The Whole Daikon: Takuan (rice bran pickles) and Hip Bath (dried daikon leaves)

When I moved to Roy Steevensz's macrobiotic center in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, I was put to work making takuan (rice bran pickles) which are made by taking fresh large whole daikon roots that have their leaves still attached, rinsing them in cool pure water, separating the leaves in a clump from the top of the daikon root with a sharp knife (the clumped leaves are then hung on a tight clothesline in the shade, outside for a number of days until they become yellow-brown and brittle, and then are bagged to be used to make hip bath ["Used to warm the body and treat various disorders of the skin and female sex organs. Also helpful in drawing odors and excessive oils from the body." from Home Remedies/Macrobiotic Dietary Recommendations, by Michio and Aveline Kushi]).

Though the traditional way to dry daikon for takuan pickles is to hang the roots horizontally by a rope from under the long roof eaves in the cool fall and winter air, we did not have any long roof eaves, so we improvised by taking some six foot log two by fours and attaching a pair of galvanized nails a inch or two apart on the vertical leaning two by fours each pair running up or down these planks about six or more inches apart and then we would place the fresh daikon roots balanced on each pair of galvanized nails until we had 8 or more roots balancing on nails on each two by four plank and since we were using several containers of daikon radishes for each batch of takuan pickles, we would be using many planks to hang and dry the daikon radishes.

In a good number of days the radishes would become quite limp (as soft enough to bend into a circle) and then we would place the dried daikon side by side in containers of rice bran mash (made by roasting rice bran in the oven and mixing it with a liquid made with pure water, kombu, miso and sea salt) starting with a layer of mash on the bottom, followed by a number of the smallest dried roots, laid horizontally but not touching each other, then covered by more mash and another layer of roots, and then more mash and more roots until we have a tub almost completely filled to the top and with the top layer being that of mash, and then the tub lid being secured to keep most of the exterior air out, kept in a cool dark place and then waited a month or more before opening it!
We often produced several or more tubs in each batch and lots of bags of hip bath that always sold out!