Tekone-zushi was originally called "tekone-zushi" because fishermen would cut the fish they caught on the boat and mix them together by hand on the spot, and has been eaten mainly in coastal areas.

Where it is made

Ise-Shima food culture area

Main ingredients

Red meat such as bonito and tuna, vinegared rice

The commercialized dried arame is returned to water for about 20 minutes, rolled with seasonal fish fillets, and seasoned with a sweet and spicy sauce to make "arame-maki".

Where it is made

Ise-Shima food culture zone (Toba area (Toshi Island, Kamijima, etc.), Hokusei food culture zone, Higashi-Kishu food culture zone)

Main ingredients

Sardines (saury), arame (dried)

In the Ise food culture, people used to make thick udon noodles without the time and effort to stretch them, and eat them with miso dashi (miso paste).

Where it is made

Ise-Shima food culture area (Ise City, Toba City)

Main ingredients

Ise udon, Ise udon soup (sauce) (made from kombu (kelp), dried sardines, mirin (sweet cooking sake), tamari soy sauce, and sugar)

It is said that the name "aimaze" comes from the fact that the ingredients are boiled separately, seasoned, and mixed together.

Where it is made

Central and South Sei food culture area, Ise-Shima food culture area (Ise City and Toba City area)

Main ingredients

Dried shiitake mushrooms, lotus root, burdock root, carrot, konnyaku, fu, kombu, etc.

In the Higashi-Kishu area, "oshi-zushi" is often made by pressing sushi into a mold and hardening it on occasions such as a gathering of people or on special occasions.

Where it is made

Higashi-Kishu food culture area

Main ingredients

Rice, carrots, dried shiitake mushrooms, pea pods, shime saba (mackerel), eggs, and any other 5 colorful ingredients

At the Ubuta Shrine, located in the town of Arima, in Kumano City, the priests and priestesses perform a ritual called “Houhan,” during which children are served foods such as “Sanmazushi (a sushi…

Where it is made

Eastern Kishu Food Culture Area

Main ingredients

Ingredients: Sanma (Pacific Saury), rice

In the Iga region, for example, people offer fukidawara (butterbur bales) to the god of the rice fields along with things like Japanese pampass grass, which easily diverts water to the mouth of the…

Where it is made

Iga food culture region, Nakanansei food culture region (primarily Matsuzaka City）

Main ingredients

Rice, soybeans, butterbur leaves

In the Edo period (1813) “Matsuzaka Fuzokuki” (previously called “Matsuzaka”), which recorded the annual events and customs of Matsuzaka, there’s a record which is thought to indicate “bon jiru.”

Where it is made

Chunansei Food Culture Area/Eastern Kishu Food Culture Area

Main ingredients

Soybean, burdock, eggplant, carrot, pumpkin, fried tofu, yard bean, taro stem, etc.

“Ibara mochi” is a rice cake wrapped in greenbriar leaves. “Ibara mochi,” which was eaten during the May Festival, has different names depending on the region.

Where it is made

Entire prefecture

Main ingredients

Top-grade non-glutinous rice flour, sugar, greenbriar leaves

One of the dishes that appears in the "tebiki cuisine" served during celebrations in the Wagu region of Shima, or "sahachi cuisine" as it is called in the Koshika region, is "same namasu" (raw shark…

Where it is made

The Ise-Shima Food Culture Zone

Main ingredients

The Japanese Bullhead and Other Types of Shark

Generally called uosuki or okisuki, this is a hotpot dish in which seafood, vegetables, and many other ingredients are simmered in a light broth, and it is a popular dish in fishing towns.

Where it is made

Higashikishu food culture area (mainly fishing villages along the Kumano Nada coast)

Main ingredients

Freshly caught blue-backed fish (Saury, Mackerel, Mullet, Bonito, etc.), Seasonal vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and Green onions, Tofu, Konjac noodles, and Mushrooms

According to the Kojiruien, an encyclopedia from the Meiji period, it has been eaten since the time of Emperor Shomu, and even today, after the Omizutori at Nigatsu-do Hall, a chagayu dish prepared…

Where it is made

The Iga food culture area, Higashikishu food culture area, and Chunansei food culture area

Main ingredients

Rice and Bancha

The Iga region, surrounded by mountains, used to be an area where seafood was scarce. Therefore, tofu, made from processed beans, was a crucial source of nutrition.

Where it is made

Iga food culture area

Main ingredients

Firm tofu, Soup stock, Dengaku miso

"Narezushi" is a traditional type of sushi, consisting of salt-pickled fish and rice fermented through lactic acid.

Where it is made

All of Mie Prefecture

Main ingredients

Ayu, rice, salt (fish varieties may include Pacific saury, mackerel, barracuda, Japanese pilchard, sea bream, horse mackerel, etc., depending on the region)

One of the nationally renowned regional dishes, "Noppei," also known as "Noppei-jiru," "Noppe," "Nuppei," and called by various names in other prefectures, is a beloved cuisine.

Where it is made

Iga Food Culture Area

Main ingredients

Satoimo(=Japanese taro), carrot, daikon radish, konjac(=yam cake), fried thin tofu, chikuwa(=fish cake), dried shiitake mushrooms, gobou(=burdock), kamaboko(=fish cake), lotus root, bamboo shoots, etc.

