【Reading】あゆのなれずし

【English Name】Ayu Narezushi

A type of traditional fermented sushi in which sweetfish (ayu) is lactic-fermented with salt and cooked rice. The viscera are removed and the fish is split open along the back, salt-cured for about 20 days, then packed in alternating layers with rice, rice koji, and chili in a barrel and weighted with a stone; it becomes ready to eat about 40 days after the main pickling (honzuke). The koji saccharifies the rice and lactic-acid bacteria multiply, so that preservability and umami increase at the same time. Gifu and Hyogo prefectures are widely known as production areas. The ayu sushi of Toyama Prefecture has a history of being favored by the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune and becoming a tribute item of the Toyama domain. It is described in the early Heian-period Engishiki, and also appears in the Konjaku Monogatarishu and the kabuki play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura. In haiku it is a summer seasonal word (kigo).