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Modern mechanically wrapped onigiri are specially folded so that the plastic wrapping is between the nori and rice to act as a moisture barrier. The use of a hole for filling the onigiri made new flavors of onigiri easier to produce as this cooking process did not require changes from ingredient to ingredient. Before eating, the diner could open the packet of nori and wrap the onigiri. Ī packaging improvement allowed the nori to be stored separately from the rice. Since the onigiri made by this machine came with nori already applied to the rice ball, over time the nori became moist and sticky, clinging to the rice. Rather than rolling the filling inside, the flavoring was put into a hole in the onigiri and the hole was hidden by nori.

In the 1980s, a machine to make triangular onigiri was invented. In Nakanoto, there is a replica of the relic on display at the roadside station Orihime-no-sato Nakanoto. Since then, it has been academically called the 'Chimaki-shaped carbonized rice lumps (チマキ状炭化米塊)'. The carbonized rice had traces which revealed that it was formed by human hands, thus it was initially documented as 'the oldest onigiri.' In subsequent research, it was thought to be steamed and grilled, rather than boiled like today's rice, similar to another dish called chimaki. On November 12, 1987, lumps of carbonized grains of rice, thought to be riceballs, were excavated from a building belonging to the Yayoi period (2000 years ago) in the Sugitani Chanobatake Ruins in Ishikawa Prefecture. Prehistory Excavated from the Sugitani Chanobatake Ruins Nori did not become widely available until the Genroku era of the mid-Edo period, when the farming of nori and fashioning it into sheets became widespread. These onigiri were simply balls of rice flavored with salt. This made sense as cooks simply had to think about making enough onigiri and did not have to concern themselves with serving.

Other writings, dating back as far as the seventeenth century, state that many samurai stored rice balls wrapped in bamboo sheath as a quick lunchtime meal during war.įrom the Kamakura period to the early Edo period, onigiri was used as a quick meal. In Murasaki Shikibu's 11th-century diary Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, she writes of people eating tonjiki rice balls. ('In the Tsukuba dialect, it is known as nigiri-ihi.') Nigiri-ihi Tsukuba no kuni, kuniburi no kotoba-ni ifu. The first incarnation of the word onigiri is attested in the ' Hitachi Province Gazette' ( 常陸国風土記 Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki) dated to 5 Yōrō (721 AD) as 握飯 nigiri-ihi or 'crumpled rice': Kanbun-notated text At that time, onigiri were called tonjiki and often consumed at outdoor picnic lunches. In the Heian period, rice was made into small rectangular shapes known as tonjiki so that they could be piled onto a plate and easily eaten. History Norimaki-onigiri at an onigiri restaurant in Tokyoīefore the use of chopsticks became widespread, in the Nara period, rice was often rolled into a small ball so that it could be easily picked up.

Onigiri makes rice portable and easy to eat as well as preserving it, while sushi originated as a way of preserving fish. Onigiri is made with plain rice (sometimes lightly salted), while sushi is made of rice with vinegar, sugar and salt. Due to the popularity of this trend in Japan, onigiri has become a popular staple in Japanese restaurants worldwide.ĭespite common misconceptions, onigiri is not a form of sushi and should not be confused with the type of sushi called nigirizushi or simply nigiri. There are even specialized shops which only sell onigiri to take out.

It has become so mainstream that it is even served in izakayas and sit-down restaurants.

Many Japanese convenience stores and supermarkets stock their onigiri with various fillings and flavors. Originally, it was used as a way to use and store left-over rice, but it later became a regular meal. Because it is easily portable and eaten by hand, onigiri has been used as portable food or bento from ancient times to the present day. Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled ume ( umeboshi), salted salmon, katsuobushi, kombu, tarako, mentaiko, takanazuke (pickled takana, Japanese giant red mustard greens) or any other salty or sour ingredient as a natural preservative.

Onigiri ( お握り or 御握り), also known as omusubi ( お結び), nigirimeshi ( 握り飯), or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or cylindrical shapes and often wrapped in nori.

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