Flying fish were designated the official fish of Shimane prefecture in 1989, and the reason given at the time was not a culinary one at all. It was that a fish leaving the surface of the water suggests a leap forward. Locally they are called ago, and always have been.

The fishing season opens in May and closes again in August. In early summer large numbers of them come into the coastal waters here to spawn, and that is when the boats go out after them. From June through August the fish are building up their reserves, and that stretch is considered the peak of the season.

The flesh is muscular with almost no fat in it at all, which makes the sashimi clean and lean rather than rich. Set beside the oily fish that dominate Japanese raw preparations, it reads as almost austere, and takes a moment to adjust to.

I had assumed the firmness came from the flying, in a vague way, and I suspect the absence of fat comes from the same place: an animal that leaves the water is not carrying anything it does not need. The prefecture chose the fish for how it looks in the air above the water. The kitchen ends up dealing with the consequences of that same design, on a plate.