【Reading】てこねずし/てごねずし

【English Name】Tekone sushi / Tekone zushi

Tekone-zushi is a dish positioned as a member of the chirashi-zushi family, and similar cooking methods are handed down throughout Japan. Among them, it is famous as a local food symbolizing the southern part of the Shima region of Mie Prefecture, and is sometimes written "tegone-zushi."

The basic form is to soak red-fleshed fish such as bonito and tuna in a soy-sauce marinade and mix it into vinegared rice to finish. It is often served with condiments such as oba (perilla), ginger, and nori scattered on top.

It is said to have been created by people engaged in fishing in Shima City (the former Wagu, Shima-cho), and is said to have already been eaten in the Edo period. The commonly told origin is that, in the midst of fishing for bonito, the fish was roughly cut, dipped in a soy-sauce marinade, and mixed by hand into freshly cooked rice. However, given that before 1941 (Showa 16) rice in Shima was a special ingredient eaten only on festive days, and that coastal bonito fishing until the mid-Meiji period was limited to oar-rowing operations with no need to eat rice on board, the view that it was originally served by ship owners as a celebratory meal for the crew at times of a big catch also remains strong.

The plain form of merely placing slices of fish on vinegared rice continued until the late 1940s, but in the 1950s the gorgeous presentation of garnishing with nori and the like became widespread. In the 1960s it drew attention as a local dish for entertaining tourists, and spread as far as Ise City. Beloved as a specialty of Ise-Shima on par with Ise udon, it has been selected for both the "100 Selected Local Dishes of Farming, Mountain, and Fishing Villages" and the "100 Selected Hometown Rice Balls."