Tochigi has no coast. The swings between seasons here are wide, and river fish were a serious source of protein rather than a novelty. Before the irrigation channels were lined with concrete, loach were an ordinary sight in the water.

Farming households caught them in summer by putting a cover over the inlet where the water entered the paddy, which turned the field's own plumbing into a trap. What was caught went into a container of clean water first, and stayed there until the mud had been worked out of it.

The cooking is direct. Drained loach into a pot, sake poured in to just cover them, a little soy sauce, a lid on, and heat until the movement stops.

Then leek and burdock go in, and beaten egg is poured over the top. This was made in summer, every summer, without much variation. The reasoning was that loach put strength back into a body worn down by heat, and it was eaten at midday during the Yasaka shrine festival in the hottest part of July. Utsunomiya and the flat country around it are where it is recorded. The remedy for the heat, as with a great many Japanese summer dishes, was to eat something hot at the hottest hour of the day.