Long-Pressed Sushi

The oldest sushi still found in Japan is the funazushi of Shiga. This type is a narezushi, or long-pressed sushi, made using freshwater fish such as funa, a type of carp, dojo (loach) or namazu (sheatfish). The fish is first salt-cured and then marinated in cooked rice and salt. This is a way to preserve fish; the rice and salt are discarded. The origin of this oldest-surviving sushi can be traced back to hishio, a mixture of raw fish and salt, although some say it goes right back to various other similar fish-preserving methods that existed in China as early as 300bc. Although at one stage the Chinese also developed this method of using rice mixed with salt, the technique had disappeared completely from the Chinese culinary scene by the 17th century.