Dried sardines are often eaten in Kagawa prefecture. In fact, Takamatsu city’s annual dried sardine purchasing rate per capita is nearly double the average of the whole of Japan (Family Income and Expenditure Survey by Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications).
At any rate, the reason is that dried sardines are used to make Sanuki udon noodle soup.

Categorized according to their size, there are 5 kinds of dried sardines.
Starting from the largest, they are oba, chuba, koba, kaeri and chirimen.
Ibukijima Island residents skillfully use them for different things according to their size.

The best size for making soup stock is chuba. They are blended together with oba for optimum flavor.
They also eat Oba as is, or for example, remove the head and the bones, sprinkle on some soy sauce and eat them as a sake accompanying snack.
While Koba are used for some New Year’s delicacies (cooked in soy sauce and sugar until they are almost dry), kaeri and chirimen are eaten with ponzu or as ingredients for marinated dishes.
By the way, on Ibukijima Island, dried sardine flakes are used in place of bonito flakes for okonomiyaki.
I was surprised to learn that dried sardines can be used for more than just making soup stock!