Dishes known in more than one place

Yakitori

• Hokkaido / MuroranIn the early Showa era, when pig farming was promoted to supply materials such as military boots, offal from those pigs is said to have been skewered and grilled — the start of Muroran's yakitori. Pork shoulder and onion eaten with hot mustard, rather than chicken, is said to remain the local form.
• Saitama / HigashimatsuyamaIn the 1950s, pork cheek meat — then low-value as meat — is said to have become cheaply available from a nearby meat-processing center, leading street vendors to start skewering and grilling it. What is said to be Japan's first "yakitori union" formed to keep supply and prices stable, preserving a culture built around a white-miso-based spicy sauce.
• Fukuoka / KurumeIn Kurume, not just chicken but pork, beef, and even horse go on the skewer, with some offal cuts carrying distinct local names such as "darumu." The city's history as a castle town with a broad meat culture is said to underlie a style of yakitori not limited to chicken.

Nigiri-zushi

• Tokyo / ChuoTied to the Edo-era practice of curing fish from Tokyo Bay itself and serving it from street stalls — the place nigiri-zushi is said to have begun.
• Ishikawa / KanazawaOften linked to Omicho Market, a nearly 300-year-old market drawing fresh Sea of Japan catch into the city's sushi counters.

Juwari Soba

• Fukushima / Kitakata (Yamato)The area is said to have kept making unbound, 100%-buckwheat soba, favored by cold-spring water off Mt. Iide and a cool climate suited to growing buckwheat.
• Fukushima / HinoemataThe village is said to preserve a unique method, tachi-soba, in which unbound, all-buckwheat dough is layered and cut as if cutting cloth.

Nihachi Soba

• Tokyo / Chiyoda (Kanda)The neighborhood is home to the founding shop of the Yabu lineage, one of Edo's three great soba houses, open since 1880 and said to have kept an 8:2 ratio as tradition.
• Tokyo / Minato (Toranomon)The area holds a shop carrying the Sunaba lineage's name since its 1872 founding, part of the same Edo-style soba tradition as nihachi.

Kaisendon

• Hokkaido / HakodateHakodate's morning market grew up beside the station and port just after the war, and it is home to seafood-bowl restaurants such as Kikuyo Shokudo, founded in 1956, serving fish landed close to where it is sold.
• Hokkaido / OtaruAt Otaru's Sankaku Market, steps from the station, shoppers buy seafood straight from the fishmongers' stalls and have it prepared on the spot into a custom rice bowl — buying and eating happen in the same market.
• Hokkaido / KushiroAt Kushiro's Washo Market, diners build their own bowl (kattedon) by picking seafood from the stalls and adding it to rice bought separately — a custom rooted in a market that sells fish landed close by.
• Ishikawa / KanazawaKanazawa's Omicho Market sits close to the city's central wholesale market, and some of its seafood-bowl shops send staff to the morning auction themselves each day — a short supply line from landing to bowl.

Shirasu-don

• Kanagawa / FujisawaShonan has fished for shirasu since the Edo period, and raw shirasu is said to have taken root as a local specialty only once boiling and refrigeration technology advanced.
• Shizuoka City, ShizuokaSuruga Bay is cited as one of Japan's richest fishing grounds for plankton, and the short distance from landing to table is said to support a culture of eating shirasu raw.

Tempura

• TokyoAgainst a backdrop of growing rapeseed-oil production and street-stall culture, the crisp, sesame-oil-fried Edo-mae style of tempura, eaten with a dipping sauce, is said to have developed here.
• Nagasaki City, NagasakiAs a gateway for trade with the Portuguese, Nagasaki developed its own tempura with sugar and soy sauce mixed directly into the batter, eaten as is without any dipping sauce.

Okonomiyaki

• Osaka City, OsakaOsaka is where okonomiyaki grew out of the Meiji-era yoshoku-yaki snack, and its mixed-batter style is said to stand alongside takoyaki as the city's signature konamono.
• Hiroshima City, HiroshimaHiroshima Prefecture is said to have more okonomiyaki shops per 100,000 people than anywhere else in Japan (per the 2014 Economic Census), and its layered style has become the region's own signature.

