Rice bran (nuka) – not usually eaten itself, but used for pickling, and also added to boiling water to parboil tart vegetables
Arare – toasted brown rice grains in genmai cha and chazuke nori
Kome-kōji – Aspergillus cultures
Sake kasu
sake
Awa (mochi awa)
Oshimugi (barley)
Flour
Katakuri starch – an alternative ingredient for potato starch
Kinako – soybean flour/meal
Kibi – (millet) flour
Konnyaku – starch powder
Kudzu starch
Rice flour (komeko)
Joshinko
Mochiko
Shiratamako
Dōmyōji ko – semi-cooked rice dried and coarsely pulverized; used as alternate breading in domyoji age deep-fried dish, also used in Kansai-style sakuramochi confection. Medium fine ground types are called shinbikiko (新引粉,真挽粉) and used as breaded crust or for confection. Fine ground are jōnanko (上南粉)
Mijinko, kanbaiko (寒梅粉) – powdery starch made from sticky rice.
Gyūhi flour
Soba flour
warabi starch – substitutes are sold under this name, though authentic starch derives from fern roots. See warabimochi
Wheat flour
Tempura flour
Kyōriki ko, chūriki ko, hakuriki ko – descending grades of protein content; all purpose, udon flour, cake flour
Uki ko – name for the starch of rice or wheat. Apparently used for wagashi to some extent. In Chinese cuisine, it is used to make the translucent skin of the shrimp har gow.
Noodles
Soba
Sōmen
Ramen
Udon
Yakisoba noodles
Vegetables
Botanic fruits as vegetables
Cucumber (kyūri)
Eggplant (nasu, nasubi)
Shishitō – mild peppers
Manganji pepper
Fushimi pepper (伏見とうがらし) – The leaves of the fushimi made into tsukudani are hatōgarashi.
kabocha – pumpkins, squash
shiro-uri – type of squash/melon.
Cabbage family
Komatsuna – (B. rapa var. perviridis)
Mizuna - (B. rapa var. nipposinica)
Napa cabbage (hakusai) – (B. rapa var. glabra)
Takana (タカナ) – (Brassica juncea var. integrifolia or var. of mustard)
Nozawana – (cultivar of B. rapa var. hakabura)
Nanohana (rapeseed or coleseed flowering-stalks, used like broccoli rabe)
Other leafy vegetables
Spinach (hōrensō)
Onion family
Vegetables in the onion family are called negi in Japanese.
Asatsuki – type of chives
Nira – Chinese chives or garlic chive
Rakkyo
Wakegi – formerly thought a variety of scallion, but geneticists discover it to be a cross with the bulb onion (A. × wakegi).
Green onions or scallions
Fukaya negi (深谷ネギ) – Often used to denote the types as thick as leeks used in Kantō region, but is not a proper name of a cultivar, and merely taken from the production area of Fukaya, Saitama. In the east, the white part of the onion near the base like to be used.
Bannō negi ("multipurpose scallion") – young plants.
Kujō negi – Kyoto cultivar of green onion.
Shimonita negi – Cultivar named after Shimonita, Gunma.
Other varieties with articles are Kan'on negi (Hiroshima), Yatabe negi (Fukui), Tokuda negi (Gifu)
Nobiru – Allium macrostemon, collected from the wild much like field garlic.
Gyōja ninniku – Allium victorialis, much like ramps.
Root vegetables
Chorogi – Chinese artichoke, Stachys affinis
Daikon – Japanese radish
Gobo – Arctium lappa
Lotus root (renkon, hasu)
Potato (jaga-imo)
Sweet potato (satsuma-imo)
Taro (satoimo) and stalk (zuiki, imogara)
Ebi imo – Kyoto variety
Zuiki – stems available fresh or dried; their tartness must be boiled off before use.
Takenoko – bamboo shoots
Himetakenoko, sasa-takenoko, nemagari-take – Slender bamboo shoots of Chishima zasa bamboo (Sasa kurilensis), so-called "baby bamboo shoots".
Menma – vital condiment to ramen, made from the Taiwanese giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus latiflorus) and not from the typical bamboo shoot.
