【Reading】はねだおき

【English Name】Haneda-oki

Haneda-oki refers to the sea area of Tokyo Bay spreading around Haneda in Ota Ward, Tokyo. In the world of Edomae sushi, it is sometimes used as a term indicating the production area of a topping.

The Haneda area was originally the estuary region of the Tama River, and during the Genroku and Tenmei eras (late 17th to 18th centuries) it is said that vast tidal flats overgrown with reeds were formed. During the Tenmei era, the local village headman Suzuki Yagoemon reclaimed a considerable scale of tidal flats and undertook new rice-field development, and in 1829 it became an independent place name as "Suzuki Shinden." Owing to its location sandwiched between Tokyo Bay and the Tama River, it was also a region where fishing was actively carried out from ancient times, and a record survives that when a flight school was opened during the Taisho period, local fishery workers protested that the noise of aircraft hindered their operations.

However, from the Showa period onward, with the construction of Haneda Airport and repeated landfill expansion work, much of the former fishing ground was converted into airport land. The total area of the present airport grounds reaches approximately 1,522 hectares. When the production-area name "Haneda-oki" is spoken of at a sushi restaurant, it is a term carrying behind it the history of Tokyo Bay as a rich fishing ground.