【Reading】すしやたい

【English Name】Sushi Street Stall

A sushi yatai is a business form that sells sushi at outdoor mobile stalls, which spread during the Edo period. It can be called the prototype of the modern sushi restaurant.

Originally, nigiri sushi was enjoyed as fast food served at stalls. The sushi of that time was considerably larger than modern nigiri, said to have been about the size of an onigiri (rice ball). Customers would stop by on their way home from the public bath and the like, picking up one or two to eat, which was the general practice.

As an old record concerning the sale of sushi, the "Konjaku Monogatarishu," compiled in the late Heian period, contains a description of ayu sushi being sold in town in volume 31. This is considered the oldest record of the sushi trade confirmable in literature. However, the "sushi" of this era was likely a type of narezushi different from modern nigiri sushi.

In an era when refrigeration technology and transportation means were undeveloped, freshness management was an especially important issue, and preservation-cum-cooking methods such as zuke and vinegar-curing developed. The use of wasabi is also thought to have made use of its empirically obtained antibacterial effect. Developing from such stalls, sushi shops with permanent premises gradually increased, leading to the current counter-style sushi restaurants.