The base is oname koji, made from barley and soybeans. Barley soaked in water and soybeans roasted, both steamed and then inoculated with koji mold. Salt water is boiled and cooled to body temperature, poured in, and stirred through. One to two weeks later it is ready.

It is also called name-miso, a miso you lick rather than dissolve into anything, which places it closer to a relish than to a seasoning.

What goes into it beyond that is a household matter. Whatever the season provides, plus salted aubergine, shiitake, shiso seeds, old ginger, in whatever proportion someone likes.

The taste is salty and strong, and it is meant to be. It was valued around the midsummer doyo days, when the heat takes people's appetite, and equally during the busiest weeks of the farming year, because it makes rice go down when nothing else will. Kept in a refrigerator it holds for over six months, so it doubles as a store. It belongs to the Chichibu area, the northern edge of the Musashino plateau, the northeast of the prefecture, and the Iruma plateau. In Chichibu households it sits on the table as a matter of course rather than being brought out for anything. Spoon it onto rice and the meal is finished.