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Drink · Japan
Nihonshu
Japanese sake, a fermented beverage made from rice, koji and water. It is an official geographical indication of Japan and is served chilled, at room temperature, or warm, in small cups.
Flavors · Tóquio
Edomae-zushi
Nigiri in the Edo style, from old Tokyo: a small ball of vinegar-seasoned rice topped with cured, cooked, marinated, or raw fish. It originated as street-vendor food and spread around the world.
Traditional dish from Tóquio, Tóquio
Also known as: Edomae sushi, Nigirizushi, Nigiri, 江戸前寿司, にぎりずし
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Edomae-zushi — Tóquio, Japan
Edomae-zushi is the nigiri as it developed in Edo, the old Tokyo: a hand-formed portion of vinegar-seasoned rice topped with a slice of fish or seafood. Edomae means “in front of Edo” and referred to the fish from the city’s bay. In the traditional style, the toppings are prepared beforehand: kohada and mackerel are cured with salt and vinegar, conger eel is cooked, shrimp is steamed, tuna is marinated in shoyu, and there is sweet omelette (tamagoyaki).
According to the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, sushi began as narezushi, fish preserved in fermented rice. During the Edo period faster forms appeared, first pressed sushi and then nigiri. By the end of the period, Edo’s stalls sold nigiri as a snack to the public, and some establishments began selecting fish and rice more carefully. The custom of serving at the counter, with the sushiman preparing in front of the customer, comes from those stalls.
The rice for traditional Edomae-zushi is seasoned with sake lees vinegar, reddish in color, and salt. At the stalls, rice portions were about three times larger than today; over time the topping became more important.
Today nigiri is eaten throughout Japan—in counter-style restaurants, conveyor-belt sushi places, department stores and supermarkets. Tokyo still has establishments that follow the Edo style, with prepared toppings, and the city’s fish market supplies many of them.
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Where it comes from
Tóquio, Tóquio
Nigiri in the Edo style, from old Tokyo.
Ingredients
Vinegar-seasoned rice (traditionally using sake lees vinegar) and salt; toppings of cured, cooked, marinated, or raw fish and seafood (kohada, mackerel, conger eel, shrimp, tuna); tamagoyaki; wasabi and shoyu.
How it is eaten
With your hand or with chopsticks, lightly dipping the topping—not the rice—into shoyu. At the counter, the sushiman serves piece by piece. Pickled ginger (gari) is eaten between pieces.
When it is eaten
All year round; the toppings change with the fish seasons.
Your questions
Questions about Edomae-zushi
What does Edomae mean?
It means “in front of Edo,” the old name for Tokyo, and referred to the fish from the city’s bay. Edomae-zushi is the nigiri in the style that formed in Edo, with toppings that are cured, cooked or marinated.
How do you eat nigiri correctly?
You can use your hand or chopsticks. Turn the piece so you dip the topping, not the rice, lightly into shoyu. Pickled ginger is used to cleanse the palate between pieces.
Was sushi invented in Tokyo?
Sushi began much earlier as fish preserved in fermented rice. Nigiri—seasoned rice with fish on top—took shape in Edo, the old Tokyo, as street-vendor food, and from there it spread.
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Dish · Japan
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Dish · Ehime
Tai-meshi
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Dish · Fukui
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Dish · Fukuoka
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Dish · Hiroshima
Okonomiyaki
Layered pancake cooked on the griddle: thin wheat batter, lots of cabbage, slices of pork, fried noodles and egg, with a thick sweet sauce. In Hiroshima, it’s everyday food, served in specialized restaurants and eaten with a spatula.
Dish · Hokkaido
Jingisukan
Grilled mutton or lamb on a rounded iron griddle, with vegetables that cook in the juices that run off. It’s Hokkaido’s best-known dish, eaten at home, in restaurants and on picnics.
Dish · Ise
Ise udon
Very thick, soft udon served with almost no broth, topped with a dark, thick tamari–dashi sauce and scallions. A dish from the city of Ise, served for centuries to shrine pilgrims.
Dish · Iwate
Wanko soba
Soba served in one-bite portions in small bowls, refilled by the server until you cover the bowl. A tradition from Iwate that began as a way to welcome guests.
Dish · Kagawa
Sanuki udon
Kagawa udon: firm and elastic, with a smooth surface, served hot or cold, in iriko broth or simply with soy sauce. Kagawa is called the udon kingdom, with udon shops throughout the prefecture.
Drink · Kagoshima
Satsuma shochu
Sweet-potato shochu from Kagoshima, distilled using rice koji or sweet-potato koji. Satsuma is Japan’s official geographical indication for the shochu of the prefecture, which is enjoyed with hot water, on the rocks, or with cold water.
Sweet · Kagoshima
Shirokuma
Shaved ice topped with condensed milk, colorful fruit, agar jelly cubes and azuki beans. The name, polar bear, comes from how it looks from above. A summer sweet from Kagoshima.