Hiyashi Chuka

• Miyagi / Sendai (Aoba Ward)Ryotei, a long-running Chinese restaurant, says its founder Yoshio Shikura developed 'ryanban-men' in 1937 to answer the summer sales slump shared by Chinese restaurants of the day, building a nutritionally balanced, tart cold noodle — and the shop still calls itself the originator.
• Tokyo / ChiyodaThe second-generation owner of Yosukocho Saikan in Kanda-Jimbocho is said to have taken inspiration from a nearby soba shop's cold noodles, running over 200 trials before completing a five-color 'ryanban-men' in 1933, its toppings arranged to evoke Mount Fuji and the four seasons.

Tenshinhan

• Osaka / Osaka (Chuo Ward)Another account credits Taishoken, a restaurant near Osaka Castle run by a proprietor from Shandong, who is said to have drawn on a Tianjin custom of rice-bowl meals to place a crab omelette over rice and pour sauce on top.
• Tokyo / TaitoOne account traces it to Rairaiken (founded 1910), where a cook brought in from Ginza is said to have answered a regular's request for something quick by laying crab omelette over rice and applying a sweet-and-sour, soy-based sauce adapted from sweet-and-sour pork, shortly after the war.

Omuraisu

• Osaka / Osaka (Naniwa Ward)In Osaka, a yoshoku diner is said to have wrapped ketchup rice in a thin egg sheet in 1925 for a regular customer with a weak stomach, and its successor still operates today under the banner of being where omurice began.
• Tokyo / ChuoA Ginza restaurant founded in 1895 says in its own history that it developed omurice and hayashi rice alongside breaded fried dishes like katsuretsu, becoming known as Japan's first yoshoku restaurant.

Mentaiko

• Fukuoka / Fukuoka (Hakata Ward)Fukuya was founded here in 1948, and the following year began making and selling karashi mentaiko — said to be the origin of the mentaiko eaten today.
• Fukuoka / Fukuoka (Higashi Ward)Close to Hakata Port, this district is home to the headquarters and factories of makers like Kanefuku, forming a production cluster that handles everything from importing frozen roe to finished mentaiko.

Natto

• Miyagi / SendaiMiyagi is said to have the second-largest soybean acreage in Japan after Hokkaido, and in 1920 a modern method using pure-cultured natto bacteria was established in Sendai — giving the region a reputation built on both raw soybeans and production technique.
• Ibaraki / MitoSmall early-ripening soybeans, ill-suited to soy sauce or miso, are said to have gone into natto instead, and the town's fame as a producing area is said to trace to 1889, when the railway arrived and natto became a platform souvenir.

Dango

• Kyoto / Kyoto (Sakyo Ward)The bubbles rising in Shimogamo Shrine's Mitarashi Pond are said to have inspired the skewered dango, and the ritual of eating them for protection from misfortune continues at the shrine's summer festival.
• Tokyo / BunkyoThe Edo-period gazetteer Gofunai Bikou records a tea stall selling dango beside this slope, and the slope's name itself is said to derive from the dango shop — a place still associated with Edo's skewered-dango culture.

Yokan

• Kyoto City, KyotoSaid to be where neri-yokan was born once agar-making spread in the Edo period, and where the craft of working it down has since been refined as a sweet served alongside tea.
• Saga / OgiA castle town along the Nagasaki Kaido where sugar landed at Dejima spread widely and good water from the Tenzan mountains was plentiful; neri-yokan making is said to have flourished here from the early Meiji era.

Oden

• Hyogo / HimejiHimeji oden is eaten dipped in, or drizzled with, ginger soy sauce, a style said to trace back to the early Showa era when vendors in the city's waterfront district adjusted the flavor of a sweet-savory Kanto-style broth with ginger soy. A local revitalization group formally named it "Himeji Oden" in 2006.
• Shizuoka City, ShizuokaShizuoka oden is marked by a dark broth and dark fish cake (kuro-hanpen), skewered and finished with aonori seaweed and dashi powder. It is said to have been sold more often at candy shops where children gathered than at izakaya, and that everyday setting is said to have shaped the dish's casual style.

Shabu-shabu

• Kyoto / Kyoto (Higashiyama Ward)Junidanya in Gion explains that its second-generation owner, after hearing about a Chinese fire-pot, devised beef mizutaki suited to Kyoto, where beef is close at hand, and it names this as the origin of shabu-shabu. Kyoto has also raised cattle since long ago.
• Osaka / Osaka (Kita Ward)Eirakucho Suehiro Honten, said to have devised both the dish and the name 'shabu-shabu' in 1952, stands here. The restaurant opened in 1910 as a Western-style eatery, and the swish-in-broth way of eating thin beef is said to have spread from Osaka.

