Ayu nare zushi (sushi)

Ayu (sweetfish) has been used as a preserved food for a very long time. Freshly boiled rice was stuffed inside the belly of salted sweetfish to cause fermentation. When eaten, the crisp flavor of sweetfish and the mature taste of fermented rice fill the mouth. In 2015, the upper and middle courses of the Nagara River which have handed down the food culture of Ayu nare sushi were registered as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System as "Ayu of the Nagara River System."

Read the recipe

Shops where you can eat treats, shops you can buy

Unoiori U
Nagara, Gifu City

Address：94-10 Nakaukai, Nagara, Gifu City［Map］

Phone Number：058-232-2839

Opening Hour：10:00～16:00

Holiday：First, Third and Fifth Mondays, Second and Fourth Sundays, December 31 to January 4

Parking Capacity：8 cars

Access

Approx. 30 minutes by car from Meishin Expressway "Gifu-Hashima IC"
Approx. 5 minutes walk from Gifu Bus "Ukai-ya" bus stop

Hearty hospitality from cormorant fisherman

Our restaurant is run by a cormorant fisherman who knows everything about sweetfish and cormorant. Nare sushi prepared with strictly selected sweetfish and locally grown rice has impressed everybody who tried it. The food is prepared elaborately with delicate use of salt to produce healthy and tasty sushi.

Service period：All year round
Please call us to confirm.

＜Messages from the Staff＞ Please watch cormorant fishing as well. It reminds us of what is precious in life.

Matured in delicately adjusted salty water to make healthy food.

Cormorants also welcome the guests.

Sweetfish is strictly chosen by the master, a cormorant fisherman.

Cormorant fishing boat and tools are exhibited.

Kawaramachi Izumiya
Motohama-cho, Gifu City

Address：20 Motohama-cho, Gifu City［Map］

Phone Number：058-263-6788

H　　 P：http://www.nagaragawa.com/

Opening Hour：11:30～14:00(LO.) / 17:00～19:30(LO.) Reservation required for evening (May 11～October 15)
11:30～14:00(LO.) / 17:00～19:00(LO.) Reservation required for evening (October 16～May 10)

Holiday：Wednesdays , and winter season holidays

Parking Capacity：15 cars

Access

Approx. 20 minutes by car from Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway "Gifu-Kakamigahara IC"
Approx. 5 minutes walk from Gifu Bus "Nagara-bashi" bus stop

The ultimate fermented food using salt from Inner Mongolia

An ultimate fermented dish produced only from sweetfish, salt and rice which are left for one year in a cedar barrel for fermentation. The salt is procured in Mongolia. The taste coming from the intestines of "sweetfish with roe" makes its eaters enjoy the mildness - making the dish more likable than sushi of crucian carp.

Service period：All year round
Please call us to confirm and a reservation is required for dinner between middle of October to early May.

＜Messages from the Staff＞ We offer "Nare zushi" made from naturally grown sweetfish and sweetfish with roe.

"Ayu white cream" from the rice of nare zushi.

Thoroughly matured in cedar barrels.

A variety of souvenir items such as sweet-boiled fish.

Located near the boarding spot for cormorant fishing tour boats.

Ayu nare zushi（sushi） recipe

Ingredients :

（Amounts）
・Ayu(sweetfish)：As you like

・Salt：Suitable amount

・Cooked rice：suitable amount

・Water：suitable amount

Method

①Wash ochiayu (sweetfish that goes down a river to lay eggs in autumn), clean them, and open their belly to remove their internal organs.

②Salt them down and drain the water from their body.
Layer the sweetfish and salt on top of each other in a plastic container, and lastly cover them with salt and store them in the refrigerator. (About 1 month)

③Wash the salt off the sweetfish, and dry them in the shade. When they are dry, fill their bellies with boiled rice.

④Wash the boiled rice and lay it on the bottom of a tub.On top of the laid rice, layer the rice-stuffed sweetfish and boiled rice without gaps, and cover them with boiled rice. Lay bamboo sheaths on the top,place a heavy stone on the top of the sheaths, and apply water to ferment the sweetfish. (2 months to 1 year)

※Recipes vary by region and family.

Ayu nare zushi (sushi)

Unoiori U Nagara, Gifu City

Kawaramachi Izumiya Motohama-cho, Gifu City

■ Traditional Vegetables of Hida / Mino - Search by name

Unoiori U
Nagara, Gifu City

Kawaramachi Izumiya
Motohama-cho, Gifu City