【Reading】なしわり/かぶとわり

【English Name】Nashi-wari / Kabuto-wari

Nashi-wari refers to the technique of splitting the head of a fish such as sea bream (tai) vertically into two along the median line. It is also known by the alternative name "kabuto-wari." It is mainly used as preliminary processing when making kabuto-ni (simmered fish head), and the purpose of opening the head left and right is to ensure even cooking and to make the flavor penetrate more easily.

The target fish is mainly red sea bream (madai), and splitting the hard head bone in one stroke requires a deba knife (deba-bocho) and solid skill. The basic procedure is to apply the heel (ago) of the blade to the center of the forehead and cut downward while putting one's body weight into it.

According to archaeological findings, at the Kusado Sengen-cho ruins, a site dating from the Kamakura to Muromachi periods, the excavated madai head bones all retained traces of having been split with a blade. Similar traces have been recognized at ruins of various periods from the late Heian period onward, suggesting that this cooking method was continuously practiced over a long span of years.

On the other hand, the names "kabuto-ni" and "kabuto-wari" themselves are said not to be found in cookbooks of the Edo period, and there is also a theory that, because the expression "splitting a helmet (kabuto)" was shunned as ominous in samurai society, these names became widespread only after the Meiji period.

Incidentally, "kabuto-wari" is also known as a swordsmanship term, famous for the late-Edo swordsman Sakakibara Kenkichi gaining renown for his demonstration of cutting through an iron helmet with a Japanese sword. It is interesting that the same word is used as both a culinary term and a swordsmanship term.