Sukiyaki

• Mie / MatsusakaMatsusaka beef comes only from virgin heifers raised over a long span, and the city's tourism association lists several long-established beef restaurants dating to the Meiji era. Sukiyaki is said to be the signature preparation at many of these shops, chosen to showcase the fat's quality.
• Shiga / OmihachimanOmi beef is raised across the Omi region including Omihachiman, and long-established restaurants featured on the city's tourism site serve a "sukiyaki set" as a signature dish. Lying along the old Nakasendo highway, the area is said to have developed a beef-eating culture earlier than many other parts of Japan.

Gyoza

• Tochigi / UtsunomiyaGyoza-making techniques are said to have taken root in the city with returnees from mainland China after the war, and shops belonging to the Utsunomiya Gyoza Association today compete with a wide range of styles, typically a thin wrapper around a garlic- and chive-forward filling.
• Shizuoka / HamamatsuHamamatsu gyoza are arranged into a circle on the griddle with a mound of boiled bean sprouts in the center — a vegetable-heavy, light-tasting filling promoted as a local specialty through a partnership of the city's chamber of commerce and tourism bodies.

Unagi no Kabayaki

• Chiba / NaritaBlessed with the fishing grounds of Lake Inba, the city is said to have served eel to pilgrims visiting Naritasan Shinshoji temple since the Edo period. Long-established restaurants passing down their sauce for generations line the approach road — a concentration of eel shops said to be rare anywhere else in Japan.
• Aichi / NagoyaHitsumabushi — chopped kabayaki mixed into rice and eaten three ways: plain, with condiments, and as a dashi-doused rice bowl — is the city's signature preparation, listed by the official Nagoya Convention & Visitors Bureau site as one of the defining dishes of "Nagoya meshi."
• Shizuoka / HamamatsuAbundant glass eels once caught in the brackish Lake Hamana gave rise to a major eel-farming industry, making the city known as a kabayaki stronghold. The city's own tourism portal calls Lake-Hamana-raised eel "exceptional," promoted citywide as a summer stamina food.

Karaage

• Hokkaido / KushiroKushiro's signature is zangi, boneless chicken marinated in a distinctive sauce before frying; one long-established shop's Worcestershire-like sauce is said to date back to its opening. Served mostly at izakaya and robatayaki grills, it has long been paired with drinking.
• Oita / NakatsuThe city is described as the "holy land of karaage" by the Japan Karaage Association, which holds an annual tasting event there. Within Oita Prefecture, known for high chicken consumption, this city in particular is said to have the densest concentration of specialty karaage shops.

Curry Rice

• Ishikawa / Kanazawa"Kanazawa curry" — a thick, dark roux topped with a pork cutlet, served with shredded cabbage on a stainless steel plate and eaten with a fork — is the local specialty, featured on the official Ishikawa Prefecture tourism federation's site as a dish beloved by residents.
• Kanagawa / YokosukaA former Imperial Japanese Navy base city, it promotes "Yokosuka Navy Curry," recreated from an old naval cookery manual, as a local specialty. The Maritime Self-Defense Force is said to still serve curry every Friday, a custom the city's tourism site introduces through its own curry guidebook.

Aji

• Oita / SaikiFish held in place rather than migrating through the fast currents of the Bungo Channel firm up and fatten into the branded 'Sekiaji'.

Amadai

• Fukui / ObamaAs the starting point of the old 'Saba Kaido' route, this port salted tilefish from Wakasa Bay lightly and carried it on foot to Kyoto.

Anko

• Ibaraki / OaraiFacing a fishing ground where the Kuroshio and Oyashio currents meet, this port town is closely tied to the hung-carving method and its anko hot pot.

Ayu

• Gifu / GujoThe Nagara River is renowned for its clarity, sustaining both cormorant fishing and tomo-zuri decoy fishing for ayu.
• Kochi / ShimantoOn the Shimanto River, often called Japan's 'last clear stream', traditional methods like torch fishing still bring in ayu.

Buri

• Toyama / HimiYellowtail fatten up in Toyama Bay along the Tsushima Current before wintering, and are taken in set nets as the branded 'Himi Kanburi'.

