Japanese Cookbook日本の台所 · The Japanese Kitchen

Inamuduchi

イナムドゥチ

Okinawa's celebratory white-miso pork soup, whose name means "boar imitation" — a sweet, thick banquet bowl once made from wild boar, now from pork, for weddings and New Year.

By Japanese Cookbook Kitchen · May 16, 2026

沖縄 OkinawaRyūkyū Kingdom era, 1429–1879

Inamuduchi鍋
Prep
20 min
Cook
40 min
Serves
4
Level
Intermediate

Inamuduchi is a soup for occasions. Thick with sweet white miso and dense with pork, shiitake, konnyaku, and kamaboko, it appears at Okinawan weddings, New Year tables, and other celebrations — the warm, generous center of a feast. Its name is a small piece of history in itself: it contracts an old phrase meaning "boar imitation," a memory of the days when the dish was built on wild boar before domestic pork took over. In the Ryūkyū Kingdom (1429–1879), pork was the protein of ceremony and court, and a rich pork soup was how a household said an event mattered.

The technique is gentle and the reward is out of proportion to the effort. Blanch the pork, build a clean broth on awase dashi and the dark liquor of soaked shiitake, and finish with white miso stirred in off the boil so it stays silky and sweet. The result is thicker and sweeter than everyday miso soup, and that sweetness is the whole signal — this is a bowl that knows there's something to celebrate.

Use a sweet white miso and go a shade sweeter than feels right — inamuduchi is a festive soup, not a workaday one, and the gentle sweetness is what marks the occasion.

板前の一言 · A word from the kitchen

Ingredients材料

Serves 4

For the soup

  • 300 gpork belly or shoulder, in thin bite-size slices
  • 4dried shiitake mushrooms — soaked; keep the soaking liquid for the broth
  • 100 gkonnyaku, in thin strips
  • 60 gkamaboko fish cake, sliced
  • 1 Lawase dashi — plus the reserved shiitake soaking water
  • 4 tbspwhite miso — the sweet Saikyō-style or an Okinawan white miso; this is the soul of the dish
  • 1 tbspawamori or sake
  • 1 tspsugar

To finish

  • a little atsuage or firm tofu, cubed, optional
  • shredded scallion or mitsuba

Method作り方

  1. Step 1: Soak and slice

    Soak the shiitake in warm water until soft, then slice them, reserving the dark soaking liquid. Cut the pork, konnyaku, and kamaboko into thin, even bite-size pieces so every spoonful carries a bit of each.

  2. Step 2: Blanch the pork

    Bring a small pot of water to a boil and blanch the pork slices for a minute, then drain. This scum-removing step keeps the finished broth clean and pale, which a celebration soup wants.

  3. Step 3: Simmer the base

    Combine the dashi and reserved shiitake liquid, add the pork, shiitake, and konnyaku, and simmer gently for 25 minutes until the pork is tender and the broth is fragrant. Skim as needed.

  4. Step 4: Add the miso

    Add the kamaboko, then slake the white miso in a ladleful of hot broth and stir it back in. Add the awamori and sugar, and warm through without boiling — boiled miso goes flat and grainy.

  5. Step 5: Serve

    Taste; it should be gently sweet, thick, and comforting. Ladle into bowls, add tofu if using, and top with scallion or mitsuba. Serve it as the warm center of a New Year or wedding table.

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Questions from the kitchen

Does the name really mean boar imitation?

Yes — inamuduchi is documented as a contraction meaning "boar imitation" (inoshishi modoki in mainland terms). The dish was once made with wild boar, and when domestic pork replaced it the name kept the memory of the original, prouder ingredient.

What makes it different from ordinary miso soup?

It's thick, sweet, and built for banquets: heavy on white miso and sugar, packed with pork, shiitake, konnyaku, and kamaboko rather than a few floating garnishes. In Okinawa it appears at weddings, New Year, and other celebrations, not on a random weeknight.

Can I use regular brown miso?

You can, but it changes the character — the soup goes savory and workaday instead of festive. If white miso is all you can find as a blend, lean on the sweeter portion and add the pinch of sugar to keep the celebratory sweetness that defines inamuduchi.

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