【Reading】しょうてんずし

【English Name】Shoten-zushi

Shoten-zushi is a regional inarizushi rooted in the Menuma district of Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture. It has a long history of being served since the Edo period to worshippers visiting Menuma Shoten-zan (Kangiin Temple).

Its greatest feature is a shape that is one size larger and slimmer than ordinary inarizushi. Before the war this style had spread nationwide, but postwar standardization forced it to shrink to nigirizushi size. Even so, in Menuma the traditional size was preserved through local residents' efforts and has been carried on to this day as a distinctive food culture.

It is customarily sold in the style of Sukeroku sushi, combined with rolled sushi, and three specialty shops are located in and around the precincts of Shoten-zan. The same product can also be obtained at the roadside station "Menuma."

The name appears in multiple notations, "shoten-zushi" and "shoten-sushi," and it is listed as "shoten-zushi" in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' regional cuisine database. In recent years, as a tourism promotion measure of Kumagaya City, "Menuma no inarizushi" has been spreading as a collective term encompassing the products of four shops.

In March 2023 it received certification under the Agency for Cultural Affairs' "100-Year Food" program in the category of regional cuisine with a history dating to the Edo period.