Hot pot is a comforting way to warm you up on a cold day. Japan has a wide variety of delicious hot pot dishes, from standard hot pots to local hot pots that can only be found in certain regions.

In this article, we will introduce local hotpots from all over Japan and their characteristics. We have picked out some excellent hotpots with a variety of ingredients and seasonings, so please take a look.

Japanese local hotpots and their characteristics

From here, we will introduce Japan's local hotpots and their characteristics.

Ishikari nabe Hokkaido

This is a fisherman's dish from Ishikari Town. In the Ishikari region, where salmon fishing is thriving, it is said that people used to make a hot pot of freshly caught salmon to celebrate a big catch. The salmon is stewed together with chopped onions, cabbage, tofu, etc. and seasoned with miso.

Sprinkling some spicy Japanese pepper on top gives it a nice flavor and accentuates the mellow miso soup.

Cod stew Aomori Prefecture

This hot pot dish from southern Aomori is made by simmering cod fillets and cod milt in a soy sauce-based broth. It is made from winter to spring and is one of the seasonal flavors that represent Aomori.

By not overcooking the milt, its rich flavor matches well with the soup, making it so delicious you'll be hooked.

Kiritanpo hotpot Akita Prefecture

Kiritanpo is made by wrapping mashed rice around a skewer and grilling it until it becomes fragrant. It is made with a stock made from Hinai Jidori chicken bones and seasonal vegetables.

It is made by adding chicken, yamaitake mushrooms, burdock, konnyaku noodles, green onions and water parsley, seasoning with soy sauce, and topping it with kiritanpo cut into bite-sized pieces.

Oyster dotenabe Miyagi Prefecture/Hiroshima Prefecture

It is a local dish in which miso is spread on the inside of the pot like a bank, and then oysters, tofu, Chinese cabbage, chrysanthemum, etc. are stewed in it. It is a slightly unique hot pot dish that can be eaten by breaking down the bank of miso and adjusting the taste until it is to your liking.

The plump oysters and mellow miso soup go perfectly together.

Rice terrace hotpot Niigata Prefecture

This hot pot dish features a thick soup made from rice broth made from Uonuma Koshihikari rice grown in rice terraces. It is finished with grated daikon radish, which resembles snow falling on rice terraces, as well as scorched rice and rice flour crackers.

You can enjoy a different flavor by adding the traditional food "Shionoko" to the soup stock. You can try this at the inns and restaurants in Matsunoyama Onsen.

Ishiru Nabe Ishikawa Prefecture

"Ishiru" is a fish sauce that is traditional in the Noto region. It is a seasoning made by fermenting and aging the innards of the Japanese flying squid, sardines, mackerel, and horse mackerel, and has a unique flavor that is addictive. Ishiru hot pot, boiled with seasonal seafood and vegetables, is a local winter staple.

The delicious ishiru can also be diluted with water and combined with kelp stock.

Crab Chiri Fukui Prefecture

Kanichiri is a hot pot dish that originated from chirinabe. Crab and vegetables are simmered in a light-flavored broth made from kelp and other ingredients, and then served with ponzu sauce. You can enjoy the thick meat and rich flavor of Echizen crab to your heart's content.

If you add rice and eggs at the end to make rice porridge, you will be able to enjoy the deliciousness of the crab to the fullest.

Makigari nabe Tochigi Prefecture

Makigari is a style of hunting in which many seko (heroes) simultaneously drive the prey into a trap and the warlords shoot it.

The cuisine is a modern take on the history of Minamoto no Yoritomo's large-scale hunting expeditions, centered around Nasunohara. Each store offers different dishes, such as hotpots with wild boar and pork, and duck.

Anglerfish hotpot Ibaraki Prefecture

Monkfish hotpot is a winter delicacy that represents Ibaraki Prefecture. The parts of the monkfish that are said to be left alone except for the bones are called the "seven tools," and are cooked with vegetables and seasoned with miso and soy sauce.

Another feature of monkfish hotpot is that the richness, flavor, and umami taste can change greatly depending on the amount of monkfish liver used.

Yanagawa Nabe Tokyo

Yanagawa nabe is a dish made with loach that has been known since ancient times in the Edo period. The loach is simmered in a sweet sauce containing mirin and soy sauce, and then bound with shredded burdock root and egg.

This dish is made of light and mild dojo wrapped in sweet and spicy egg, and is the perfect side dish for rice.

Wasabi hotpot Shizuoka Prefecture

Wasabi nabe is a local dish from Izu's Amagi Yugashima. It is made by simmering vegetables, meat, fish, etc. in a soy sauce-based soup, and finishing it off with plenty of grated daikon radish and a whole grated stalk of fresh wasabi. You can eat it at hot spring inns and restaurants in Izu City.

Junjun Shiga Prefecture

It is a hot pot dish made with beef, chicken, and lake fish seasoned in a sukiyaki style. The name Junjun comes from the sound made when the ingredients are boiled in a pot, and it is said that in the past, fish caught in Lake Biwa and seasonal vegetables were boiled and eaten.

