Hinona is a slender turnip native to Hino, Shiga, purple-red at the top of the root and white below, with a flavor that carries both bitterness and bite. Pickled, it turns the color of cherry blossoms, and was once presented to the emperor, which is how the pickle came to be known as sakura-zuke. In 2022, Omi Hino hinona was registered as a geographical indication (GI).
Sources: pref.shiga.lg.jp maff.go.jp
This moment in the journey
Red konnyaku and hinona pickles
I stopped at a pickle shop beside a stone wall. A banner under the eaves announced that the hinona pickles were ready. In a basket sat piles of red konnyaku, the local specialty I had been curious about, in pink packets.
Hinona pickles, striking for their vivid purple-red color and slender shape, were coiled into spirals and packed. At the back of the shop hung a banner reading "Hinona, a specialty of Omi." I bought both for tonight's table.
Watch this scene on YouTube3:16
More notes from this journey
Omihachiman, Shiga
Funazushi ochazuke
Funazushi is a fermented sushi found throughout Shiga: crucian carp from Lake Biwa, salted and then layered with cooked rice in a tub to ferment for more than h…
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Omi beef steak
Omi beef is Shiga's pride, Japan's first brand of beef and counted among the three great wagyu.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Chojifu with mustard dressing
Chojifu is Omihachiman's local wheat gluten, cut into squares.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Hachimanbori Canal
A 4,750-meter canal dug in 1585, when Toyotomi Hidetsugu, nephew of Hideyoshi, built his castle on Mt.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Old Hachiman Post Office
A two-story wooden Western-style building designed by William Merrell Vories and completed in 1921.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
Omihachiman, Shiga
Hakuunkan
Built in 1877 as the Hachiman East School by Omi merchants to educate their children, in a Western-influenced style, with most of the cost covered by donations.
From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town
More notes from Kinki
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Kyoto-style ozoni (white miso New Year soup)
Ozoni in and around Kyoto is built on kombu dashi and white miso, with round mochi, taro, carrot and daikon.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Osechi (datemaki, red-and-white namasu, decorated kamaboko)
Each osechi dish carries a wish.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Toshikoshi soba (nihachi soba)
The custom of eating soba on New Year's Eve is said to have spread among ordinary people in the Edo period.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Chestnut rice (kuri gohan)
My first chestnut rice, made with chestnuts I had picked myself.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Charcoal-grilled saury with sudachi
Sanma is written 秋刀魚, "autumn sword fish," but that spelling only spread from the Taisho era on; older texts wrote it 青串魚.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Wakayama bonito and mandarin carpaccio
In contrast to the lean first bonito of spring, the fish that head south from around September are called modori-gatsuo, returning bonito.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast