Seafood ── Shellfish and cephalopods
Iidako
a small octopus whose egg-filled body suggests cooked rice
A small octopus about 20cm long. In females during spawning season, the body fills with roe whose grains are said to resemble cooked rice — the source of its name. Simmered, the flesh turns tender with a popping roe texture, in season through winter.
- Squid and octopus
What it's made of
A small octopus, only about 30cm long, common along shallow coasts such as the Seto Inland Sea. In females nearing spawning, the body fills with roe whose grains are said to look like cooked rice, the source of the octopus's Japanese name. Most sold at market run about 10cm, and simmered, the flesh turns tender while roe-carrying females add a popping texture with every bite, a small-octopus pleasure of its own.
How it's made
Mostly caught with pot fishing, using pots built from large bivalve shells, or plastic shells shaped to match, that the octopus is known to move into — gear suited to a small species living on shallow, sandy-muddy ground, hauled up whole once it has settled inside. Females just before spawning, roe fully developed, are especially prized, with the winter-to-spring spawning season doubling as the best time to eat them.
Why it took this shape
The way roe fills a female's body ahead of spawning each winter and spring appears to be what fixed that stretch as the season to eat this octopus. Its small size and habit of living on shallow seafloor are thought to have shaped a pot-fishing method built around shell-mimicking traps, and the shallow coastline running along the Seto Inland Sea is what keeps that pot-fishing tradition alive today.
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 winterA guide to foods often seen in Japan around winter — nabe hot pot, fugu, oysters, crab, year-end soba, and osechi — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- Aori IkaA large squid whose fin skirts the entire body. Its translucent flesh carries strong sweetness and a thick, dense texture, making it one of the pricier squid at market, best raw as sashimi or sushi, in season summer through autumn.
- Hotaru IkaA small squid about 5cm long with light-producing organs. Its rise to shallow water to spawn each spring is a well-known seasonal sight. Eaten whole, guts included, boiled and dressed in vinegar-miso for a rich, faintly bitter taste.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known source
- Known source: Kagawa, Shodoshima
The shallow Seto Inland Sea coast here keeps a tradition of pot-fishing for this octopus.
Contrast
- MadakoThe most commonly eaten octopus in Japan. Raised against strong currents, its legs are said to firm up thick and taut, boiled into a springy, deeply savory bite. Used everywhere from vinegared dishes to takoyaki filling.
- MizudakoReckoned the world's largest octopus species, living in cold northern waters. Its large, water-rich flesh is softer than madako's, turning mild and sweet when briefly blanched for sashimi, in season through winter.