@article{oai:minpaku.repo.nii.ac.jp:00004238,
 author = {日比野, 光敏 and Hibino, Terutoshi},
 issue = {1},
 journal = {国立民族学博物館研究報告, Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology},
 month = {Jul},
 note = {There are many kinds of sushi in Japan today. Concerning the
origin of this food, the following hypothesis has been established: the
primitive sushi was Narezushi (a kind of fermented food made with fish
or other games, cooked-rice and salt) , which was devised by ricecultivators
in Southeast Asia to preserve fish, flesh and fowl from decay,
and was introduced through China. Some scholars argue that
Narezushi-making was introduced with rice-cultivation to Japan.
It is not clear what the sushi in ancient Japan was. Nevertheless,
many people, including some scholars, identify the prototypical sushi
with Funazushi, Narezushi of "crucian," which is often served today in
Ohmi (Shiga prefecture) .
One of the reasons for such a view is that Funazushi in Ohmi has a
lone history. The name of this sushi is noted in En2i-shiki (延喜式),
one of the oldest documents in Japan (completed in 927) , so we might
conclude that its birth occured over 1000 years ago.
Secondly, today's Funazushi has some primitive characters which
are suggestive of prototypical sushi:
1.Funazushi is made of fish (crucian) , cooked-rice and salt only,
with neither spices nor starters for fermentation.
2.This has a fermentation time of occasionally over a year, which is
extremely long compared with other Narezushi in Japan.
3.This is usually eaten by eating only soured fish and discarding the
rice.
From these points, Funazushi in Ohmi is sometimes described as
"the oldest sushi
, or the most primitive sushi, in Japan."
However, it is not reasonable to regard Funazushi, as observed today,
as a prototypical sushi. This is because its cookery has undergone
some changes since the 10th century.
Although there is no data clearly showing the recipe for Funazushi
in ancient Japan, we can infer it from the articles on Chimin-yaoshu
(斉民要術)published in China in the 6th century. According to this
Chinese document, the sushi-cookery in those days has a lot in common
with today's Funazushi-cookery, but a few differences can be recognized.
Noteworthy points are as follows:
1.Today's Funazushi-making is practiced in summer, which is
noted as a bad season for sushi-making in Chimin-yaoshu.
2.In order to make sushi, Chimin-yaoshu teaches us that the fish
must be cut into some pieces, but Funazushi in Ohmi uses the entire
fish without cutting it open.
3.The period to salt the fish for preparation of Funazushi-making,
about three months, is longer than in Chimin-yaoshu.
In addition, even compared with the article in an old Japanese
cookery-book published in 1689, today's Funazushi-cookery has the
same differences as the above-stated 1. and 3.
In the long run, we can understand that the recipe of Funazushi
which is practiced as a custom in Ohmi today was completed after 17th
century. Therefore today's Funazushi should not be regarded as a
primitive preserved food.
None of today's sushi, including Funazushi, can be identified with
the prototypical sushi. In the present Japan, we can't find sushi-cookery
just like the recipe noted in Chimin-yaoshu. On the other hand, some
features of the ancient cookery have been inherited separately in some
forms of Narezushi. In picturing the prototype of sushi, we need to compound
elements of the primitive characters, which remain only partially
in some of today's Narezushi.},
 pages = {99--118},
 title = {近江のフナズシの「原初性」 : わが国におけるナレズシのプロトタイプをめぐって},
 volume = {18},
 year = {1993},
 yomi = {ヒビノ, テルトシ}
}