【Reading】おつくり

【English Name】Otsukuri

Otsukuri is an alternative name for sashimi, but strictly speaking there is a nuance of difference. There is a tendency to call something "tsukuri" when it is accompanied by garnishes such as daikon and shiso leaves, or has had a touch of preparation added like kombu-curing, and to call something "sashimi" when it is plainly cut out without ornamentation. In cha-kaiseki, sashimi is generally arranged in the mukozuke on the far side of the rice and soup bowls, which also ties in with the polite ring of the word "tsukuri." Cutting methods are diverse—hira-zukuri (flat slicing), sogi-zukuri (angled slicing), usu-zukuri (thin slicing), sugata-zukuri (whole-fish arrangement), and so on—with sogi-zukuri often used for white fish and hira-zukuri for red-fleshed fish. The traditional manner of arrangement is sansui-mori (landscape arrangement); in olden times one vessel held one kind, but the practice at Edo-period sashimi shops of arranging multiple fish species on a single plate is said to be the origin of the assorted platter (moriawase).