【Reading】もぶりめし/まつやまずし

【English Name】Moburi meshi / Matsuyama sushi

A colorful scattered (bara) sushi mixing seafood and vegetables of the Seto Inland Sea, this is a regional sushi of the Matsuyama area of Ehime Prefecture. The name 'moburi-zushi' is said to derive from 'mobusu' or 'moburu,' meaning 'to mix' in the Matsuyama dialect. Ingredients such as conger eel (anago) are mixed into the vinegared rice, and it is often beautifully garnished with shredded omelet (kinshi tamago) and seafood, but the ingredients and presentation vary depending on the occasion, and high-end restaurants may use ingredients such as sea urchin (uni). It is served at celebrations and when receiving guests, and it is well known from the anecdote that the novelist Natsume Soseki was delighted when treated to 'moburi-zushi' by the mother of Masaoka Shiki, as well as from Shiki's haiku, 'I love the sushi of my Iyo, of Matsuyama.'