Funazushi

It is a local dish of Shiga Prefecture (formerly Ōmi Province), where it has been made since ancient times using Lake Biwa's nigorobuna (Carassius auratus grandoculis) and other fish as the main ingredients.

[3] Many literature claim that nare-zushi originated from a fish storage method found in the mountainous region of Yunnan in Southeast Asia, but there are also different theories.

[1] Until the Edo period, many documents stated that gengorobuna (Carassius cuvieri) was used as the raw material, but it is now believed that these were actually nigorobuna.

[5] Funazushi was eaten as a substitute for medicine in the past because it contains lactobacillus, which helps to improve intestinal health.

That is, after the scales, gills, and internal organs except for the ovaries of the raw fish are removed, the belly cavity is stuffed with salt and stored in layers in wooden vats until summer.

[9] The Shiming, written in southern China in the 3rd century, describes fermenting fish mixed with salt and rice, indicating that the basic process was already developed at this time.

[5] There is a legend that Toyoki Irihiko, prince of Emperor Sujin, a legendary figure sometimes attributed to the 3rd or 4th century, was offered funazushi by the villagers when he stopped by today's Moriyama, Shiga.

[11] The Engishiki, an administrative manual written in the 10th century, describes how nare-zushi, a type of fish produced in various parts of Japan, was collected in the capital as a tax.

[9] The same Engishiki also states that the central government provided containers, cloth, hemp, sake, rice, salt, and soybeans to Chikuma-kuriya (now Maibara, Shiga) in Ōmi Province, which is still known today as a producer of funazushi, which were then pickled in soy sauce (but not the soy sauce of today), salted, and made into sushi-funa.

[8] Oda Nobunaga, who helped end the Sengoku period of Japanese civil war in the 16th century, was killed by his subordinate Akechi Mitsuhide.

However, it is thought that the fermentation process of funazushi made from red-leaf crucian carp that did not undergo the high temperatures of the summer season was slow and gradually fell into disuse.

[16] The 17th century cookbook Gorui Nichiyou Ryouri Shou (合類日用料理抄) describes how to make "sushi from funa in Ōmi".

[5] In addition, the current method of preparing funazushi is not exactly the same as that practiced in ancient times, as in many modern cases the weights are gradually increased.

[5] In August 1788, Shiba Kōkan, a painter, stopped in Hino, Shiga, where he ate funazushi that had been preserved for three years.

[20] In 1896, Japanese poet Masaoka Shiki wrote a haiku as "while eating funazushi, Seta became evening and the bell of Mii-dera temple was heard."

(鮒鮓や瀬田の夕照三井の鐘) In an essay titled "A Drop of Bokuju," he also wrote a complaint that "people these days use words derived from funazushi without knowing how to make it.

)"[24] In 1935, the commercial production of funazushi was Yasu, Inukami, Takashima, Kurita, Gamo, Kanzaki, and Higashiazai, in that order.