Inago is the rice grasshopper. It eats the crop, and here it was caught and eaten in turn. The Ina valley is a long way from any sea, and insects were a serious source of protein rather than a curiosity.

The characters used for it mean rice child, and the name is accurate about the timing. The harvest is when they are taken. When cutting began, people went out with a cloth bag tied at the waist and caught what jumped. Children could do it safely, and until around the 1970s catching them half as play and boiling them up household by household was an ordinary autumn sight.

The preparation is short. Scald them, pull off the legs and wings, dry-roast them, then cook them down with sugar, soy sauce, and sake until glazed.

Two things were achieved at once, which is why the practice lasted. The pest population went down and the diet gained what grain alone could not supply. During the food shortages of the war and the years after it, this is what filled stomachs. It is sold now at roadside stations and souvenir shops. The Suwa area has taken it further and now sells grasshopper in a griddle cake and in soft-serve ice cream. Protecting the field and eating were the same job.