"kuzu.  kudzu. Pueraria lobata.  A high-quality thickening starch is
made
from this vine.  The starch is made in many parts of Japan but the
most
famous kuzu comes from Yoshino in Nara Prefecture.  It is used to make
sesame tofu (goma dofu) and a kind of somen and has many other uses."
(A Dictionary of Japanese Food, 1997)

http://aoki2.si.gunma-u.ac.jp/BotanicalGarden/HTMLs/kuzu.html

Here is a page 2 very nice pics of the plant and a description. It
says the
plant is in the legume family.  It says the vine is used in making
household
products, and the root is used for making the kuzu used in dishes and
is
used in Chinese Traditional Medicine.

But none of this brings us closer to whether this can be eaten raw, so
I
will email the owner of that pic's site and report back on it later.

Judith