Yamaimo – vague name that can denote either Dioscorea spp. (Japanese yam or Chinese yam) below. The root is often grated into a sort of starchy puree. The correct way is to grate the yam against the grains of the suribachi. Also the tubercle (mukago) used whole.
Yamanoimo or jinenjo (Dioscorea japonica) – considered the true Japanese yam. The name jinenjo refers to roots dug from the wild.
Nagaimo (D. opposita) – In a strict sense, refers to the long truncheon-like form.
Yamatoimo (D. opposita) – A fan-shaped (ginkgo leaf shaped) variety, more viscous than the long form.
Tsukuneimo (D. polystachya var.) – A round variety even more viscous and highly prized.
Mukago – edible tubercles
Yurine – lily bulbs
Sprouts
Kaiware – radish sprouts
Moyashi – mung sprouts
Soybean sprouts (mame-moyashi)
Specialty vegetables
Aralia cordata – "Japanese spikenard"
Fuki –a type of butterbur, both stalk and young flower shoots
Kanpyō – dried gourd strips
Konnyaku – shirataki
Sansai – a term for wild-picked vegetables in general, including fernbrake, bamboo shoots, tree shoots
Pickled vegetables
Tsukemono – term for Japanese pickles.
Takuan zuke
Suguki
Nuts
Ginkgo nuts
Azuki bean
Kuri – chestnuts
Onigurumi – Japanese walnut (Juglans ailantifolia)
Tochi-no-mi – a type of buckeye or horse chestnut (Aesculus turbinata)
Shii-no-mi – acorns of Castanopsis spp.
Seeds
Sesame seeds
Black sesame seeds
White sesame seeds
Shiso seeds
Wild sesame seeds (egoma)
Hemp seeds (onomi) – mixed in with shichimi
Karashi – usually powdered mustard, or in paste tubes
Sanshō – Zanthoxylum piperitum
Mushrooms
Enokitake
Eringi
Matsutake
Maitake
Nameko
Hiratake
Shiitake
Shimeji
Wood ear (kikurage)
Rhizopogon roseolus (shōro)
Seaweed
Ego-nori – Campylaephora hypnaeoides
Habanori – Petalonia binghamiae
Hijiki
Konbu – kombu, kelp
Tororo-kombu or oboro-kombu – thin shavings of kelp
Usuita-kombu – a thin sheet of kelp created as a byproduct
Mekabu – the thick, pleated portion near the attached base of the seaweed
Mozuku
Nori
Iwa-nori – refers to seaweed harvested from sea-rock.
Ogonori
Okyūto
Suizenji-nori – Aphanothece sacrum, a Kyushu specialty
Tengusa – also known as kanten and tokoroten; agar
Wakame
Fruits
Citrus
Amanatsu
Daidai
Dekopon – a new hybrid
Iyokan
Kabosu
Sudachi
Yuzu
Other
Akebia (sausage fruit)
Ume
Loquat
Makuwauri – a traditional type of melon
Nashi pear
Persimmon
Yamamomo – Myrica rubra
Soy products
Edamame
Miso
Soy sauce (light, dark, tamari)
Nattō
Daitokuji nattō
Mame moyashi – soy sprouts
Kinako – soy meal
Irimame – dry-roasted soy beans and black soy beans (used in kakimochi, etc.)
Vegetable proteins
Fu – wheat gluten
Nama fu – fresh fu usually sold in sticks (long bars)
Dry fu – variously shaped and colored. Kuruma-bu is one variety
Chikuwabu – somewhat more doughy (still has starches left)
Chicken – called kashiwa in Western parts (Kansai). There are various heritage breeds called jidori
Nagoya cochin
Shamo – fighting cock
Hinai jidori – hinaidori × Rhode Island red
Unlaid egg yolk (tamahimo)
Pork
Kurobuta (Berkshire (pig))
agū or shimabuta, extinct but reconstructed heritage hog of Okinawa
Inobuta – a domestic pig × wild boar crossbreed
Boar meat – the nabe (hotpot) dish is called botan nabe ("peony")
Whey buta – marketed by Hanamaki Bokujō
Horse meat, sometimes called sakura-niku – a delicacy. Raw sliced horsemeat is called basashi; the fatty neck portion from where the mane grows is known as tategami.
