Sardine, horse mackerel, mahi-mahi, mackerel, flying fish, Spanish mackerel: whatever ordinary fish the Hyuga Sea happens to provide that week, ground whole into a paste, bones and all. Tofu goes in with it, then miso, soy sauce, and brown sugar, and the mixture is deep fried.

The tofu is the thing that separates it from satsuma-age, the fried fish cake of the neighboring prefecture. This one is softer, lighter, almost airy in the mouth, and it is noticeably sweet on top of that.

The account of where this came from is a collision between two separate local conditions. The Obi domain already had a cooking tradition that leaned heavily on miso. Then, in the middle of the nineteenth century, sugarcane cultivation began in the area, brought largely by people who had moved up from the southwestern islands. Miso was here first. Miso was already here. Sugar arrived. This is what happened at the intersection.

It is eaten just as it comes out of the fryer, with no further cooking of any kind. Straight out of the oil the brown sugar is at its most obvious, which is why the thing doubles as something handed to a child in the afternoon rather than functioning as a component of dinner.