and are pole-and-line caught there under premium regional brand names.
- BuriA 'shusseuo' whose name changes with size. Winter's fat-laden 'kanburi' is prized raw, teriyaki-glazed, or simmered with daikon — bays where it fattens before wintering, then is taken in set nets, are valued for both fat quality and yield.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known for it here / Known source
- Known for it here: Nagasaki, Tsushima
Facing the Tsushima Current, the island keeps alive the tradition of grilling and drying flying fish into 'yaki-ago' for dashi stock.
- Known source: Nagasaki, Goto
Uses
- Agodashi RamenA ramen said to have started on Ikitsuki island off Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture. A soy-based broth built on grilled and dried flying-fish stock, eaten across a wider stretch of Nagasaki where agodashi is part of everyday cooking.
- Ago ChikuwaChikuwa made from the surimi of flying fish, called "ago" in Tottori. A knife through the firm grilled skin sends up a fragrant crackle, and it turns out darker than ordinary chikuwa. It's a taste of early summer, in season through the fish's spawning run from spring into summer.