Grilled
Ayu Shioyaki
Ayu Shioyaki — salt-grilled sweetfish from the Kanna river
Gunma's official fish, skewered in a zigzag and salted before charcoal grilling. Sweetfish from the Kanna river are prized for their aroma and firm flesh, drawing visitors once the season opens in June.
- Origin: Gunma Ueno
- About 100 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Sweetfish are skewered and grilled directly over the fire after being salted. The fragrant, crisply grilled skin gives way to plump flesh inside, and the faint bitterness of the innards paired with the fish's clean river scent lets the sweetfish's own flavor come through untouched.
How it's made
Live sweetfish are threaded zigzag onto skewers, salted, and grilled directly over charcoal. Freshness is said to matter most, so the fish are often skewered and grilled immediately after being caught.
Why it took this shape
In the mountain village fed by the clear waters of the Tone river system, a fishing method exploiting the sweetfish's territorial instinct is said to draw crowds each summer when the season opens. To preserve the flavor of fish raised in clean water, seasoning is kept to salt alone, a style said to have been passed down through a life lived alongside the river.
Before You Go
Dishes in the same style
- Abutte KamoSmall damselfish are salted overnight, then grilled whole, scales and innards left on — a bony fish often passed over elsewhere, but said to have caught on in Hakata Bay after a Meiji-era glut led someone to salt and grill the excess.
- Gohei MochiFreshly cooked non-glutinous rice is pounded, pressed flat on a skewer, and grilled with a miso glaze. Said to have originated in the mountainous Chubu region, it's traditionally made the night before a festival praying for safety in mountain work.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Gunma
- Fujioka RamenAn unassuming clear soy chuka soba, rooted in the town's diner culture.
- AmanejiWheat dumplings simmered in a sweetened red bean soup, mainly eaten around Shibukawa; Kawaba village calls it amadango. It was a treat during breaks from farm work.
- GojiruGround soybean paste, called go, stirred into a miso soup with seasonal vegetables. Made in soybean-growing Gunma from autumn into winter, it has long served as a warming, nutritious dish.
- KatemeshiRice cooked with barley, beans, daikon and other bulking ingredients called kate. Born of rice shortages, it survives today as a mixed rice dish often served on the Tenjin festival day.
- Sosu KatsudonBreaded pork fillet dipped in a house sauce blending Worcestershire with eel tare, served over rice. It spread as a delivery favorite in the textile town of Kiryu and is now found across the prefecture.
- Konnyaku Miso OdenSkewered konjac, simmered in sake and water then brushed with a sweet-savory miso glaze, eaten through the cold winter. Its nickname, hippataki oden, comes from the slap of drying the konjac against a cloth.