【Reading】かいせんどん

【English Name】Kaisen-don / Seafood rice bowl

Kaisendon is a dish of bowl rice topped with an assortment of various sashimi. Whether the rice is white rice or vinegared rice differs by region and shop, and opinions are divided over which is the orthodox form. There is no official definition established by law or industry organization.

As for its origins, there is conjecture that, after the war when freezing and refrigeration technology advanced, it spread to various regions starting from the northern production areas such as Hokkaido and Tohoku. On the other hand, there is also a view tracing its roots to Edomae chirashi-zushi, but no firm record substantiating the origin remains.

Representative ingredients include maguro (tuna), salmon, hotate (scallop), ika (squid), ebi (shrimp), uni (sea urchin), and ikura (salmon roe). When a sushi restaurant handles it, work (preparation and seasoning) may be added to the neta, but at seafood diners the style of simply placing the raw sashimi on top is mainstream. There is no particular set manner; the methods of drizzling wasabi soy sauce over it to enjoy, or taking soy sauce into a small dish and dipping each piece, are established.

According to a survey conducted in 2017 (605 responses), it was reported that those who prefer vinegared rice reached about 70%, while those who choose white rice stopped at about 30%.