【Reading】さんすいもり

【English Name】Sansuimori / Landscape arrangement

Sansui-mori is one of the sashimi-plating techniques in Japanese cuisine. It is a method of building up the back side of the vessel high and arranging the front low, composing the dish so as to evoke natural scenery such as mountains and rivers.

Sansui (literally mountain-water) originally refers to scenery woven from mountains and water, or to landscape painting, and in the world of cuisine as well, it carries the intention of visually recreating natural scenes.

It is regarded as a basic way of thinking when arranging sashimi on a plate, taking a three-dimensional composition together with tsuma (garnish) and condiments. By providing height at the back and creating empty space or a low part at the front, a sense of perspective and depth is born, and the visual beauty is enhanced.

In Japanese cuisine, the expression of seasonality and nature is valued, and sansui-mori, along with fukiyose-mori and the like, is widely known as a representative plating form that reflects natural scenery on the dining table. At sushi restaurants too, this technique is often put to use in assortments of sashimi and in whole-fish presentations (sugatazukuri).