🍚 Ayu zushi (Sweetfish Sushi)
Natural ‘Ayu' (=sweetfish), grown in the clear stream in Yoshino mountains, eats algae on stones in the river. It is called ‘'kogyo', meaning ‘fish with good smell', because its smell is like watermelon or cucumber, and is also tasty. The sushi using this ayu is famous in Yoshino area. Originally ‘Ayu-zushi' was a ‘nare-zushi', sushi fermented from 1week to 1 month, but it had became less served as time went by because of its unique flavor. In Muromachi Period (AD1336~1537), however, ‘fresh nare-zushi', fermented in shorter period and served with rice and fish together, was invented thank to the development of barrels and stone weight. Currently, ‘Ayu-zushi' is served immediately after prepared, and you can enjoy its fresh flavour. ‘Ayu-zushi' from Nara Prefecture became popular because there was a real sushi restaurant appeared in the famous Kabuki and Ningyo Jyoruri (=Japanese puppet drama) program called ‘Yoshitsune Senbon-zakura' (=Yoshitune with a thousand of cherry blossom trees) located in Nara Prefecture. ‘Tsurube-sushi', appears in the program, is ‘nare-zushi' fermented with rice and Ayu. The name came from a bucket as sushi container looked like it. The restaurant set in the Kabuki sushi restaurant is still open as a traditional Japanese restaurant.