Funa

• Shiga / OmihachimanThe lake-endemic nigorobuna is salted and long-fermented with rice here, keeping alive the ancient narezushi method.

Hamo

• KyotoKyoto's Gion Festival is nicknamed the 'hamo festival' for how deeply the fish is tied to its summer cuisine, honing the bone-cutting craft over centuries.
• Hyogo / AwajiSandwiched between the Akashi Strait and the Kii Channel, this island supplies much of the pike conger sold into Kyoto and Osaka.

Hatahata

• Akita / OgaNamed with characters combining 'fish' and 'thunder' for its habit of coming ashore to spawn amid winter thunder, it forms the core of the prefecture's food identity.

Hokke

• Hokkaido / NemuroFacing waters fed by the cold Oyashio current, this port lands among Japan's largest hokke catches alongside its overnight-dried himono tradition.

Iwashi

• Chiba / ChoshiFacing a rich fishing ground where the Oyashio and Kuroshio currents meet, this port regularly vies for Japan's largest sardine landings.

Katsuo

• KochiThe Kuroshio current runs just offshore of Tosa Bay, where pole-and-line fishing has long thrived and where straw-seared tataki is said to have originated.

Kibinago

• Kagoshima / SatsumasendaiThe clear waters around the Koshikijima Islands form the fishing ground, and the town is a center of kibinago fishing built around its freshness-first sashimi culture.

Kinki

• Hokkaido / RausuGrounds several hundred meters deep off Shiretoko yield this premium fish, taken by gillnet and longline.

Kinmedai

• Shizuoka / ShimodaThe steeply plunging seabed of Sagami Bay forms the fishing grounds, with pole-and-line 'ji-kinme' known through the ports of Inatori and Shimoda.

Koi

• Fukushima / KoriyamaCarp farming grew out of ponds fed by the Asaka Canal built in the Meiji era, making this city one of Japan's leading producers.

Kue

• Kochi / OtsukiThe Kuroshio-facing ria coastline around Kashiwajima serves as both fishing ground and farm site, making the town a leading source of kue.

Madai

• Hyogo / Akashi'Akashi tai', firmed by the fast currents of the Akashi Strait, is a premium branded wild seabream.
• Ehime / UwajimaThe ria coastline of Uwa Sea gives strong tidal flow well suited to aquaculture, making the area one of Japan's leading farmed-tai producers.

Madara

• Hokkaido / HakodateFacing the Tsugaru Strait, this city has long paired its cod fishery with kombu-curing and hot-pot traditions dating to the Edo period.

Mebaru

• HiroshimaThe rocky reefs of the Seto Inland Sea form prime habitat, and Hiroshima has designated mebaru its official prefectural fish.

Mekajiki

• Miyagi / KesennumaFacing the rich Sanriku fishing grounds, this port is known for landing among Japan's most swordfish, mainly by coastal longline.

Mutsugoro

• Saga / KashimaConfined to the vast mudflats of the Ariake Sea, which has among Japan's largest tidal range, mutsugoro fishing uses distinctive methods like spear-jabbing.

Namazu

• Saitama / YoshikawaCarrying on the river-fish food culture of this canal-laced region along the Naka River, the city farms catfish under the banner 'namazu no sato'.

Nijimasu

• Shizuoka / FujinomiyaFed by spring water from Mt. Fuji, this city is said to be where rainbow trout farming began in the Meiji era, and calls itself its birthplace.

Nishin

• Hokkaido / OtaruSpawning shoals once ran so dense the coast turned white in what was called 'kuki' — the wealth they brought survives in the city's herring mansions.

Nodoguro

• Shimane / HamadaFacing a rich fishing ground over the Sea of Japan's steep seabed, the city markets its pole-and-line and trawl catch under the 'Donchicchi' brand.

Saba

• Oita City, Oita'Sekisaba', raised in the fast currents of the Bungo Channel and taken by pole-and-line, is prized for flesh firmed by the strong tidal flow.
• Kanagawa / Miura'Matsuwa saba', taken in set nets off the Matsuwa district, runs notably fatty and is prized as a premium Edomae mackerel.

Sake

• Hokkaido / ShibetsuA port town at the base of the Shiretoko Peninsula, among Japan's top landing sites for river-returning salmon.
• Niigata / MurakamiSalmon fishing on the Miomote River is said to date to the Heian era, supporting over a hundred local dishes that use every part of the fish.

