They are called dango, dumplings, and they are not round. What goes into the soup is flat — wheat dough drawn out into wide, thin ribbons, closer to a torn noodle than to anything ball-shaped.

The name comes from an earlier stage. The dough is kneaded, rolled into a ball, and left to rest for a while, and it is that resting shape which gave the dish its word. The pulling out happens afterwards. Thin is better, because a thin sheet takes the flavour of the broth right through it while a lump would not.

The broth is barley miso, or a blend, or white miso, and whatever vegetables the season has go in with it. From the beginning of autumn through the winter this appeared on tables constantly, and it is heavy enough that it did not need much else beside it.

Oita is a prefecture of raised terraces and volcanic plateau, with a great deal of ground that will not carry rice. So barley and wheat were grown here from early on, and most of the crop went straight to the mill and was eaten as flour. People describe this as a substitute — wheat because the rice ran short — but that has the emphasis wrong. In these districts, flour was the everyday food and rice was the occasional one.