The dish "ahodaki" is a preserved side dish that ingeniously reuses takuan, which tends to lose its flavor and smell around the following summer after pickling.

Where it is made

Hokusei Food Culture Area in Mie Prefecture

Main ingredients

Pickled daikon radish, soy sauce, Dashi (=Japanese soup stock), sugar

The fishing catch by fish species in Mie Prefecture is ranked first in the nation for spiny lobsters (Ise Ebi), second for Japanese pilchards (Katakuchi Iwashi), and sixth for sardines (Iwashi)…

Where it is made

Iga, Chunansei and Hokusei Food Culture Zone

Main ingredients

Sardine, Rice, Ginger, White sesame seeds

This is generally known as "Gomoku-zushi" (mixed sushi), a unique dish in the southern part of the Tokishu region, also referred to as "Omaze," "Kakimaze," or "Kakimaze-zushi."

Where it is made

East Kishu Food Culture Zone (Around Kumano City, Mihama-cho, Kihou-cho)

Main ingredients

Rice, fish, Dried shiitake mushrooms, Fried thin tofu, Freeze-dried tofu, Gobo (=burdock root), Carrot, Green beans, Awase-zu( =sweet and sour dressing), Dashi (=Japanese soup stock).

"Garagara-Oroshi" is a local dish of Mie Prefecture made with a special bamboo grater which is named “Oni-Oroshi-Ki” (Demon grater).

Where it is made

“Hokusei” (North) food culture zone, “Chu-Nansei" (Middle-South) food culture zone

Main ingredients

Daikon radish, Fried thin tofu, Chikuwa(=fish cake), Green onion, Yuzu(=Japanese citrus fruit), Niboshi(=dried sardines), Red Miso, White Miso, Vinegar, etc.

In the Iga region, the heat and humidity characteristic of the basin increases during the summer months, causing people to lose their appetites.

Where it is made

Iga Food Culture Area

Main ingredients

Cucumber, Miso, white Sesame seeds, Ni-Dashi-jiru(=Japanese soup stock)

The “Kounago”, which is said to be the fish that heralds spring, is another name for the “Ikanago”. In Mie Prefecture, it is called” Kounago “exclusively.

Where it is made

Hokusei Food Culture Zone, Chu-Nansei Food Culture Zone, Ise-Shima Food Culture Zone (mainly Toba) along the Ise Bay Coast

Main ingredients

“Kounago” (young lance fish), Crystal Sugar, Dark Soy sauce, Sake, Mirin(=sweet rice wine), Ginger

Such complexity was passed down in “Zouni” as a mixture of ancient and modern, East and West cultures.

Where it is made

All of Mie Prefecture

Main ingredients

“Mochi” (square, round, or pressed rice cakes), “Komatsuna” (Japanese mustard spinach), Satoimo(=Japanese taro), Daikon radish, Green onion, Tofu, etc. Ingredients change depending on the region.

The history of octopus consumption in Japan is long, and in Mie Prefecture, fishing tools that look like octopus pots have been excavated from a shell mound in Kakizuka Shinden (named after the…

Where it is made

Ise-Shima Food Culture Zone (mainly Toba City)

Main ingredients

Octopus, Rice

Rice cakes (mochi) are considered a food for celebratory occasions, so it is common to make them using a mortar and pestle and distribute them to neighbors.

Where it is made

Central and South Food Culture Area

Main ingredients

Glutinous rice, Short grain rice, Mugwort, Red bean paste, Kinako (=Roasted soybean flour)

There are a variety of pickled vegetables in Mie Prefecture. The "Hinona (radish) pickles" are pickled in the Suzuka foothills area, as well as in the central Nansei and Higashi-Kishu areas.

Where it is made

All of Mie Prefecture

Main ingredients

Vegetables, Salt

Sunfish are sometimes caught during the traditional fishing season along the Kumano-nada coast from the Shima region to the Nanki region.

Where it is made

Eastern-Kishu Food Culture Area

Main ingredients

Sunfish meat, Liver, Miso, Sugar, Vinegar, Salt, Japanese mustard paste

A part of Shima region it is called "Namerou", but people in Eastern Kishu region don’t call same.

Where it is made

Easten Kishu Food Culture Area, Ise-Shima Food Culture Area (Fisher’s Village Area along the Kumano-nada Sea)

Main ingredients

Small fresh fish like small horse mackerel and threeline grunt, Meat of big fish like bonito, Green shiso

The plate to serve this dish was a wooden lacquerware which had edge warped a bit toward outside and a little high rim at the bottom, and its name was "chatsu".

Where it is made

Hokusei Food Culture Area, Chunanzei Food Culture Area

Main ingredients

Daikon radish, Carrot, Lotus root, Kombu (=kelp), Fried thin tofu

"Sakana no Tsukemono" (pickled fish) was invented as one of the method to preserve fish.

Where it is made

Ise-Shima Food Culture Area

Main ingredients

Sardine, Pacific saury, Mackerel, Bonito, Guts of fish, etc.

As there is lots of sunshine and the average of temperature is high in the south of Eastern Kishu region and Chunanzei region, these areas are suitable for growing peanuts.

Where it is made

Eastern Kishu Food Culture Area, Chunanzei Food Culture Area

Main ingredients

Peanuts, Dashi (=Japanese soup stock), Sugar, Soy sauce