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1
Peel the Shogoin kabu and slice it on a mandoline at 1–2 mm — the slices must be paper-thin, approaching transparency. Skilled knife work is possible but the mandoline is the standard instrument for this preparation. Examine each slice against the light; it should be nearly translucent.
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2
Toss the slices immediately with the fine salt and allow them to stand until they have released their moisture and become pliable — they should bend without snapping and feel softened through, not stiff.
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3
Combine the rice vinegar and mirin to form the brine. The brine should smell clean and mildly sweet, with no sharp raw alcohol note.
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4
In a non-reactive container or press, layer the salted turnip slices with the kombu strips and the sansho pepper, alternating kombu between every few layers. Pour the brine over the assembled layers. This step is where the dish lives or dies: the layers must be firmly weighted — press down with a lid, a plate, and a heavy object — so that every slice is submerged in brine and compressed fully against its neighbours. Insufficient weight at this stage prevents the slices from becoming pliable, translucent, and brine-saturated, and the kombu's glutamates will not transfer adequately into the flesh.
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5
Refrigerate the press for 2–3 days minimum. Do not exceed 3–4 days: the fresh, delicate character gives way to excessive fermentation beyond this point. At the end of pickling, each slice should be fully translucent, cream-white to amber at the edges where the kombu has touched it, and perfectly pliable.
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6
Lift slices from the brine and arrange in overlapping rounds. Each slice should slide gently, offering no resistance, with a faint glutamate depth on the palate beneath the sweet vinegar acidity. Taste for balance: mild sweetness, gentle acidity, a trace of sansho warmth.