Hanaya Yohei (華屋与兵衛 or 花屋與兵衛; 1799–1858) was a Japanese

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

and chef who is generally credited as the

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

-style (''Edomaezushi''; 江戸前寿司) ''nigiri'' sushi at the end of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. He is also regarded as the inventor of modern

sushi is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...

that is widely recognized around the world.

Life

Hanaya was born in Reiganjima, Edo (present-day Shinkawa,

). In 1810, he established a sushi restaurant, Hanaya, in Honjo, Edo (present-day Honjo, Tokyo). Hanaya developed a new type of sushi, ''nigirizushi'', which was different from the already existing '' oshizushi'', in the early Bunsei era (1818-1830). Sushi at his time was made from freshly captured fish from the nearby

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...

. This ruled out many of today's popular materials such as

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

roe Roe, ( ) or hard roe, is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooking, c ...

(''ikura''; イクラ). Even though Tokyo is a coastal city, food safety was still a concern before the invention of

refrigeration Refrigeration is any of various types of cooling of a space, substance, or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (while the removed heat is ejected to a place of higher temperature).IIR International Dictionary of ...

. To prevent spoilage, Hanaya either slightly cooked or marinated the fish in

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

vinegar Vinegar () is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting ...

. It was quite reasonable for people to dislike the fatty belly meat of

tuna A tuna (: tunas or tuna) is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bul ...

because it would decompose very quickly. Hanaya marinated the lean red meat in soy sauce. Then he served the sliced fish on vinegared rice balls that are large by today's standard. His sushi was totally different from today's "raw fish" stereotype. Hanaya died at the age of 59 in 1858. Hanaya's cookery was a departure from Japanese eating habits of the time. In the early years, a

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

only made sushi part-time. Then, slowly, inexpensive sushi stands (''yatai''; 屋台) emerged. After the government outlawed these questionable food stands, sushi restaurants (''ryōtei;'' 料亭) became mainstream.

References

External links

Hanaya Yohei's sushi

(華屋与兵衛　謎の生涯; in Japanese)
Hanayayohei-Japanese restaurant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanaya, Yoshi Japanese male chefs Sushi 1799 births 1858 deaths Chefs from Tokyo People from Chūō, Tokyo People from Tokyo

Life

See also

References

External links