Sushi (ŽõŽi or é½) is the most famous Japanese dish outside of Japan, and one of the most popular dishes among the Japanese. In Japan, sushi is usually enjoyed on special occasions, such as a celebration.
In past centuries, "sushi" referred to pickled fish preserved in vinegar. Nowadays sushi can be defined as a dish containing rice that has been prepared with sushi vinegar. There are many different types of sushi. Some popular ones are:
Nigiri
Small rice balls with fish, shellfish, etc. on top. There are countless varieties of nigirizushi, some of the most common ones being tuna, shrimp, eel, squid, octopus and fried egg.
Gunkan
Small cups made of sushi rice and dried seaweed filled with seafood, etc. There are countless varieties of gunkanzushi, some of the most common ones being sea urchin and various kinds of fish eggs.
Norimaki
Sushi rice and seafood, etc. rolled in dried seaweed sheets. There are countless varieties of sushi rolls differing in ingredients and thickness. Sushi rolls prepared "inside out" are very popular outside of Japan, but rarely found in Japan.
Temaki
Temakizushi (literally hand rolls) are cones made of nori seaweed and filled with sushi rice, seafood and vegetables.
Oshizushi
Oshizushi is pressed sushi, in which the fish is pressed onto the sushi rice in a wooden box. The picture shows trout oshizushi in form of a popular train station lunch box (ekiben).
Inari
Inarizushi is a simple and inexpensive type of sushi, in which sushi rice is filled into small bags of deep fried tofu (aburaage).
Chirashi
Chirashizushi is a dish in which seafood, mushrooms and vegetables are spread over sushi rice. It can resemble seafood domburi with one difference being that chirashizushi uses sushi rice while domburi uses regular, unseasoned rice.
Note that "sushi" becomes "zushi" in word combinations in which "sushi" is the second word, e.g. nigirizushi.
