have been transliterated in Roman letters, basically according to the Hepburn system, which is practical rather than scientific. The important point to remember is that Japanese is spoken evenly in equally stressed syllables, as in Hi-ro-shi-ma and To-yo-ta. The syllables usually consist of a consonant followed by a vowel. There is never a consonant at the end of a syllable. You will often see n at the end of a syllable, but this indicates nasalisation of the preceding vowel and n is not a consonant in this case. A macron above a vowel, i.e., -, indicates that the vowel is long and should be lengthened in speech. In certain positions, unvoiced consonants become voiced. The s of sushi becomes z in nigirizushi. Similarly, k can become g, t can become d, and h can become b. For more specific information on Japanese pronunciation, readers should consult pages 13 through 19 of Carolyn R. Krouse’s A Guide to Food Buying in Japan, a most useful book.
Japanese Writing
There are three different scripts used for writing Japanese, and these are mixed together as needed. Two of the scripts, hiragana and katakana, are syllabaries. In this dictionary I give all native Japanese words in hiragana, and words of foreign origin are written in katakana. The third script is the Chinese script, which in many ways is more definitive than the syllabic writing, so I have tried to give the Chinese characters wherever possible. Some of those given are extremely rare and unusual, and therefore in my view all the more worth presenting.
Arrangement of the Dictionary
The dictionary is arranged in three parts: Japanese-English, English-Japanese, and Appendices.
The Japanese-English section is the part of the dictionary where almost all the details are given. The heading of an entry is always a Japanese word given in transliteration and printed in boldface. Certain Japanese words, such as sushi, tofu, and tempura, have become accepted as English. But as a heading, tofu becomes tōfu and tempura becomes tenpura. I extend this to kombu, which as an entry heading is konbu. Following the Romanized forms are written Japanese forms for recognition and identification. The scientific names of animals and plants are also important for correct identification, and these too, checked in Japanese sources, are included. Many of these names are hard to find and perhaps because they are in Latin, seem to get misspelled very easily. Even important publications are full of mistakes in this respect.
Cross-references are indicated by a boldface entry. Thus, shiso in the body of an entry means that there is a separate entry devoted to shiso that can be consulted. Some entries include cross-references to the Appendices.
The English-Japanese section is primarily a selective index to the Japanese-English section, which is referred to by the use of boldface. However, also included are some commonly used food items not found in the Japanese-English section, for example, bread and loaf of bread. Words that are the same or very similar in both languages, words like banana, butter, cheese, chocolate, and tomato, are generally not included in the dictionary.
The Appendices provide information in a more discursive way on topics that the reader should find interesting. Appendix 9, Sansai, is an exception, since it is a list of mountain vegetables.
Scientific Names
Scientific classification has always involved differences of opinion, quite apart from agreed changes. So I have tried to follow the best Japanese sources, which, for example, prefer Prunus to Armeniaca as the name of a genus, and campestris to rapa as a species of Brassica.
My experience writing this book suggests that scientific names are the cause of more headaches than anything else in this world!
There is no way that a book of this size could encompass the whole breadth of something so rich, extensive, and imaginative as the Japanese cuisine. Those who criticize the Japanese for lack of imagination should try a top-class kaiseki meal. The imaginative artistry of the chefs is quite extraordinary. All this book attempts to do is to provide basic and, I hope, accurate information. The only real way to understand Japanese food is to eat it, preferably in Japan.
Japanese–English
Notes: Boldface indicates the heading of an entry and acts as a cross-reference to another entry in the Japanese-English section. Italics is used for foreign words, chiefly Latin names, Japanese words that are not main entries, and for second mention of main-entry terms. In the few cases where a Japanese name follows a Latin one, the Japanese name appears in roman, e.g., Conger myriaster (ma-anago) in the anago entry.
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abekawamochi あべかわもち 安倍川餅 grilled cut mochi topped either with sugar and kinako mixed, or with syrup and then kinako.
abura-age あぶらあげ 油揚げ thin deep-fried sliced tofu. An essential ingredient of inarizushi.
aburana あぶらな 油菜 rape Brassica campestris var. nippooleifera. Most important for the oil obtained from its seeds (natane) but the leaves are also used as a green vegetable.
aemono あえもの 和え物 a cooked salad, one of the basic categories of Japanese cuisine. Cooked vegetables such as spinach are dressed with a thick dressing such as sesame paste gently flavored with soy sauce and sugar (goma ae). Hōrensō no goma ae (spinach dressed with sesame), although simple, is one of the outstanding dishes of Japan. Tofu and miso are also used for dressings.
agari あがり 上がり freshly drawn tea, short for agaribana 上がり花. Above all, a sushi-shop term.
agedashi あげだし 揚げ出し deep-fried food such as tofu, nasu, and whitefish eaten with soy sauce seasoned with grated ginger and grated daikon.
agedashidōfu あげだしどうふ 揚げ出し豆腐 tofu from which much of the moisture has been pressed is coated with katakuriko or wheat flour, deep-fried, sprinkled with katsuobushi shavings, and served with grated ginger and daikon in a soy-based sauce such as warishita.
agedōfu あげどうふ 揚げ豆腐 thick deep-fried sliced tofu used in soups, nimono, and many other ways.
agekamaboko あげかまばこ 揚げ蒲鉾 a special kind of kamaboko that is deep-fried. It is called satsuma-age in the Tokyo region.
agemono あげもの 揚げ物 deep-fried food, the best known of which are tempura, kara-age, and furai.
ainame あいなめ 鮎魚女、 鮎並 fat greenling Hexagrammos otakii. A fish found in rocky-shore areas. When very fresh, this soft-fleshed fish can be served as sashimi. Otherwise, it is prepared as teriyaki, nitsuke, or chirinabe.
aji あじ 鰺 jack, horse mackerel Trachurus japonicus. A true jack, this delicious and very popular fish attains a length of up to 30 cm and is available all year but is at its best from spring to autumn. It is served as sashimi, shioyaki, sunomono, and nitsuke.
ajinomoto あじのもと 味の素 brand name for the chemical seasoning monosodium glutamate as marketed by the Ajinomoto company. See also Appendix 14 for monosodium glutamate.
ajishio あじしお 味塩 salt mixed with a chemical seasoning, usually monosodium glutamate. See also ajinomoto.
ajitsuke あじつけ 味付け seasoning, flavor added in some way.
ajitsuke nori あじつけのり 味付け海苔 seasoned laver. See
