🍱 Iwakuni zushi

Iwakuni City is known as the eastern gateway to Yamaguchi Prefecture. The city has a history of prosperity as a castle town of 60,000 goku of the Yoshikawa domain, and even today, it is blessed with numerous historical and cultural assets as well as beautiful nature. The famous symbol of the city is the Kintai Bridge, a five-storied arched bridge that was built some 300 years ago. Iwakuni-zushi" is one of the most famous food items in Iwakuni. It is a pressed sushi, also called "tonosama-zushi" (lord sushi), which was presented to Lord Yoshikawa of the Iwakuni Clan in the Edo period (1603-1868) and was said to be a favorite of the lord. The dish is made with gorgeous ingredients typical of a castle town, and is gorgeously stacked in three to five tiers. It has been made as a celebratory gift or an offering. In order to make a large quantity of sushi at one time, the wooden sushi frame can be as large as 60 centimeters square. When making large pieces of sushi, the craftsmen would sometimes press the sushi on top of the lid to harden it. The finished sushi is then cut into squares and served to the customers one by one.