Sanma

• Hokkaido / NemuroFacing waters where saury shoals come close to shore each autumn, this port lands among Japan's largest saury catches by stick-held dip net.

Sawara

• OkayamaFacing the rich fishing grounds of the Seto Inland Sea, this prefecture lands among Japan's most Spanish mackerel and weaves it into its festival sushi.

Shimaaji

• Ehime / AinanCalm waters in the Uwa Sea suit aquaculture well, making this town one of Japan's leading producers of farmed shimaaji.

Shirasu

• Shizuoka City, ShizuokaThe deep seabed topography of Suruga Bay drives upwelling currents, supporting active whitebait fisheries at the ports of Yui and Mochimune.

Shirauo

• Shimane / MatsueThe brackish Lake Shinji is rich in plankton feed, and icefish are one of the 'seven Shinji delicacies' woven into the city's food culture.

Shishamo

• Hokkaido / MukawaBecause true shishamo live only along Hokkaido's Pacific coast, the autumn run up rivers like the Mukawa is the only window to catch them.

Suzuki

• Chiba / FuttsuThe brackish waters at the head of Tokyo Bay serve as a nursery ground, sustaining the fishery for this classic Edomae 'shusseuo'.

Tachiuo

• Kagoshima / IbusukiPole-and-line caught near the Kuroshio current, Ibusuki's beltfish run large and are known by the brand 'Yamakawa ippon-zuri tachiuo'.

Tobiuo

• Nagasaki / TsushimaFacing the Tsushima Current, the island keeps alive the tradition of grilling and drying flying fish into 'yaki-ago' for dashi stock.

Torafugu

• Yamaguchi / ShimonosekiHome to the Kanmon Strait-side Haedomari fugu market, this city handles the largest volume of pufferfish trade in Japan.

Unagi

• Fukuoka / YanagawaIn this canal-laced water town, the steamed-then-served 'seiromushi' style of eel took root, softening the fish further.
• Shizuoka / HamamatsuAbundant glass eels once caught in the brackish Lake Hamana gave rise to a major eel-farming industry, making the city a kabayaki stronghold.

Utsubo

• KochiClose to Kuroshio-facing fishing grounds, distinct prep methods that make use of its tough skin — like deep-frying — became rooted as local cuisine.

Wakasagi

• Ibaraki / TsuchiuraThe brackish Lake Kasumigaura is rich in plankton feed, and sailboat-net fishing traditions have long supported its smelt catch.

Hamaguri

• Mie / KuwanaRaised in the brackish waters where the Kiso Three Rivers meet Ise Bay, giving thin shells and plump meat — famous since the Edo period.

Hoya

• Miyagi / OnagawaThe intricate ria coastline and the mixing of the Oyashio and Kuroshio currents suit aquaculture here, making it Japan's main farming center.

Madako

• Hyogo / AkashiThe fast currents of the Akashi Strait are rich in crab and shrimp prey; bracing against the flow is said to give the octopus thick, short, firm legs.

Sakura Ebi

• Shizuoka City, ShizuokaSuruga Bay's steep undersea topography makes stocks highly variable, so only two ports fish it, in two short licensed seasons a year.

Shijimi

• Shimane / MatsueLake Shinji is a brackish lake where fresh and salt water mix, an environment well suited to this species, giving it one of Japan's largest catches.

Zuwaigani

• Kyoto / KyotangoLanded at Taiza port by a handful of small trawlers that fish and return the same day, killed live aboard for exceptional freshness.
• Fukui / EchizenIts fishing history is documented back to the Muromachi era; landed crabs get Japan's first branded yellow tag, applied dockside.
• Tottori City, TottoriSeveral major Sanin-region ports cluster here, landing some of the country's largest crab catches under the name Matsuba-gani.

Nukazuke

• Fukui / Mihama (Wakasa)Heshiko — mackerel and other fish salted, then further pickled in rice bran — is said to have served as a vital protein source through hard winters.
• Fukuoka / KitakyushuA nuka-doko bed once kept as a preserve by the Kokura domain has been passed down through old households and lives on as nukamiso-daki, fish simmered in aged bran.

