These sausage-like logs are simmered in a sweetened soy broth before being sliced into individual rounds. Place names provide inspiration for menus, too. The Tatsuta River, near Nara, is famous for its red autumn maples. If a menu includes tatsuta age you can be sure you'll be served crispy fish or chicken that was marinated in soy sauce before it was dredged in cornstarch and deep fried. The cornstarch coating absorbs some of the soy, so that when it is fried it takes on a burnished, russet color.
Locales lend their identity to the names of certain foods, too.
Often menu items have names related to their shape. Shigi nasu are long, slender eggplants that have been slit lengthwise, grilled, then slathered with savory miso sauce. Ordinarily when foods such as eggplant, bean curd or even scallops are skewered and topped with miso it is referred to as dengaku , an allusion to a scarecrow-like dancing figure in Japanese traditional stage arts. But when the word shigi appears on the menu, it refers to the long beak of the shigi bird. If tazuna-zushi appears on a menu, look for logs of pressed vinegared rice, topped with foods set in diagonal stripes, somewhat like a regimental tie pattern.