【Reading】おおさかずし

【English Name】Osaka sushi

The distinctive sushi culture cultivated in Kansai is called "Osaka sushi." At its center is "box sushi" (hako-zushi), formed by layering vinegared rice and ingredients in a wooden mold (box) and applying pressure.

Long before nigiri sushi was born in Edo, the food culture of pressed sushi was rooted in people's lives in Osaka. The cookbook "Ryori Komoku Chomi-sho," published in 1728, contains a technique for adding vinegar to box sushi, from which it can be read that "hayazushi," which produces flavor with vinegar rather than relying on fermentation, was already widely prevalent at the time.

The true essence of Osaka sushi is to carefully arrange sea bream (tai), shrimp, conger eel (anago), thick-rolled omelet (atsuyaki-tamago), and the like within the mold and press them firmly to finish. Because of its neat, beautiful cross-section and high portability, it has also been valued for happy occasions and as gifts.

Even after nigiri sushi spread throughout the country, the tradition of pressed sushi such as box sushi and battera was carried on without interruption in the Kansai region. Up to the present day, when the contract-processing system introduced after the war spread Edomae sushi throughout all of Japan, Osaka sushi has continued to be loved by a wide range of generations as a presence symbolizing the tastes and traditions of Kansai.