Rice dishes ── Donburi (rice bowls)

Tendon

tempura rice bowl

Shrimp and seafood tempura dipped in a sweet-savory sauce and set over rice. An industry association frames it as arising once the donburi form took hold in Edo-period urban life and tempura met rice in one bowl.

What it's made of

Shrimp, seafood, and seasonal vegetables are deep-fried as tempura, dipped in a sweet-savory sauce, and set over rice. Because the sauce soaks straight into the rice as well, the crumb's toasted aroma and the sauce's sweetness build up in layers, with the rice underneath said to carry flavor all the way through.

How it's made

Shrimp, seafood, and vegetables are fried as tempura, then either dipped hot into a sauce reduced from soy sauce, mirin, and sugar, or the rice itself is sauced before the tempura goes on top. Shops split over whether the crumb should soften as it drinks in sauce or stay crisp, and that split shapes how the sauce gets applied.

Why it took this shape

An industry association's account frames the donburi form itself as having taken shape alongside Edo-period urban economic life, with tendon only possible once tempura, a dish in its own right, met rice in a single bowl. Tempura is described as indispensable to it — there is no tendon without tempura — and the habit of placing a dish directly atop rice is seen as what gave rise to this bowl.