Daikon and carrot, cut into quarter-rounds a little on the thick side so they will not fall apart. Sesame oil, a light fry. Then tofu, crumbled in by hand, and fried a little more. Dashi, soy sauce, sugar, and sake, and simmered until soft.

No water is added. The vegetables and the tofu release enough on their own, which tells you the dish was worked out by people who were not going to waste anything, including flavor.

The origin is disputed, with two accounts in circulation. One traces it to kenchen in Nagasaki, chopped vegetables and tofu fried and then made into a soup or a steamed dish, which was food for memorial services and other particular days. The other traces it to Kenchoji, the temple in Kamakura. It is generally understood as Yamaguchi's word for kenchin, and some districts say kenten or kencho-ni instead.

The seasoning is sweet-salty and pitched slightly strong, which is what makes it work with rice rather than beside it. It is a dish that gets reheated over several days, and it is served in school lunches across the prefecture. Over the course of a winter, sitting in the same pot and going back on the heat each evening, it slowly gets darker and more concentrated.