Dish · Kanagawa
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Bowl of rice topped with shirasu — translucent sardine fry, raw or cooked — served with soy sauce and ginger. A coastal Shonan (Kanagawa) dish made with the day’s catch from Sagami Bay.
Dish · Kanazawa
Jibuni
Duck dusted in flour and cooked with sudare-fu (wheat gluten), vegetables and mushrooms in a slightly thickened shoyu broth, served with wasabi. A dish of Kaga cuisine, traditional in Kanazawa.
Dish · Kochi
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Bonito quickly seared over a high flame, often using straw, browned on the outside and raw inside, cut into thick slices and served with salt or a citrus soy sauce, garlic and scallion. Dish from Kōchi.
Dish · Koya
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Firm sesame cream made from ground sesame, kuzu starch and water, served in cubes with wasabi and soy sauce. A dish from the vegetarian cuisine of the monks of Koyasan, the sacred mountain of Shingon Buddhism.
Dish · Kumamoto
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Lotus root with the holes filled with miso and Japanese mustard, breaded in a yellow batter and fried, served in slices. A dish from Kumamoto, traditionally linked to the Hosokawa lords.
Dish · Miyajima
Anago-meshi
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Dish · Miyazaki
Chikin nanban
Breaded and fried chicken, dipped in a sweet-and-sour vinegar sauce and topped with tartar sauce. A Miyazaki dish, originating in Nobeoka in the 1950s and 1960s.
Dish · Miyoshi
Iya soba
Thick, short soba made only from buckwheat from the Iya Valley, without binding wheat flour, served in hot broth with fried tofu, kamaboko, scallions and mountain greens. A dish from the Iya Valley, in Miyoshi.
Dish · Nagano
Oyaki
Dumpling made from wheat flour, sometimes mixed with buckwheat, filled with vegetables seasoned with miso or soy sauce, or with sweet bean paste; baked, steamed, or both. A dish from Nagano, from mountain villages.
Dish · Nagasaki
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Sweet · Nagasaki
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Dish · Nagoya
Miso-nikomi udon
Firm udon, made without salt, cooked in an earthenware pot in a dark soy miso (haccho miso) broth, with chicken, fried tofu, scallion and egg. A dish from Nagoya and Aichi.
Dish · Nara
Kakinoha-zushi
Small pressed sushis of salted mackerel on seasoned rice, each wrapped in a persimmon leaf. A dish from Nara, served at the summer festivals of Gojō and Yoshino.
Drink · Okinawa
Awamori
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Dish · Okinawa
Goya champuru
Stir-fry of goya, the bitter melão-de-são-caetano, with firm Okinawan tofu, egg and pork. It’s the best-known champuru from Okinawa, made at home and served in restaurants across the prefecture.
Dish · Okinawa
Okinawa soba
Thick wheat noodles, not buckwheat, in a pork-and-dried-bonito broth, topped with simmered pork belly, kamaboko, scallions and pickled red ginger. It’s an everyday dish in Okinawa.
Dish · Osaka
Takoyaki
Dough balls made from flour, egg and dashi with pieces of octopus, cooked on a griddle with round hollows and topped with sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed and dried bonito flakes. It’s Osaka’s best-known flavor.
Dish · Kyoto
Saba-zushi
Salted and vinegar-marinated mackerel sushi on a rice log, wrapped in bamboo sheath. A celebratory dish of Kyoto, tied to the Saba Kaido, the route that brought mackerel from the Wakasa Sea.
Dish · Sendai
Gyutan
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Dish · Shiga
Funazushi
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Dish · Shimane
Izumo soba
Dark, aromatic soba made from whole-ground buckwheat with the husk, served cold in stacks of round bowls (warigo) or hot, straight from the pot (kamaage). A dish from the Izumo region in Shimane.
Dish · Takayama
Hoba miso
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Dish · Toyama
Masuzushi
Pressed sushi of cured trout on seasoned rice, in a round wooden box lined with bamboo leaves. It’s Toyama’s most famous dish, sold in specialty shops and as a train snack.
Dish · Tóquio
Monjayaki
A very thin batter of wheat flour and broth, with cabbage and other ingredients, cooked on a griddle at the table and eaten bit by bit with small spatulas. A Tokyo dish associated with the Tsukishima neighborhood.
Dish · Yamagata
Imoni
Taro stew with meat, konnyaku and scallion, cooked in large pots on riverbanks in autumn at Yamagata’s imonikai. Inland it includes beef and shoyu; on the Shonai coast it uses pork and miso.
Dish · Yamanashi
Hoto
Thick, wide wheat dough cooked with pumpkin, vegetables and mushrooms in a miso broth, served in an iron pot. It is the most representative dish of Yamanashi, at the foot of Mount Fuji.
Beyond the guide
