🍱 Nuppei-jiru/Hachihai-jiru

"Hachihai-jiru" is a dish consisting of tofu, dried shiitake mushrooms, and green onions in a soy sauce-flavored dashi (Japanese soup stock), thickened with katakuriko (potato starch). It has long been eaten as a vegetarian dish at weddings, funerals, and Buddhist memorial services. The origin of the name is said to come from the fact that one block of tofu can make eight bowls of soup, or from the fact that it is so tasty that one can eat eight more bowls. Tofu is the main ingredient in this simple dish. In the central part of the prefecture, it is also called "Nuppei-tofu." A thickened version with grated "naga-imo" instead of potato starch is called "Nuppei-jiru". "Hachihai-jiru" also can been seen in Miyazaki, Fukushima, Aomori, Yamagata, and Aichi prefectures, and in some regions grated ginger is added.