Year Japan China {Dynasty} Sushi Type Example Preparation time Preparation and 'Meaning' B.C. 300 (Rice cultivation started - introduction from the south part of China.) {Chin} 200 {Han} Salted fish guts [Ki / Shi]A.D. 100 Stored fish [Sa], [Kin] 200 Carp sushi (Nare-zushi) 700 Nare-zushi 1 - 3 year(s) Salted fish and cooked rice are multi-layered in a bucket and stored under stone weight and water to be fully 'fermented' without the air. Only the fish is eaten principally. {Tang}Sturgeon sushi 1500 Nama-nare (Nama-nari) 1 month Semi-fermented (yet still half 'raw') under stone weight. Sweet fish ('ayu') was very common. Rice part was also eaten. {Ming} Carp sushi (Nama-nare) 1500 Ii-zushi Days Cooked 'rice' was fully stuffed into inside of carp as looks like a sparrow ('suzume') and pressed under stone weight. The rice part was also eaten as the main. (Sushiman) : 1600 Haya-zushi 1 night Rice was vinegared and pressed with seasoned fish under weight and it could be eaten 'earl(y)ier' than ever. (Izuu) «Declining» 1700 Hako-zushi Hour(s) In a wooden frame-'box,' thinly sliced fish chips ('kokera') are placed over rice and just pressed only by a board and hands. Cut into small rectangular pieces to eat. {Ching} «Almost disappeared» 1800 Nigiri-zushi A few seconds Sliced raw fish and vinegared rice (Shari) ball are 'hand formed' together at once. (Hanaya Yohei, How to Make Nigiri) «Extinct» 2000 Californian rolls : With 'unusual' sushi-dane toppings, diversifying into worldwide. The origin of sushi: Southeast Asia and China: Very similar and sushi-like (Nare-zushi type) foods are still found in Southeast Asian countries (Thailand, Raos, Myanmar, Malaysia, etc.) now, and the plains of the north of Thailand and Myanmar, where people make their living by both rice cultivation and fishery - fishing in rivers and rice paddy fields, could be considered as the birth place of the 'original sushi' from well before Christ, and it disseminated to the south part of China, and Japan consequently. The original concept of sushi is, by the aid of starchy rice, to preserve those of protein-rich foods, fresh water fish and flesh meat, which were not always obtainable through the dry and rainy seasons. This kind of preservation method could not be existed without the development of rice cultivation. Natural fermentation is taken place when fish is kept long with millet or rice, starchy grains, and the generated lactic acid prevents from rotting. But in a long storage time, the rice part gets too soppy to eat and it was abandoned as a waste after all. By getting well-off, people did not need a long storage period for preservation and also utilized the 'precious' rice part, then sushi became a dish to eat both the rice part and fish, in still semi-raw, together (Nama-nare type.) In those countries, sushi has not much changed or improved its basic style till now, further it had completely disappeared in China by ca. 1800 eventually as the fact.Japan: It does not exactly known still now when and how sushi came to Japan. The first evidence concerning sushi in Japan is found in an old law document, Taiho-Ritsuryo (701/718) that referred awabi (abalone) and igai (mussel/moule) in Nare-zushi type. As in the rice cultivating country, sushi in Japan has much relation with rice and it has been integrated into today's splendid Nigiri-zushi type, and still been changing its style continuously in the world.Genealogy: Genealogy of sushi and varieties of local sushi in Japan. [Sushi Link: Links to pictures of local sushi specialties all over Japan. ] Type/Example Meaning Nare-zushi Fermented Funa-zushi Crucian carp Nama-nare Semi-fermented and raw Nare-zushi Tsunashi-zushi (Semi-fermented) Young gizzard shad I-zushi (Adding malted rice to aid the fermentation) Kabura-zushi Hatahata-zushi Turnip Sand fish Sugata-zushi Bou-zushi Uncut and full-figure Stick Ayu-zushi Saba-zushi Suzume-zushi Sweet fish Mackerel Carp stuffed like a sparrow Ii-zushi Rice Kokera-zushi Hako-zushi Thin chips Box Unohana-zushi Bean curd residue is used instead of rice Too-zushi Oman-zushi (Specific name) (Specific name) Kata-iri gomoku Mixed in frame Oomura-zushi (Minced ingredients) Nigiri-zushi Hand forming Gomoku-zushi Chirashi-zushi Mixed ingredients Spread over Maki-zushi Roll Nori-maki Konbu-maki Laver Kelp Kawari-zushi Unusual Inrou-zushi Inari-zushi (Wrapped) Wrapped with fried bean curd Mebari-zushi (Specific name)Source: SHINODA, Osamu. Sushi no hon (Book of Sushi), 1970.06.25/1993.03.15, Shibata Shoten, ISBN: 438835189X, p.26 (Out of print ) ibid. __. __, 2002.11.01, Iwanami Shoten, ISBN: 4006030703 (Available )