弥助寿司 — Restaurant in Wakayama

Narezushi of Kishu and Its Wider World In Kishu, narezushi is found everywhere. At autumn festivals, families prepare it at home, while sushi shops continue their work through the year, pausing only in the hottest weeks of summer. Near Wakayama City Station, the shop Yasuke still follows the old ways, with mackerel as its mainstay. The method is simple but exact. Salted mackerel is soaked overnight to draw out the brine. The fish is cleaned of its guts and bones, then packed with rice cooked from old grain, seasoned with more salt. A fish of about twenty-three to twenty-six centimeters is best, though a larger one may be cut in half. Each fish is wrapped carefully in reeds, pressed down in a wooden tub, and left to ferment—four days in summer, a week in winter. In this time lactic acid rises, giving the sushi both its sharp taste and its power to last.

Mackerel is the most common choice in Kishu, yet the variety is wide. Small horse mackerel, barracuda, cutlassfish, golden threadfin bream, and even river fish such as sweetfish or crucian carp may take its place. In the Kumano region, Pacific saury is the favorite, while sweetfish is used from the rivers. The leaves used to wrap the fish also differ. On the coast, reeds are common; in the mountain valleys, bracken and other ferns are chosen. These leaves lend their scent, but they also protect the flesh from turning brown, preserving both color and flavor.

Why does the northwestern coast of Wakayama favor mackerel, while Kumano in the southeast favors saury? The answer lies in the sea. From Saikazaki to Gobo, mackerel were once caught in numbers. Off Kumano, saury swam alongside mackerel, and so they entered the diet. Much of the mackerel from Kumano was carried inland, up the Kumano and Totsu rivers to the Yamato plain, where it was wrapped in persimmon leaves to become kakinoha-zushi. In this way, the foodways of Kishu and Nara were bound together, a trace of the trade that tied the regions.

Narezushi is not unique to Japan. Seen in a wider frame, it belongs to a belt of cultures stretching across southern China and Southeast Asia. The principle is always the same: fish salted, layered with rice or millet, packed in jars or tubs, and left to ferment for months. In half a year the rice softens into a sour paste. The lactic acid holds back decay, and fish—or even meat—remains safe to eat.

Among the Miao, Yao, and Dong peoples of Guizhou, the craft still thrives. Sticky rice or millet is steamed, salted fish laid in, and both are sealed in wooden barrels or clay jars to ferment for months. The method extends to beef and pork as well, proof of how far lactic fermentation can be stretched. Similar foods are found in central Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, and Borneo. It is a tradition spread wide, yet joined by common roots.

One scholar has argued that narezushi is no more than fish sauce with rice added, born in the rice-growing lands of Laos and northeast Thailand. Others point to older forms—where millet was used instead of rice—found in Hunan, Taiwan, and the mountain valleys of central Japan. This suggests an origin in the millet fields of the upper Yangtze basin. The truth is not certain. What is clear is that narezushi belongs to a broad cultural zone, shaped in each place by its waters and crops.

The narezushi of Kishu is one branch of this great tree. Whether with mackerel or saury, wrapped in reed or fern, and joined with rice through fermentation, it carries the knowledge of the evergreen belt of East Asia. It is more than preserved fish. It is a mirror of the land and the people who...

Culinary adventure for the taste buds. The original form of sushi is the fermented sushi, and you can try it here. Be very open-minded as the pungent smell is quite off-putting. But the taste is like blue cheese with a slight tanginess or souriness from the...

最初実物を見たときは、早寿司ではなく、サバの棒寿司では？？ と思いました。 和歌山のラーメン屋さんに置いてある早寿司（１５センチ×５センチ）とは、違いすぎたからです（もう別物！）。 ・・・最初の購入がいつだったか覚えていませんが、とにかく美味い！ 和歌山でおいしい早寿司というと、「おまめの早寿司」でした。 が、悲しいことに今や比べ物になりませんね。。。。。 弥助寿司については、大好きだった「おまめ」が早寿司をしなくなったので、別の早寿司を作っているお店を色々と探していたところ、偶然見つけました。 今更ながら、「おまめの早寿司」よりもっと早くに知っていたかったと思っているくらいのお店です。 ・元々老舗の本格的なお寿司屋さん。 ・早寿司のサバは脂がのっていて、酢飯のしめ加減も抜群。 ・味とボリュームに対して、驚くほど安価（現在１２００円）。 ※早寿司の一本がとても長いので、食べやすく切るかどうか聞かれることがありますが、私の経験上、食べやすいですし切ってもらうことをお勧めします（店主のお勧めの味が楽しめますので）。 ※まずは醤油をつけすに食べてみてください。びっくりします。 ※同梱されている醤油をつけるときは最初は一、二滴で十分です（食べたらわかると思います）。 私は、一本の早寿司を一回で食べきれませんので、昼と夜の２回に分けて戴いています。

私の本音としてはあまり教えたくないので、ここに乗せるのは躊躇しましたが、場所的に月に１～４回しか伺えず、無くなっては元も子もないので仕方なく口コミしました。。。

まぁ、サバの棒寿しとか、柿の葉寿司とか好きな人は、間違いなく「とりこ」になるでしょうね。

最後に、、忙しくなる店主さん、口コミ...