SEA-WEED TRAPS TIED TO SLOWLY-CORRODING IRON RE-BAR ALONG THE TIDAL FLATS of NAKAGUSUKU BAY

"Seaweed Nets" are something you can see at certain places along Okinawa's long and varied coastline. HOWEVER, it's much harder to catch any of the harvesters actually out in the waters filling their floating tubs with the delicious green stuff.

Quite different than the seaweed that occasionally stinks up the Jersey Shore back in the USA, this Okinawan variety is called Aasa (アーサ) or Aasaa (アーサー) in the local Okinawan language.

According to my Okinawan wife, it's a kind of Aonori (アオノリ or 青海苔).

The Japanese specialists put it this way :

"......『あおさ』は、ヒトエグサのことを方言で表した言葉で、一般には『あおさ』または『あおさのり』と呼び、北鹿児島地方では『おさ』とか『銀あお』、南鹿児島地方では『このい』、沖縄県で『アーサー』『あーさー』『あーさんくぁ』と呼んでいるらしいです。...." ♥ www.isekanbutsu.co.jp/aosanohanasi.html

That is to say, the "proper name" in modern Japanese is HITOE-GUSA. However, local Japanese dialects die hard, and other names prevail. The most common names among mainland Japanese being AOSA and AOSA-NORI.

In northern Kagoshima they call it OSA or GIN-AO. In southern Kagoshima they call it KONOI.

In Okinawa, it goes by the names AASA, AASAA, or [according to the Website] AASANKWA. The latter name my Okinawan wife has never heard used.

OKINAWA SEA-WEED HARVEST and CULINARY USE

The nets are placed along the tidal flats or shallow seas at about the same time the seaweed begins to grow from germ-like beginnings on pieces of coral and rock.

It is constantly detaching from the rocks and floats with the currents until getting trapped in the nets where it continues to grow --- changing from an initial bright, florescent yellow-green, to a very dark green or blue-green.

After harvesting, this popular green stuff finds its way into many local products, such as asa chinsuko cookies, asa bread, and asa furikake (dried seasoning powder sprinkled over rice), and the ubiquitous miso shiru soup that most Japanese like to have with their meals.

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Taken on: February 23, 2015

Tags:

Seaweed Harvest

Seaweed

アーサ

Aasaa

アーサー

あーさー

Aasankwa

あーさんくぁ

Hitoegusa

ヒトエグサ

あおさ

あおさのり

おさ

銀あお

アオノリ

青海苔

Nakagusuku Bay

Nakagusuku Wan

Nakgusuku-Son

Nakagusuku Township

Tidal Flats

Seaweed Nets

Nets

Harvest

East Coast Okinawa

Pacific Ocean

Philippine Sea

Okinawa

Okinawa-ken

Japan « less

Sets appears in: • PATTERNS OF LIFE on OKINAWA • OKINAWA ! more » • SEAWEED HARVEST « less

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