Akita Food Guide: Kiritanpo, Inaniwa Udon & Hinai Jidori

Akita Prefecture is famous as a land of rice and sake, and a distinctive food culture nurtured by rich nature and a cold climate lives on here. From nationally known specialities such as kiritanpo nabe, Inaniwa udon and Hinai jidori chicken to the produce of mountain and sea in every season, it is truly a treasure house of food.

Akita's Food Culture and Natural Setting

Akita is one of Japan's heaviest snowfall regions, and preserved foods and hotpot dishes developed as a way of getting through the long winter. Blessed with high-quality rice and pure water, it is also known as a celebrated producer of sake. The gap between the cold of winter and the heat of summer brings out even more flavour in the rice and vegetables. This natural setting has given rise to a great many deeply flavoursome local dishes.

Kiritanpo Nabe and Hinai Jidori Chicken

Kiritanpo is mashed rice wrapped around a skewer of Akita cedar and grilled; the standard way to eat it is in a hotpot flavoured with stock from Hinai jidori chicken. Hinai jidori is a brand of native chicken improved by Akita Prefecture from the Hinai-dori, an indigenous breed of northern Akita, and is characterised by a rich flavour whose umami spreads the more you chew. The chicken stock dissolved into the pot and the toasty fragrance of the kiritanpo harmonise superbly. In the Odate and Kazuno areas, said to be the birthplace of the dish, many people come in search of the authentic taste.

Inaniwa Udon and a Wealth of Local Flavours

Inaniwa udon is a flat, thin dried noodle made by hand-stretching, prized for its smooth passage down the throat and its firm body. It is also popular as a gift. Besides this, there are rustic flavours found only in Akita that should not be missed, such as damako mochi — firmly cooked non-glutinous rice mashed and rolled into balls, said to have originated in the Nanaki area around Lake Hachirogata and enjoyed in "damako nabe," simmered in Hinai jidori stock — and iburigakko, smoked pickled daikon radish.

Shottsuru Nabe and Hatahata — Flavours Born of the Winter Sea of Japan

Hatahata (sandfish), and shottsuru, the fish sauce made by steeping it, are indispensable in any account of winter in Akita.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' "Uchi no Kyodo Ryori" (Our Local Cuisine), the hatahata normally lives in deep water around 500 metres down. But for a brief spawning period, around the time when the sea grows rough and thunder rumbles, it surges into coastal waters in huge shoals. The name is said to derive from hataha-ta-gami, an old word for lightning, and its alternative name "kaminari-uo" (thunder fish) is likewise said to come from this habit. The season is November to December. The waters off Akita are Japan's most productive hatahata fishing grounds.

Shottsuru is a seasoning made by salting fish and leaving them for more than a year until the fish dissolve, then straining the liquid to extract its umami. It is a traditional Akita flavour devised as a substitute for soy sauce in an age when soy sauce was a luxury, and it is counted among Japan's three great fish sauces along with ishiru from Ishikawa Prefecture and ikanago shoyu from Kagawa Prefecture.

Shottsuru nabe is made by using this fish sauce as the stock and adding hatahata. The distinctive aroma of fish sauce rises the moment the lid comes off. The refined white flesh falls apart at the touch of chopsticks, and the buriko — the roe carried by the females — pops between the teeth. The mellow depth of the shottsuru layered over a light broth reaches the core of the body on a cold night. It is enjoyed throughout the prefecture, especially along the coast, but in Oga City, said to be its birthplace, it is treated as a local speciality and in winter almost every restaurant serves it. Hatahata-zushi, made by pickling the fish, is likewise indispensable from winter through New Year.

Inaniwa Udon — A Hand-Stretching Craft Handed Down for 350 Years

Inaniwa udon originated in Inaniwa-cho, Yuzawa City, in southern Akita Prefecture. According to Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries materials, in the early Edo period the first-generation Inaniwa (Sato) Kichizaemon inherited the techniques of Sato Ichibei, who made various kinds of noodles in the Ozawa settlement of Inaniwa Village in the Akita domain, and after repeated improvements established the production method in 1665 (Kanbun 5). About a hundred years later, in 1752 (Horeki 2), it became a purveyor to Lord Satake, the ruler of the Akita domain. The technique was passed to a single heir and kept secret from outsiders, and an anecdote survives that it was later transmitted, as a special case, to the second-generation Sato Yosuke.

