Protected local food
Mera Itomaki Daikon
米良糸巻大根
A stubby heirloom daikon from Nishimera, a mountain village in Miyazaki. Its skin has red-purple stripes as if wound with thread, and it is sweet and tender.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 25 March 2026
- Region
- Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- 米良糸巻大根
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 宮崎県児湯郡西米良村
Wrapped in red thread
Itomaki means thread-wound. This native daikon is short and stubby, with white and red skin crossed by red-purple stripes, as if someone had wound thread around it. The flesh is dense, keeps its shape when simmered and is soft like turnip. At about 6 degrees Brix it is around 2 degrees sweeter than the usual green-necked daikon.
A slash-and-burn crop
Nishimera village is deep in the mountains of Miyazaki. The radish needs almost no fertiliser or pesticide, so it was a staple of slash-and-burn farming on steep slopes. Today it grows in permanent fields, but the village has never stopped growing it.
Seed saved the old way
Families save their own seed, picking the best roots and using a traditional method called suemoto, which keeps the look and flavour true.
Good to know
- Nishimera is one of Kyushu's most remote mountain villages, on the upper Hitotsuse River. Drive carefully on the mountain roads.
- Try it simmered in nimono or pickled. The stripes make it pretty in a salad.
Questions travellers ask
Why the stripes?
They are a natural trait of this native variety and give it its name.
When is it in season?
Late autumn and winter.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.