The word “Sushi” is a Japanese transliteration. This word comes from the word “Sumeshi” which means a kind of rice preserved with vinegar in the ancient times. The Chinese character is written on the left which is pronounced as “Yi”.[1]The Japanese character was deeply influenced by the Chinese Culture. As a Chinese, I can easily understand this Japanese word. This character is combined by two parts. The left side is a Chinese Character “魚” which means fish in English. The right side is a Chinese Character “旨“ which means rice in English. The ancient people put them together and they got “Sushi”. That is so interesting and give us a direct meaning of this kind of food. On the other hand, we can see the deep connection of the Japanese culture and Chinese Culture. Even now, this two countries still have so much things to learn from each other.
During the Edo period (Around 17th Century BC), a Kyoto doctor found a special way to preserve the seafood. He used the vinegar to preserve different kinds of seafood and ate the vinegared seafood with rice. This is the early stage of Sushi. About 150 years later another Japanese Solider simplified the way to make Sushi and he used his hands to hold the vinegared seafood with rice together. Then people start to sell this kind of food in small pieces on the street and slowly the sushi become popular and spread to all parts of Japan. And now, Sushi is worldwide popular food and accepted by people from different countries and different cultures.
[1]Sakamoto, R. and Allen, M., 2011, March. There’s something fishy about that sushi: how Japan interprets the global sushi boom. In Japan forum (Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 99-121). Taylor & Francis Group.
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