Takana-zuke

• Kumamoto / AsoHome to Aso takana, grown in cold air and volcanic-ash soil and salted with chili right after harvest.
• Fukuoka / Miyama (Setaka)A warm, fertile district where Mike takana — a cross of a green brought from China and a native strain — took hold as a crop in the Meiji era.

Takuan

• Mie / Chunansei (around Ise)Takuan made from Mizono daikon, grown in the sunny Chunansei district, is known locally as "Ise takuan."
• Tokyo / NerimaNerima daikon, notably pungent and slightly bitter, suited itself to drying, and Edo-period contract farmers there prepared daikon specifically for takuan.

Umeboshi

• Wakayama / MinabeCultivation of wild yabu-ume plum trees on tax-exempt wasteland is said to be the starting point behind the region's growth as a plum-growing area.
• Wakayama / TanabeAlongside Minabe, this was the Edo-period Tanabe domain territory, whose sun-facing mountain climate is said to have suited plum cultivation well.

Chikuwa

• Shimane / IzumoUsing flying fish and other coastal catch from the Sanin coast, and grilling the paste directly over flame without a skewer -- the noyaki method -- is said to be a long-rooted tradition in the Izumo region.
• Aichi / ToyohashiSitting between the Pacific and Mikawa Bay for a steady year-round catch, and serving as a Tokaido post town for distribution, are said to be why chikuwa-making has continued here since the late Edo period.

Kamaboko

• Miyagi / SendaiA rich fishing ground off Sanriku combined with the rise of the fire-baked sasa-kamaboko style is said to have made this one of Japan's leading regions for kamaboko output and consumption.
• Kanagawa / OdawaraLanding fresh fish from Sagami Bay and sitting on the Tokaido highway's post-town trade route are said to be why kamaboko-making took root here from the Edo period.

Nihonshu

• Kyoto / Kyoto (Fushimi Ward)Fushimi draws on groundwater from the Momoyama plateau, said to give a round, soft mouthfeel and gentle sweetness recognized under the GI Kyoto geographical indication.
• Hyogo / Kobe (Nada Ward)Nada draws on a mineral-rich, low-iron water called miyamizu, said to speed fermentation and give rise to a robust, dry style known as Nada no Kiippon.
• NiigataHome to the Echigo toji brewing lineage forged in a snowbound climate, a tradition that spread nationwide; Niigata is said to have the country's highest per-capita sake consumption.

Matcha

• Kyoto / UjiGyokuro and tencha grew out of ooshita saibai shaded cultivation there, and from the late Edo period the area is said to have also become known as a matcha-producing region grinding that tencha.
• Aichi / NishioAccounts for over 80% of Aichi Prefecture's tencha output, and is said to be the first region nationwide registered as a regional brand specifically for matcha.

Sencha

• Kyoto / UjiHome of the shading technique called ooshita saibai, known as a production area for sencha, gyokuro, and matcha alike under the Uji tea name.
• Fukuoka / YameContinues traditional straw-shaded cultivation and is known as a producer of premium tea that has placed highly in national tea competitions for many years.
• ShizuokaRanging from the vast flatland plantations of the Makinohara plateau to the misty mountain gardens of Kawane, the prefecture is said to be one of the country's largest tea producers.

Awamori

• Okinawa / YonaguniOn Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost island, a traditional 60-proof spirit called hanazake — bottled straight from the high-proof first distillate — is made, treated as a separate category from awamori under the liquor tax law.
• Okinawa / Naha (Shuri)Under the Ryukyu Kingdom, artisans called shochu-shoku are said to have been stationed only in Shuri's three towns of Akada, Sakiyama, and Torihori — rich in spring water and close to the royal court — to brew awamori under the government's direct supervision.

Imo-jochu

• MiyazakiA producing region on par with Kagoshima, where many breweries are said to use the same Koganesengan variety owing to the neighboring geography.
• KagoshimaThe production zone for the GI 'Satsuma' designation, said to have become a core imo-jochu region because its well-drained shirasu volcanic-ash plateaus suited sweet potato cultivation.

Nori

• Saga City, SagaThe Ariake Sea has one of Japan's largest tidal ranges, up to 6m, an environment said to suit pole-farming and flavor concentration.

Wakame

• Tokushima / NarutoBuffeted by the strong whirlpools of the Naruto Strait, it is said to grow thick and crisp; also known for the ash-drying preservation method devised here in the 19th century.