It is a dish for special occasions such as New Year's and Obon, and is sometimes simmered with the traditional vegetable green onion and the local specialty clove gluten.

Asuka Nabe Nara Prefecture

Asuka nabe is a local dish made by simmering chicken and vegetables in milk and soup stock. It is said to have originated when envoys from China during the Asuka period brought a dairy product similar to condensed milk to Nara, and ate it with chicken and other dishes.

The umami flavor of the vegetables and meat will infuse the soup stock, and it's also delicious with some udon noodles at the end.

Harihari Nabe Osaka Prefecture

Harihari nabe is made by combining richly flavored whale meat with mizuna (Japanese mustard greens). It was named after the "harihari" sound that mizuna makes when eaten. It is characterized by the generous use of mizuna, which is in season in winter.

Recently, it is also sometimes made using pork or beef, which are more readily available.

Wild boar hotpot Hyogo Prefecture

Boar stew, made by simmering wild boar meat and vegetables in a soup made with two types of miso, white and red, is a local dish of Tanba Sasayama City. It is said to have originated in the Meiji period when an army regiment was stationed there and they would add wild boar meat caught during training to the miso soup.

The wild boar meat is presented in the shape of a peony flower and is served as a New Year's dish to entertain guests.

Sozuri hotpot Okayama

Sozuri meat is the meat around the bone. It was named after the action of scraping meat off the bone, which is called "sozutte" in the Tsuyama dialect. Recently, various cuts of meat, vegetables, and mushrooms have been used, and the flavors of the meat and vegetables blend well with the soy sauce-based broth to create an exquisite dish.

Hiroshima Prefecture

Bishu nabe is a hot pot dish made with chicken, gizzards, pork and vegetables, seasoned simply with salt, pepper and sake.

The light seasoning allows you to enjoy the flavor of the ingredients directly. This dish was originally eaten during the winter when sake brewing was at its peak, as a meal between brewing sessions.

Mandarin orange hotpot Yamaguchi Prefecture

This is a local dish from Suo-Oshima, and it is a dish that boldly floats a whole mandarin orange in the hot pot. The dish is served with fish balls made with mandarin orange peel and "mandarin orange pepper" dissolved in soup stock. Finally, it is topped with meringue and finished with light snow mandarin orange rice porridge, making it a truly delicious mandarin orange hot pot.

Genpei Nabe Kagawa Prefecture

Genpei Nabe is a local dish from Kagawa Prefecture, created in honor of the Genpei War of the Heian period. It contains daikon radish and carrots, which represent the white flag of the Genji clan and the red flag of the Heike clan, and the naruto roll, which is inspired by the whirlpools of the Seto Inland Sea, is also noteworthy.

Other ingredients include shrimp, crab, shellfish, and other seafood from the Seto Inland Sea, and the soup that brings out their flavor is especially delicious as a final dish.

Motsunabe Fukuoka Prefecture

Motsunabe, a local Fukuoka delicacy, is made by adding vegetables such as chives to beef or pork offal. Different restaurants use different cuts of meat, and the standard seasoning is a rich soy sauce.

To finish off, try adding some champon noodles and enjoying the soup, full of the delicious flavor of the sweet and tender offal.

Iriyaki Nagasaki Prefecture

Iriyaki is a traditional dish from Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, made with chicken or fish, vegetables, konnyaku, tofu, etc. It is seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, mirin, etc. to give it a sweet flavor.

To finish off the meal, somen noodles or the local specialty, Taishu soba, are added. It has long been a local custom to slaughter local chickens when people gather, and it is said that this custom may have led to the creation of Iriyaki.

Hita Donnabe Oita Prefecture

Hita Donnabe is a hotpot dish that lets you fully enjoy the deliciousness of Hita. It is made with a wide variety of ingredients, from local vegetables to meat, fish, tofu, and konjac.

Hita Don is derived from the nickname of a powerful clan in Hita County that existed during the Heian Period. It is also characterized by the fact that the dish is served on folk craft utensils called "Onta yaki" and bamboo chopsticks made in Hita.

Bokke stew Kagoshima Prefecture

The specialty, bokke hotpot, is made with a generous amount of rare Kirishima aged mythical pork and locally grown vegetables. It comes in a variety of flavors, including a rich and savory miso flavor, a mellow soy milk flavor, and a deep soy sauce flavor. "Bokke" means "bold" in the Kagoshima dialect. It was named with the intention of being an innovative hotpot dish that makes the most of the bounty of Kirishima.

summary

This time, we introduced Japan's local hotpots and their characteristics. There are various reasons why local hotpots were made, and it is interesting to see the little stories hidden in the deliciousness.

Be sure to enjoy the uniqueness and diversity of local hotpots, and the excitement of encountering slightly unusual ingredients.

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