Ryukyu is the leaf stalk of the hasuimo, specifically the part where the leaf meets the stem. It is a bright, clean green, and what it offers is a very particular crackle between the teeth and not much else.

The name is said to come from Okinawa, the old kingdom of Ryukyu, on the basis that the plant arrived from there. Several accounts circulate and none is settled. The other name, hasuimo, lotus taro, comes from the cross-section: cut the stalk and it looks like a slice of lotus root.

Field-grown stalks come in from summer through into autumn. To prepare them, the skin is dealt with first, then the stalk is cut, rubbed with salt, and wrung out by hand.

Meanwhile, salted cutlassfish, or else nairage, which is the local word for marlin, is steeped in yuzu vinegar until it firms. Then everything is dressed together with ginger and with sesame. It is a fixture of the Kochi summer and appears on tables through the hot months. What stays with you afterward is not really a flavor at all. The stalk itself tastes of very nearly nothing. What it has is structure, air, and a noise, and the vinegar and the fish between them supply absolutely everything else on the plate.