✍ 25 Jan 2025. Sushi (along with ramen, etc) is one of the most globally recognisable food icons of Japan.
So, it may come as a surprise to some that sushi which is today so much associated with the freshest ingredients originated from a millennium old fermented fish dish which did not even originate in Japan.
The origin of sushi is closely associated with rice and fish.
The first documented mention of sushi in Japan was more than 1,300 years ago.
The Chinese character 鮨 which means salted and fermented fish first appeared in Nara period (710 - 784) tax documents. During the Nara era, tax could be paid in various forms from rice, cloth, to military service, to 鮨 which was a luxury item.
鮨 Narezushi was made by salting fish, let it sit a few months in a sealed jar, then rinse off all salt. The cleaned salt cured fish was then buried in another sealed jar of cooked rice to ferment over another few months. The resulting pungent smelling, sour tasting fermented fish was eaten with freshly cooked rice. The rice which was used in making 鮨 was discarded as it was a gooey, gloopy, foul tasting and smelling mess.
The old character for narezushi 鮨 is still used in some sushi restaurant signages today (such as Sushi-yoshi in Osaka).
During the Muromachi period (1336 - 1573), namanare sushi made with a shorter fermentation period emerged. Nama 生 means fresh, raw, or unfinished.
Unlike narezushi where the rice was discarded, with namanare sushi, the half fermented rice was eaten with the fish.
Hayazushi or fast sushi appeared during the early Edo period (1603 - 1868). Hayazushi did away with long or even half fermentation altogether. It instead emulated the tart taste of fermented rice of namanare sushi simply by adding sake, vinegar and salt to boiled rice. Hayazushi quickly caught on but sake was soon left out so only vinegar and salt were used with cooked rice in hayazushi.
By the late 1700s, hayazushi were common in yatai or mobile street cart stalls in Edo (today's Tokyo). Hayazushi of this period were either rolled or boxed sushi which the customer will take home and cut to bite size at home before eating.
By this time, hayazushi had eclipsed narezushi and namanare sushi which were relegated to historical artefacts made by only a handful of heritage producers.
An example of the rare narezushi that still exists today is funazushi from Shiga prefecture. It uses roe laden carp from Lake Biwa.
Production takes two years of fermentation! First, the gutted fish with their prized roe intact is packed and coated with salt, then left to ferment in sealed tubs for a year.
Next, the salt is washed off and the salt cured fish sun dried. The fish cavity is repacked through the head with boiled rice. The fish is then packed in layers interlaced with boiled rice into a tub and sealed. The tub and its contents left to ferment for another year.
But, the evolution of sushi marches on relentlessly with time to its next, most ubiquitous form - nigirisushi or Edomae sushi (Tokyo style sushi).
Nigirisushi or the dainty bite size hand pressed sushi first emerged in the early 1800s. Nigirisushi is credited to Hanaya Yohei who set up his sushi stand in 1810 in Edo (today's Tokyo). Hanaya-san hand made the sushi and handed it to customers to eat on the spot, the way it is in sushi bars today.
So, we are where we are today.
How then did the old narezushi, the mother of contemporary sushi came about in Japan?
Not made in Japan for sure but where naresushi came from, is a bit more difficult to answer.
Some Japanese historians attribute it to China.
It sounds highly plausible.
During the Tang dynasty (618 - 907) there was a salt and rice fermented dish known as 鲊 (along with 鮨). 鲊 is also the old Japanese character for sushi, specifically narezushi. 鲊 was served in the Tang imperial court, consistent with the practice in Nara era Japan.
In the Tang imperial court, the fermented fish slices were arranged in the shape of a peony bloom and called 牡丹鲊.
鲊 was likely one of the Tang Chinese things the Japanese took back to Japan along with Buddhism, writing system, bureaucracy, law code, etc.
Yes, and maybe not.
Where did the Tang Chinese learned how to ferment fish with rice and salt?
Some Japanese historians such as Shinoda Osamu, Ishige Naomichi, et al attribute the origin of sushi to Southeast Asia.
There are a few examples of similar fermented fish, rice and salt dishes still enjoyed in the Malay Archipelago today.
Here, the fermented fish dish did not evolve much and remains much the same as the over 1,300 year old narezushi form. Think about it - isn't it amazing that we can still enjoy a culinary fossil and have an insight on the taste, aroma, and feel of what the imperial courts of Tang dynasty and Nara were having (as close as we can get lah..)
