Kanpachi (Greater Amberjack) Sushi

Kanpachi (Greater amberjack / Purplish amberjack)

White Fish & Salmon

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Order Perciformes, Family Carangidae, Genus Seriola

A predatory migratory fish of the family Carangidae that grows to around 2 meters in total length and as much as 80 kilograms in weight. It is widely distributed in tropical and temperate waters around the world, and together with the yellowtail amberjack (hiramasa) and the Japanese amberjack (buri), both of the same family Carangidae and genus Seriola, it is called one of the "Big Three of the Buri family."

The kanpachi is widely distributed in warm seas around the world, including the waters around Japan, where it migrates north from spring to summer and south from autumn to winter. The main production areas for wild kanpachi are Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Kochi, and Fukuoka prefectures. Because wild kanpachi is especially high-grade, aquaculture is carried out in various regions, centered on Kagoshima Prefecture, but even farmed kanpachi is more expensive than buri. The belly of the kanpachi is silvery white, and its body is overall tinged with a reddish-purple color, with a yellow longitudinal line running along the body just as in the buri. Because, when the face is viewed from the front, the diagonal band above the eyes looks like the character "eight" (hachi), it is said to have come to be called "kanpachi" (written with characters meaning "interval" and "eight"). The season for wild kanpachi is said to be early summer for young fish and autumn for medium and large fish. Because farmed kanpachi is distributed throughout the year, it can be enjoyed year-round, and it also fills the gap between the winter cold buri (kan-buri) and the summer hiramasa. It is mainly eaten as sashimi or as a sushi topping, but because wild kanpachi is expensive, it is limited to being served at high-end sushi restaurants and the like. However, in recent years, with the distribution of farmed kanpachi, it has come to be served even at conveyor-belt sushi restaurants, making it easy to enjoy.

Kanpachi, Loved by All

Wild kanpachi has firm, crunchy flesh, and although it has fat, it has a refined flavor with a clean umami and sweetness. Farmed kanpachi has fat throughout and is whitish, but the moment it enters the mouth its umami spreads, and along with the soft texture of the flesh, it has a flavor that many people can enjoy. Kanpachi is basically used raw as a sushi topping in most cases, but it is also sometimes blanched (yubiki) before being made into nigiri. Farmed kanpachi in particular is high in fat, and because blanching can remove some of that fat, it is a popular way of eating it for those who want it light and clean. It is also sometimes cured with kombu (kombu-jime) or marinated in soy sauce as zuke.

The Distinguished Pedigree of the Kanpachi

Though not as well known as the relationship between buri and hamachi, the kanpachi, like the buri, is a "shusse-uo" (a fish that changes its name as it grows).
In the Kanto region it is called akahana up to 80 cm, and kanpachi above 80 cm. The akahana appears as the "akahana-uo," a fish resembling the buri, in the haiku reference book "Kefukigusa," which was also cherished as an encyclopedia in the Edo period.
Truly one of the Big Three of the Buri family. It is a fish of distinguished lineage dating back to the Edo period.