Seafood ── Fish
Unagi
freshwater eel — grilled and glazed for a summer stamina meal
Grilled and glazed as kabayaki, traditionally eaten on the midsummer Day of the Ox for stamina. Eastern Japan steams before grilling while the west grills straight through — towns by brackish lakes rich in glass eels built eel-farming into local fame.
- Freshwater fish
What it's made of
Grilled and glazed as kabayaki, a faint fatty sweetness rises from behind the sauce's smoky aroma, the skin crisp and the flesh soft underneath. The Kanto style steams the fish before grilling for extra tenderness, while Kansai grills it straight through, leaving stronger char and a crisper skin. Tied to midsummer's Day of the Ox by custom, it actually carries more fat heading into winter.
How it's made
Whether the fish is split along the belly or the back marks the divide between Kansai and Kanto styles — Kanto splits along the back and steams before grilling, Kansai splits the belly and grills straight through. Farming dominates, raised from wild-caught glass eels, and how they're fed and kept at temperature is said to shape firmness and fat. Steaming or not isn't just preference — it decides how much fat is rendered away.
Why it took this shape
Abundant glass eels once caught in the brackish Lake Hamana gave rise to a major eel-farming industry around Hamamatsu in Shizuoka, making the area a kabayaki stronghold. In Yanagawa, a canal-laced water town in Fukuoka, a distinct steamed-then-served seiromushi style took root instead. Brackish water suited to raising glass eels is what decided where this industry could grow at all.
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: Fukuoka, Yanagawa
In this canal-laced water town, the steamed-then-served 'seiromushi' style of eel took root, softening the fish further.
- Known for it here: Shizuoka, Hamamatsu
Abundant glass eels once caught in the brackish Lake Hamana gave rise to a major eel-farming industry, making the city a kabayaki stronghold.
Contrast
- AnagoSimmered soft and brushed with tsume — glaze boiled down from the simmering liquid. The flagship of Edomae's braising craft.
- 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.
- NamazuA whiskered river fish, long associated in folklore with causing earthquakes. Served as tempura or grilled kabayaki-style, sometimes as an eel substitute — canal-laced water towns offer easy farming conditions, spurring local revival efforts.
Uses
- Unagi no KabayakiEel is split, skewered, and grilled under repeated coats of a sweet soy glaze. Eastern Japan steams the fish before grilling while the west grills it straight through, and even how the fish is split differs by region.
- UnadonGrilled eel, glaze included, set over hot rice. An anecdote about Konsuke Okubo capping a bowl of rice with grilled eel at a Ushiku Marsh teahouse is said to lead to the dish's present form.
- BokumeshiSteamed eel and shaved burdock are simmered together and folded into freshly cooked rice. Its name is said to trace to oversized eels unfit for sale, used in staff meals at eel farms along the Oi River — a mixed rice dish of the region.