34 The rising of Edomae sushi(3)

• 06/12/2025
• Founder's Story

From the south to the north in the eastern Tokyo including area such as 

Tsukiji, Nihonbashi, Ueno, Asakusa, they were called Edomae area.

In that same zone, a new kind of urban food culture was being born:

• street stalls along the river,
• vendors feeding busy workers,
• small shops that needed to serve food quickly and safely
  in a humid climate, long before refrigerators.Fish spoiled fast.

People were always in a hurry.

So the craftsmen of Edo invented smart solutions:

• marinating in soy sauce,
• curing with salt or vinegar,
• simmering certain toppings,
• using vinegared rice that kept better in the heat.

Put together, this became what we now call Edomae sushi:

Seafood from in front of Edo,
prepared to suit the climate and lifestyle of the city,
served quickly on a block of vinegared rice.

At the beginning, it wasn’t luxury.
It was street food with brains—
fast, satisfying, and safe.

Today, the coastline has moved.
Tokyo Bay is different.
Fish comes from all over Japan and beyond.

But when we say “Edomae sushi”,
we are still pointing back to that original triangle:

• Certain Edomae area of Tokyo,
• the waters in front of it,
• and the techniques invented there.

Not every sushi restaurant needs that word.
Not every sushi chef care about that.

But for me, the word Edomae has a very specific weight.

Because, Edomae means the origin of sushi culture.

Edomae is the ancestor of any nigiri sushi in the world.