Rice dishes ── Sushi
Kokera Zushi
Kokera Zushi (Wakayama) — grilled fish and vegetables pressed into sushi rice
Grilled, flaked fish, shiitake, carrot, and egg are laid over sushi rice and pressed in a wooden mold. One theory traces the name to "kokera" roof shingles the layers resemble, and each district uses its own fish, fillings, and wrapping leaf for this summer-festival and New Year's dish.
- Origin: Wakayama
- About 450 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Kokera-zushi layers flaked grilled fish, shiitake, carrot, and egg over vinegared rice and presses it in a wooden frame, and it is said to be an ancestor of oshi-zushi and box sushi. The toppings vary widely by area: the Tanoura district of Wakayama City uses goatfish or lizardfish, Saikazaki uses flaked lizardfish, and the Matsue area layers in flaked shrimp or sea bream. The name itself has several explanations, from a resemblance to the wooden roofing shingles called "kokera-ita" used in the pressing frame, to a likeness to wood shavings of the same name.
How it's made
The fish is filleted, salted, grilled, and flaked before being layered over vinegared rice inside a wooden frame and pressed into shape. In Saikazaki, lizardfish caught by bottom trawl is carefully deboned after the head, tail, and organs are removed, then grilled; because the flesh is tapped with a knife to soften it, the dish is also called "tonton-zushi." In Matsue, layers of flaked shrimp or sea bream alternate with vinegared rice, while in Nachikatsuura, black beans, river shrimp, and shiitake are scattered throughout.
Why it took this shape
Near the Tanoura fishing port in Wakayama City, a summer festival once honored the fish and prayed for a good catch that year, and kokera-zushi is said to have been served on that occasion. The dish is reported to have developed as a festive food served at summer and autumn festivals, and the varying fillings and the leaves used to separate the layers — banana leaves in summer, mustard-green leaves in autumn and winter — are thought to reflect the everyday life of each locality.
Before you go
- How to read a vertical menuIn shops with strips of handwritten menu items on the wall, the top-right spot is often used for recommendations.
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- 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.
Dishes in the same style
- Aburi-zushiNigiri with just its surface flash-seared by torch or hot iron. Unlike Edomae's shigoto curing for keeping, the searing here is done purely for the change in aroma and fat it brings — a relatively recent way of eating sushi.
- Aichi HakozushiVinegared rice is packed into a wooden frame, topped with shrimp, eel, shiitake, and egg arranged diagonally, and pressed. Placing toppings on the diagonal so everyone gets a fair share of each is said to be a feature of the Owari and western Mikawa style, made for celebrations.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Wakayama
- BouriA whole, unpeeled parent taro is simmered over two days for this New Year's dish from the Ayukawa area of Tanabe City's Ото̄ district. One account holds that villagers gave up pounding mochi for six hundred years to atone for once turning away a fleeing prince, eating this in its place.
- Goma ToufuRaw sesame is skinned, ground, and worked with mountain water and Yoshino arrowroot into a simmered block of shojin cuisine. Said to have supplied protein for monks who abstained from meat and fish, it's now a familiar Koyasan souvenir and a fixture on Japanese menus.
- Gonpachi no Abura ItameGonbachi, formally known as itadori knotweed, is blanched, peeled, and quickly stir-fried in oil for this spring dish. Thick, well-grown stalks that snap with a crisp pop are prized for a crunchy bite and a faint sourness.
- Hatagonbo ZushiA stout, round burdock called hatagonbo, grown on the steep red-clay slopes of Hashimoto City's Nishihata district, is sliced into rounds, hollowed at the center, and packed with vinegared rice. Cultivation had nearly died out until a local cooperative revived it around 2013, roughly seventy years on.
- Igami no NitsukeIgami — what southern Wakayama calls the parrotfish — is simmered whole in a sweet-salty broth. Feeding on seaweed among winter rocks leaves it free of any off-flavor, and around Tanabe it's said to be served head-to-tail in place of sea bream for New Year's.
- Inoko MochiNon-glutinous and sticky rice are cooked with taro, mashed, and shaped into balls coated with lightly salted sweet red bean paste. Offered to the harvest god on the Day of the Boar in the old tenth lunar month, it's also made for autumn festivals in parts of southern Wakayama.