【Reading】せきあじ

【English Name】Seki Aji

Seki-aji is a brand of maaji (Japanese horse mackerel, Trachurus japonicus) landed at Saganoseki Port in Oita City, Oita Prefecture. Owing to the swift currents and abundant food of the Hoyo Strait, it is thought that the normally migratory horse mackerel settled in these waters and formed a distinctive resident school known as "sezuki."

External features include a small head with a well-developed tail fin, a slightly golden body surface, and a characteristic line pattern on the belly. Raised in fierce currents, the flesh is firm and the fat content rich.

The fishing method is traditional pole-and-line. This is because the complex seabed topography makes set nets and purse seines unusable. After landing, the fish are processed by ikejime to keep stress and damage to a minimum, maintaining high freshness. In trade, prices are set by an appraising technique called "tsuragai" (face-buying)—though the term itself survives as a custom.

It is generally eaten raw as sushi or sashimi. Its season is mainly around March to October. In 1996 it became the first marine product in Japan to obtain a trademark registration, and a tag sticker is attached to each fish at shipment. In 2006 it was also registered as a regional collective trademark. Alongside seki-saba, it forms one of the marine-product brands symbolizing Oita.