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Narazuke (Nara pickles) are among Japan's oldest documented preserved foods — multi-stage sake lees (sake kasu) pickles that require a minimum of one year and traditionally multiple years of successive kasu repacking to achieve their characteristic deep amber-brown colour, intensely complex flavour, and soft, yielding texture. The process begins in summer with fresh cucumbers, white gourd (uri), melon, ginger, or lotus root being heavily salted to draw out moisture, then packed into sake kasu paste mixed with mirin and sometimes additional sugar for a first-stage pickling of several months. After the initial period, the vegetables are unpacked, repacked into fresh, premium-grade kasu (from the current year's pressing of premium sake — often junmai or daiginjo kasu), and repacked for a further 6–12 months. Top-quality narazuke may be repacked three or four times over multiple years, with each successive kasu bringing fresher enzymatic activity and additional flavour complexity. The result of this multi-year process is a transformation far deeper than standard tsukemono: the vegetables take on the mellow sweetness, alcohol depth, and enzymatic complexity of the sake kasu; the cucumbers or white gourd become deep amber in colour, almost translucent, with a texture that has compressed and softened but not collapsed; and the flavour is simultaneously sweet, savoury, alcoholic-warm, and deeply umami — more complex than any single-stage pickle. Narazuke is closely associated with the city of Nara and its sake brewing culture, and the finest producers maintain their kasu sourcing relationships with specific sake breweries for consistent quality.

Senmaizuke (千枚漬け, thousand-slice pickle) is Kyoto's most delicate and refined winter tsukemono — paper-thin slices of shogoin kabu (聖護院かぶ, Shogoin turnip, a large, round Kyoto variety) pickled with kombu, salt, vinegar, and sansho pepper into translucent, elegant rounds. The slices are so thin they are nearly transparent — hence 'thousand slices' — and the pickling process is only 2–3 days, creating a mild, fresh pickle rather than a deeply fermented one. Senmaizuke is considered one of Kyoto's three great tsukemono (alongside shibazuke and suguki) and is a flagship product of Kyoto's department stores and specialty pickle shops.

Shibazuke is one of Kyoto's three great tsukemono (pickled vegetables) — a lactic-fermented pickle of eggplant, cucumber, myōga, and red shiso leaves, turning the preparation a distinctive purple-pink from the shiso's anthocyanin pigments. Named for the purple 'brushwood' (柴, shiba) plant that resembles the shiso used, or alternatively for the district of Ohara where it was developed. According to legend, shibazuke was created at Jakko-in temple in Ohara in the 12th century for the retired empress Kenreimon-in. The fermentation is driven by salt and the natural lactobacillus on the shiso and vegetables — no vinegar is added.