Protected local food
Senshu Mizunasu
泉州水なす
A water eggplant from the Senshu area in southern Osaka, so juicy that water drips when you squeeze it. The skin and flesh are soft, with a gentle sweetness and little bitterness.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 30 January 2025
- Region
- Kansai
- Official name in Japanese
- 泉州水なす
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 大阪府岸和田市、泉大津市、貝塚市、泉佐野市、和泉市、高石市、泉南市、阪南市、泉北郡忠岡町、泉南郡熊取町、田尻町及び岬町
An eggplant full of water
Squeeze a Senshu mizunasu and water drips out. Farmers once planted it at the edge of their fields to quench their thirst while working in the summer heat. The skin and flesh are soft, it has a light sweetness, and it has very little bitterness, so it can even be eaten raw.
Only from Senshu
It has been grown in the Senshu area of southern Osaka, including Kishiwada, Kaizuka and Izumisano, since the early Edo period. People say it changes if grown anywhere else, so it was long kept as a local secret. Today it is one of Osaka's best-known gifts and souvenirs.
Good to know
- Try it as nukazuke, a light rice-bran pickle, the classic way to eat it.
- Kansai Airport sits off the Senshu coast, so pickled mizunasu makes an easy last-minute souvenir.
Questions travellers ask
Can you eat mizunasu raw?
Yes. It is soft and has little bitterness, so it can be eaten raw or lightly pickled.
Where is Senshu?
The southern coast of Osaka Prefecture, around Kishiwada, Kaizuka and Izumisano.
Where it comes from
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Hinenosho: a medieval estate next to Kansai Airport
- Kamenose: crossing the landslide heart of the Tatsuta Kodo
- Katsuragi Shugen: where mountain asceticism began
- Kawachinagano: a town where the Middle Ages live on
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Nyonin Koya: the temples where women prayed instead of Mount Koya
- Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage: Japan's 1,300-year journey of the heart
- Takenouchi Kaido and Yokooji: Japan's oldest national road
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.