【Reading】ほんてがえし

【English Name】Hontegaeshi

Honte-gaeshi is one of the traditional techniques for shaping the rice (shari) in Edomae nigiri sushi. Among the series of movements called "te-gaeshi" used when finishing a piece of nigiri, it is regarded as the most basic and orthodox form.

In the process of making nigiri sushi, the topping (tane/neta) is first placed in the left hand, and an appropriate amount of vinegared rice is taken with the right hand and gathered into a ball of shari. After placing wasabi on the topping, a hollow is made in the center of the shari, and the shape is adjusted by flipping it several times up and down or front and back so as to close the cavity. Differences in the procedure and angle of these flips distinguish techniques such as honte-gaeshi, kote-gaeshi, tate-gaeshi, and yokote-gaeshi.

Honte-gaeshi was once the most fundamental of fundamentals for Edomae sushi artisans, but because it requires a high level of skill to master, very few artisans today form nigiri with this technique. It has drawn attention as a fading traditional skill, even being featured as a "phantom technique" in the manga "Edomae Sushi Shokunin Kirara no Shigoto."

Incidentally, the finished shapes of nigiri sushi include the bale shape (tawara-gata), box shape (hako-gata), boat shape (fune-gata), and fan-paper shape (jigami-gata); today, many artisans finish their nigiri in the boat shape.