In Kedah and Perlis states, Peninsula Malaysia there is ikan pekasam. Pekasam refers to the technique which is used also for fermenting meat and poultry.
For fish, it is scaled, gutted, washed and padded dry. The fish is coated with salt (and asam keping slices) and left in an air tight container for three days. The salted fish is then coated with crushed fried rice grains (powdered puffed rice). These are left in a sealed container to ferment for ten to fifteen days (like namanare sushi).
To serve, the fermented fish with its coat of crushed rice is sautéed in sizzling oil and eaten with plain white rice (the latter aspect similar to Japan's narezushi).
Over in the city of Palembang in South Sumatra province of Indonesia, they have a fermented salt, rice and fish dish known as bekasam. It is made by putting cleaned fish, salt and boiled rice together in a sealed container, and let it ferment for ten days.
Palembang was the capital city of the once glorious Srivijaya empire (671 - 1025). Palembang was the centre of Buddhism in Southeast Asia and an essential stopover for Buddhist pilgrims between China and India. Might these Buddhist pilgrims be the people who brought bekasam to China where it became 鲊, which in turn went to Japan to become narezushi 鮨?
On another note, Kedah and Perlis states of today's Malaysia were the territories of the Kadaram kingdom which lasted from around 200 to 1300. During the heyday of the Srivijaya empire, Kadaram kingdom was a close ally, if not a vassal state of the Indonesian hegemon, and together they commanded the Straits of Malacca. (Which drew the wrath of the Cholas of South India, thus sparking the Chola invasion of Srivijaya and sacking of Palembang.)
The people of Kedah, Perlis (Kadaram) and Palembang still enjoy salt and rice fermented fish to this day. Known as pekasam in Kedah and Perlis, bekasam in Palembang.
The Bidayuh Dayak tribes of Sarawak in East Malaysia have kauk ikien. Cleaned fish is coated with powdered fried glutinous rice (tiboduk) and salt. The salt and tiboduk coated fish is left in a sealed container to ferment for a month in a cool dark place.
The fermented fish with its coat of fermented cooked rice is browned by frying in hot oil, and eaten as a side dish with freshly boiled rice.
The Bidayuh do not know when this traditional dish began but only that it is part and parcel of being Bidayuh.
Historians though recorded that the Srivijayan domain once included today's Sarawak (as well as Sabah, the Mekong river delta and the Philippines).
Kauk ikien is served during Pisien, a ceremony during the annual Gawai Dayak to appease the spirits and pray for good harvest next year. The Gawai Dayak festival held on 1 & 2 June celebrates the end of the rice harvesting season.
An ocean apart (South China Sea), pekasam of Peninsula Malaysia and kauk ikien of Sarawak East Malaysia are very sumilar in preparation. What we don't know is in which direction did pekasam and kauk ikien flowed - from east to west, or vice versa.
The Cambodians have pha-ak fermented fish (not to be confused with prahok which uses small fish and salt, and no carbohydrate is used).
Fish is gutted, cleaned and dried. The fish is salted and cured for a month in a sealed jar. Next, the resulting liquid is mixed with palm sugar and black glutinous rice. The gooey concoction is wrapped around the fish and allowed to ferment together in a sealed jar for another month.
So did the Japanese learned sushi from Tang China or from Southeast Asia or from the Malay Archipelago?
At the moment, we have no documents for evidence.
But, we do have artefacts that imply possible contact between Japan and the Malay Archipelago before Tang dynasty China.
Contact between Japanese and Southeast Asians could go back to 300 BC (2,300 years ago) based on glass beads buried in Yayoi era tombs (300BC - 300AD) found in Tokyo.
Does this mean that the people who gave the Yayoi Japanese these beads might also have given them the fermented fish recipe? Why not? But, we have no evidence to proof this yet.
All we can say is these Malay Archipelago dishes are older than narezushi and Tang Chinese 鲊 i.e. older than 1,300 years old. Whether through China or direct through Southeast Asia, we can say that these Malay Archipelago dishes have conquered the culinary world in the form of contemporary sushi.
How cool is that!
I am continuing my research on more salt and carbohydrate (e.g. rice) fermented fish dishes and add articles about them.