Finned fish
Marine fishes
(red-fleshed fish or akami zakana)
skipjack tuna (katsuo) - made into tataki, namaribushi, and processed into katsuobushi
soda-gatsuo
tuna (maguro)
Japanese amberjack (buri / hamachi)
Spanish mackerel (sawara)
Blue-backed fish
These fish are collectively called ao zakana in Japanese.
Japanese jack mackerel (aji)
pacific saury (sanma)
sardine (iwashi)
Niboshi or iriko is dried sardine, important for fish stock and other uses.
mackerel (saba)
kohada or kohada (Konosirus punctatus)
herring (nishin)
aji (Japanese horse mackerel and similar fish) - typical fish for hiraki, or fish that is gutted, butterflied, and half-dried in shade.
White-fleshed fish
These fish are collectively called shiromi zakana in Japanese.
flatfish (karei / hirame) - ribbons of flesh around the fins called engawa are also used. Roe is often stewed.
pike conger (hamo) - in Kyoto-style cuisine, also as high-end surimi.
pufferfish (fugu) - flesh, skin, soft roe eaten as sashimi and hot pot (tecchiri); organs, etc. poisonous; roe also contain tetrodotoxin but a regional specialty food cures it in nuka until safe to eat.
tilefish (amadai) - in a Kyoto-style preparation, it is roasted to be eaten scales and all; used in high-end surimi.
red sea bream (madai) - used widely. the head stewed as kabuto-ni.
Freshwater fish
ayu - the shiokara made from this fish is called uruka.
Japanese eel (unagi)
gori (Japanese fish) - refers regionally to different fish, but often the goby type, some are high-end fish.
salmon (sake) - shiojake or salted salmon are often very salty fillets, so lighter salted amajio types may be sought. aramaki-jake is salt-cured whole fish. hizu-namasu uses snout cartilage.
suzuki
Japanese icefish (Family Salangidae)
nigoro buna (Carassius auratus grandoculis) - vital source of funazushi for Shiga-kennians
Marine mammals
baleen whale (kujira)
dolphin (iruka)
Mollusks
Squid and cuttlefish
These fish are collectively called ika in Japanese.
(aori ika)
(surume ika)
(kensaki ika)
(yari ika)
(hotaru ika)
(kō ika)
Octopus
Octopus is called tako in Japanese.
Common octopus (madako)
Giant Pacific octopus (mizudako)
Amphioctopus fangsiao (iidako)
Bivalves
scallop (hotate-gai)
littleneck clam (asari)
freshwater clam (shijimi)
oyster (kaki)
iwagaki (Crassostrea nippona), available during summer months.
clam (hamaguri)
(akagai)
(aoyagi)
Geoduck (mirugai)
(torigai)
Single shelled gastropods and conches
horned turban (sazae)
abalone
Crustaceans
These foods are collectively called ebikani-rui or kokaku rui in Japanese.
Crab
Crab is called kani in Japanese.
snow crab (zuwaigani)
horsehair crab (kegani)
king crab (tarabagani; hanasaki gani=Paralithodes brevipes)
horse crab (gazami)
Kona crab (asahi-gani)
Lobsters, shrimps, and prawns
These shellfish are collectively called ebi in Japanese.
kawahagi (Thread-sail filefish) and abalone livers are used as is, or as kimo-ae, i.e., blended with the fish flesh or other ingredients as a type of aemono.
squid and katsuo (skipjack) livers and guts, used to make shiokara.
Processed seafood
anchovy (katakuchi-iwashi), dried to make Niboshi. The larvae are shirasu and made into Tatami iwashi
chikuwa
himono (non-salted dried fish) - some products are bone dry and stiff, incl. ei-hire (skate fins), surume (dried squid), but often refer to fish still supple and succulent.
kamaboko, satsuma age, etc., comprise a class of food called nerimono, and are listed under surimi products.
niboshi
shiokara of various kinds, made from the guts and other portions.
Insects
Some insects have been considered regional delicacies, though often categorized as getemono or bizarre food.
hachinoko, larvae and pupae of kurosuzumebachi or yellowjacket spp.
inago no tsukudani, tsukudani made from locusts that infest rice fields. It used to be pretty common wherever rice was grown.
zazamushi tsukudani, tsukudani made from stonefly and caddisfly larvae in streams (specialty of Ina, Nagano area).