is a dish originating in Japan. It consists of a ''

donburi is a Japanese "rice-bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice. ''Donburi'' meals are usually served in oversized rice bowls which are also called ''donburi''. If one needs to ...

'' 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. In J ...

'') 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 ''kab ...

'', similar to

teriyaki ''Teriyaki'' is a cooking technique in which foods are grilling#Overhead grilling, broiled or Grilling, grilled with a Glaze (cooking technique), glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Although commonly associated with Japanese cuisine, Fish ...

. 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. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source of f ...

-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. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 or , is a picnic set of ''jūbako'' in a carrier with ...

'' (重箱), food boxes often lacquered), ''nagayaki'' (長焼き, the eel and rice are served separately), and ''hitsumabushi'' (ひつまぶし, finely chopped eel kabayaki scattered (mabusu) over rice in a wooden rice container (hitsu) from

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

). There are two styles of grilled eel, the topic of which is covered more precisely under ''

''. Essentially, in the

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

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 metropol ...

style, which is grilled without steaming.

History

Una-don was the first type of ''

'' rice dish, invented in the late

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 ...

, 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 is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The ward refers to itself in English as Chūō City. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Kyōbashi and Nihonbashi wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. C ...

), and became a hit in the neighborhood, where the

Nakamura-za was one of the three main ''kabuki'' theatres of Edo alongside the Morita-za and Ichimura-za. History It was founded in 1624 by Nakamura Kanzaburō 1st. The Nakamura-za relocated to the new capital Tokyo in 1868 and reopened under Nakamura ...

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 for Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as . History The development of Asaku ...

, 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 ...

, 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