I will put the links to the additional articles here 👉
✍ 8 Sep 2023. I encountered pekasam in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia and was fascinated by the dish which in Malaysia is mainly confined to the northern Peninsula states of Perlis and Kedah i.e. the rice belt.
This is not surprising as pekasam's main ingredients of freshwater fish and rice are abundant in Malaysia's rice belt. Pekasam's peculiar salty sourish taste didn't travel well to other regions of Malaysia 🤔 For example, most people in Johor and Singapore would not have heard of, let alone eaten pekasam. (They have pekasam at Fiz @ 21 Tanjong Pagar, a modern Malay restaurant in Singapore.)
Pekasam is sold in Alor Setar's historic Pekan Rabu market and a must buy for visitors 😄 (There are also other varieties of pekasam made with beef, mutton, chicken, etc.)
Anyway, there are similar fermented river fish and rice dishes, for example nonsom from Sabah (East Malaysia), kauk ikien from Sarawak (East Malaysia), burong isda from Pampanga (Philippines), ngashi pongtsung from Manipur (India) and funazushi from Shiga (Japan).
I want to trace the origins of the fermented fish and rice dish which foot prints stretched from India to Japan. Who invented this dish and how did it migrate across the region? What does it tell us about the rise and fall of kingdoms?
Let's start with funazushi and see where it leads us.
Funazushi is made with nigorobuna carp from Lake Biwa in Japan's Shiga prefecture.
Shiga prefecture is just east of Kyoto and Lake Biwa is Japan's largest lake.
They use roe laden carp which they scale, gut through the head and clean thoroughly. The prized roe is carefully kept intact. The fish is packed and coated with salt, then left to ferment in barrels or tubs for one to two years.
Rice comes in the next stage of preparation.
The salt is washed off and the salt cured fish sun dried. The fish cavity is repacked through the head with boiled rice. The fish is then packed in layers interlaced with boiled rice into a barrel. The fish and rice are compacted and weighted down with heavy rocks. The barrel is closed and its contents left to ferment for another one to two years i.e. at least 1,000 days of fermentation.
When ready the fermented rice would be a wet, somewhat watery lumpy gruel smothering the fermented fish.
When ready the fermented fish is sliced and eaten as a side dish with fresh boiled rice. In the past, the fermented fish was also eaten together with the fermented rice which is called hon-nare style sushi (fermented sushi).
Funazushi has a funky fermentation smell and tastes like blue cheese with mild umami saltiness and a dominant sourness which fades.
Due to its long production time, funazushi is naturally scarce and inaccessible to most people (unaffordable). It is also an acquired taste.
Funazhusi later evolved into the haya-nare (fast) form of unfermented sushi with fresh raw fish / seafood over cooked rice seasoned with vinegar and salt, commonly seen today.
Haya-nare sushi (fast sushi) first appeared in Tokyo in the 1700s.
Quick to make and versatile (in terms of topping), fast sushi soon became one of Japanese people's staples and culinary icon.
Today, there are less than five (5) traditional funazhusi makers left in Japan. The oldest still operational funazushi maker Kitashina in Takashima city on the shores of Lake Biwa was established in 1619, over 400 years ago. (Actually, Kitashina closed between 2012 - 2017 until it reopened with the support of confectioner Kano Shojuan.)
Origins
This salt and rice fermentation technique did not originate in Japan. Funazushi is said to come to Japan over 1000 years ago from Southeast Asia and / or China. No one is sure of the details as there is lack of documentation.
Contact between Japanese and Indians / Southeast Asians go back to 300 BC (2,300 years ago) based on glass beads buried in Yayoi era tombs (300BC - 300AD) found in Tokyo. (The same type of beads are found in Bujang Valley in Kedah, Malaysia.)
The Indians also brought Hinduism and later, Buddhism to Japan. What culinary legacies did Indians leave in Japan?
The Chinese have a dish known as peony fermented fish 牡丹鲊 from the Five Dynasties 五代十國 period (907 - 960) that seems related to funazushi. The river fish is fermented with salt and red yeast rice, hence the reddish hue.
There's also a theory that fermented fish technology came to Southeast Asia from the Mediterranean, the Romans specifically. But, interlacing fermented fish with rice is likely a rice country i.e. Indian / Chinese / Southern Asian innovation. More research work is required 😄
Researching the origins of food always bring me to unexpected places. The journey of discovery continues 👣 Please help me with my journey with your insights 🙏
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