is a dish originating in Japan. It consists of a '' donburi'' type large bowl filled with steamed white rice, and topped with fillets of eel (''

unagi is the Japanese word for freshwater eel, particularly the Japanese eel, . Unagi is a common ingredient in Japanese cooking, often as '' kabayaki''. It is not to be confused with saltwater eel, which is known as '' anago'' in Japanese. ...

'') grilled in a style known as ''

kabayaki is a preparation of fish, especially ''unagi'' eel,, vol. 7,"kabayaki" by describes it as being used principally or almost always for ''unagi'' (「もっぱら鰻」) where the fish is split down the back the Japanese dictionary says ''kaba ...

'', similar to

teriyaki ''Teriyaki'' (kanji: 照り焼き) is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Fish – yellowtail, marlin, skipjack tuna, salmon, trout, and mac ...

. The fillets are glazed with a sweetened

soy The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...

-based sauce, called ''tare'' and caramelized, preferably over charcoal fire. The fillets are not flayed, and the grayish skin side is placed faced down., p.63 Sufficient ''tare'' sauce is poured over so that some of it seeps through the rice underneath. By convention, pulverized dried berries of sanshō (called Japanese pepper, although botanically unrelated) are sprinkled on top as seasoning. It is also very popular outside of Japan, particularly in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Variations

Variations include ''unajū'' (鰻重, the same dish served in ''

jūbako are tiered boxes used to hold and present food in Japan. The boxes are often used to hold ''osechi'', foods traditional to the Japanese New Year, or to hold takeaway lunches, or bento A is the Japanese iteration of a single-portion take-ou ...

'' (重箱), food boxes often lacquered), ''nagayaki'' (長焼き, the eel and rice are served separately), and ''hitsumabushi'' (ひつまぶし). There are two styles of grilled eel, the topic of which is covered more precisely under ''

''. Essentially, in the Kantō region style, the eel is steamed before being grilled with sauce, which makes the eel more tender. The other is the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

style, which is grilled without steaming.

History

Una-don was the first type of '' donburi'' rice dish, invented in the late

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, during the

Bunka was a after '' Kyōwa'' and before '' Bunsei''. The period spanned the years from January 1804 to April 1818. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * February 11, 1804 (): The new era name of ''Bunka'' ( meaning "Culture" or "Civili ...

era (1804–1818), section "Una-don, the First Donburi-mono", p.24- by a man named of Sakai-machi (in present-day Nihonbashi Ningyōchō, Chūō, Tokyo), and became a hit in the neighborhood, where the Nakamura-za and

Ichimura-za The was a major kabuki theatre in the Japanese capital of Edo (later, Tokyo), for much of the Edo period, and into the 20th century. It was first opened in 1634 and was run by members of the Ichimura family for much of the following nearly thre ...

once stood. The first eatery to sell it as a business is claimed to be ,, p.270, quote;:"鰻丼を始めたのは日本橘葺屋町の大野屋で、天保の飢饉当時に、大丼の鰻飯を天保銭一枚で売ったのが当って" in (adjacent to Sakai-chō) at some indeterminate time, but presumably before the theaters burnt down in 1841 and moved off. After the great famine of 1844, it started selling the ''unadon'' for one oblong Tenpō-sen coin, and became a hit. As for ''unajū'', where the eel and rice is stuffed in ''jūbako'' boxes, one theory ascribes its originator to one , who started a freshwater fish restaurant business in Sanya,

Asakusa, Tokyo is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History The ...

, called (later known as Jūbako, the current generation of the restaurant is in Akasaka). According to this version the ''unajū'' was already around by late

, but there are detractors to this view. Other commentators say ''unajū'' appeared in the

Taishō era The was a period in the history of Japan dating from 30 July 1912 to 25 December 1926, coinciding with the reign of Emperor Taishō. The new emperor was a sickly man, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of ...

, and by using lacquered boxes, aimed at appearance of luxury. ''Unajū'' is usually pricier than ''unadon''.うな重とうな丼、違いは名前と器だけ
(Excite News, 22 July 2007; author: Wakako Tasachi (田幸和歌子)

Notes

References

* {{seafood Donburi Japanese rice dishes

Variations

History

See also

Notes

References