Okayama Local Cuisine: Matsuri-zushi / Bara-zushi

Alright, let’s get this colorful dish from Okayama Prefecture ready for the world! It’s called “Matsuri-zushi” or “Bara-zushi,” and it’s like a party in a bowl, packed with the best goodies from the land and the Seto Inland Sea. They whip this out for festivals, celebrations, and when they’ve got company. There’s even a cool story about how it came to be, thanks to a frugal lord way back when. Let’s take a look!

Dish Name: Matsuri-zushi / Bara-zushi

• Region / Location: Okayama Prefecture
• Primary Area of Tradition: Entire prefecture
• Main Ingredients: Rice, seasonal fish and vegetables

How It’s Eaten / Served

Matsuri-zushi is a vibrant type of scattered sushi (chirashizushi) where seasoned rice is mixed with a variety of cooked vegetables and seafood. Think of it as a beautiful medley of flavors and textures all in one bite! While some of the prettiest ingredients are arranged on top as a garnish, plenty more are mixed right into the vinegared rice. The vegetables are usually prepped by boiling and then seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, and salt. For fish like Spanish mackerel (sawara), it’s lightly salted, briefly marinated in vinegar until it turns opaque, and then used. Surf clams (mogai) are rinsed and boiled. Conger eel (anago) is butterflied, deboned, and glazed with soy sauce and sugar. Shrimp and squid are either boiled in soy sauce or salted water. Octopus is thinly sliced and marinated in sweet vinegar. Koyadofu (freeze-dried tofu) is rehydrated and simmered. Thinly cooked and sliced eggs are also a common addition. The best-looking pieces of these ingredients are saved to decorate the top, making it a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach!

Cultural Background and Preservation

Matsuri-zushi, also known as Okayama Bara-zushi or Bizen Bara-zushi, is a celebratory dish in the Bizen-Okayama region, often made for festivals, special occasions, and to entertain guests. This elaborate scattered sushi is packed with the bounty of vegetables, seafood, and the rich ingredients from the Seto Inland Sea. The origin story goes back to the Edo period when Lord Mitsumasa Ikeda, the lord of the Okayama Domain, issued a decree emphasizing frugality, limiting commoners to one soup and one side dish per meal. Cleverly, the people reasoned that if they used fish and vegetables as ingredients in sushi, it wouldn’t count as a side dish. So, they started mixing over ten kinds of seasoned vegetables and seafood into a tub of vinegared rice and ate it together. The types of fish and vegetables used vary from household to household and region to region, but often include Spanish mackerel, conger eel, surf clams, shrimp, bamboo shoots, and burdock root. Interestingly, there’s also a way to enjoy Matsuri-zushi warmed up, called “Nukuzushi” – “nukui” being the Okayama dialect for “warm.”

This dish is an indispensable part of Okayama’s celebratory cuisine, especially for spring and autumn festivals, Obon (Buddhist All Souls’ Day), and Buddhist memorial services, serving as a welcoming gesture to guests. The seasonal ingredients change throughout the year, with Spanish mackerel, fuki (butterbur), and bamboo shoots in spring, and matsutake mushrooms in autumn. Each region and family has its own unique way of preparing the sushi rice, blending the vinegar, and cooking the ingredients. Today, you can find Matsuri-zushi at local Japanese restaurants and sushi shops, as well as in the prepared food sections of supermarkets. A popular variation, “Momotaro’s Matsuri-zushi,” which beautifully arranges the toppings on the rice, is a long-selling ekiben (station bento) at Okayama Station, loved for over 50 years.

Additional information:

• Scattered sushi (Chirashizushi): A type of sushi where the ingredients are scattered over a bed of vinegared rice, rather than being formed into rolls or nigiri.
• Seto Inland Sea: A body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, rich in diverse seafood.
• Edo period: The period of Japanese history from 1603 to 1868.
• Okayama Domain: A feudal domain in Japan during the Edo period, located in present-day Okayama Prefecture.
• Fuki (Butterbur): A plant with large leaves and edible stalks, often used in Japanese cuisine in spring.
• Matsutake mushrooms: Highly prized and aromatic mushrooms that are in season in autumn.
• Koyadofu (Freeze-dried tofu): Tofu that has been frozen, aged, and then dried, giving it a spongy texture. It needs to be rehydrated before cooking.
• Ekiben (Station Bento): A boxed meal sold at railway stations in Japan.