Seafood ── Fish
Funa
crucian carp — the fish behind Japan's oldest sushi
A river fish including the Lake Biwa-endemic nigorobuna, fermented with rice into funazushi, often called the ancestor of all sushi. Its true flavor is said to come only from the lake the endemic species calls home, sustaining an ancient narezushi craft.
- Freshwater fish
Lineage
What it's made of
A river fish that includes the Lake Biwa-endemic nigorobuna, with mild flesh but a thick, rich roe. Fermented with rice into 'funazushi', it carries a sharp sourness and a strong fermented aroma, often called the ancestor of all sushi and unlike anything else. Roe-bearing females fetch the highest prices, prized above the rest.
How it's made
Salted crucian carp are packed with rice for a long fermentation, a narezushi method still practiced today. Fermentation can take anywhere from months to over a year. The rice itself isn't eaten — it's there only to drive the fermentation — and tradition has it that only the fish's flesh and roe are meant to be savored. Even the barrel and the weights used to press it are said to carry family traditions of their own.
Why it took this shape
Its true flavor is said to come only from a lake that raises this endemic species, and a life lived alongside that lake shaped this fermented food. The long-aging narezushi technique is still passed down, and the old wisdom of preserving river fish to eat through lean times has settled into a distinctly flavored local specialty. The lake's own water quality is said to shape how the fermentation turns out.
Before You Go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- Roadside stations, direct-sale stands, and marketsHow to enjoy buying food near where it's produced, visiting and shopping at morning markets and fish markets, what to expect at farm stands, and finding local food at roadside stations (michi-no-eki).
- Foods to look for in springA guide to foods often seen in Japan around spring — early bonito, bamboo shoots, sakura mochi, hanami bento, new-season tea, and butterbur sprouts — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- AyuA river fish that grazes algae off clean streambed stones, giving it a distinct watermelon-like scent. Salt-grilled and famously caught by tomo-zuri decoy fishing — the clearer the river, the more that scent is said to stand out.
- DojoA slender fish of paddy mud and streams, simmered whole in yanagawa-nabe hot pot or skewered plain and glazed sweet-savory. Hardy enough to survive poor water quality, it has long been an everyday fish even from canals near cities.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known for it here
- Known for it here: Shiga, Omihachiman
The lake-endemic nigorobuna is salted and long-fermented with rice here, keeping alive the ancient narezushi method.