The method is that of hand-stretched dried noodles: the dough is kneaded, twisted, rolled out and dried. The cross-section is slightly flattened and contains fine air bubbles, so a slippery smoothness in the mouth and a supple firmness under the teeth coexist. The standard way is to chill it and dip it in sauce, but its smoothness is not lost when served hot in broth either. Because it keeps well as a dried noodle, it has long held its place as a standard gift and souvenir. It is also known as one of Japan's three great udon.

Iburigakko — A Smoked Pickle Born of Snow-Country Wisdom

In deep-snow Akita, the wisdom of preservation for surviving winter has sustained the table. Its symbol is iburigakko. In the Akita dialect "iburi" means to smoke and "gakko" means pickles; according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, this product name was coined in 1967. Originally a local taste made by farming households in the inland part of the prefecture, it is now made throughout Akita.

Its greatest distinguishing feature is that the daikon is dried by smoking. In 2019 it was registered under the Geographical Indication (GI) protection system (registration No. 79), and under those standards the raw daikon is smoked for two days or more, day and night, over broadleaf woods such as oak or cherry that give good aroma and colour, then steeped in a rice-bran bed for 40 days or more, fermenting and maturing slowly at low temperature. It is a procedure that could only have arisen in snow country where vegetables cannot be sun-dried, and smoking vegetables to make pickles is a rare method even by world standards.

A crisp, satisfying crunch when you bite, the toasty smoke aroma rising through the nose, and then the natural sweetness of the daikon following behind — this unity of aroma, texture and sweetness is the essence of iburigakko. It is of course an accompaniment to sake, and in recent years pairing it with cheese has also become widely known.

Akita Sake

Akita's premier rice-growing region produces outstanding Japanese sake. Labels like Aramasa, Yukino Bosha and Dewatsuru are celebrated nationwide.

Best Season and Access

Kiritanpo nabe is at its peak from autumn, when the new rice appears, through winter, and shows its true worth precisely in the cold season. For access, restaurants serving local dishes are concentrated around JR Akita Station, and it is easy to sample them even inside the station building. From Akita Airport, the prefecture's air gateway, a limousine bus (Akita Chuo Kotsu) reaches the west exit of JR Akita Station in about 40 minutes.

Practical Information

• Season: According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' "Uchi no Kyodo Ryori," kiritanpo nabe is often made at the time when the new rice is harvested, and in northern Akita Prefecture people gather around the pot each year once the new rice harvest is finished, to reward the labour of the harvest. Damako nabe is likewise at its best from the autumn new-rice season through winter.
• Main areas where they are served: Kiritanpo nabe is said to have originated in Odate City and Kazuno City and is centred on that area. Damako nabe is said to have originated in the Nanaki area around Lake Hachirogata and is enjoyed along the northern coast from Akita City, Oga and Nanaki as far as the Noshiro-Yamamoto district.
• Access: From Akita Airport to the west exit of JR Akita Station takes about 40 minutes by limousine bus (Akita Chuo Kotsu), costing 950 yen for adults and 480 yen for children. The stop is Bay 1 at the Akita Station West Exit Bus Terminal.
• Notes: Eating chicken raw or undercooked, including Hinai jidori, can cause campylobacter food poisoning. Even in a hotpot, make sure what you eat is thoroughly cooked through to the centre. Kiritanpo nabe and damako nabe are served piping hot, so take care not to burn yourself.

Opening hours and prices at individual shops vary from establishment to establishment.

📚 Sources

• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "Uchi no Kyodo Ryori": Kiritanpo Nabe (Akita Prefecture), Damako Nabe (Akita Prefecture)
• Akita Chuo Kotsu official website