View source for Unadon

{{Short description|Japanese rice dish topped with eel filets}}
[[File:Tokyo Chikuyotei Unadon01s2100.jpg|thumb|Unadon]]
[[File:小川菊鰻魚飯 (49287165332).jpg|thumb|Unajū]]
{{Nihongo|'''''Unadon'''''|鰻丼||an abbreviation for '''''unagi donburi''''', "eel bowl"}} is a dish originating in Japan. It consists of a ''[[donburi]]'' type large bowl filled with steamed white rice, and topped with fillets of eel (''[[unagi]]'') grilled in a style known as ''[[kabayaki]]'', similar to [[teriyaki]]. The fillets are glazed with a sweetened [[soy]]-based sauce, called ''tare'' and caramelized, preferably over charcoal fire. The fillets are not flayed, and the grayish skin side is placed faced down.<ref name=richie>{{cite book|last=Richie|first=Donald|title=A taste of Japan: food fact and fable: what the people eat : customs and etiquette|place=Tokyo|publisher=Kodansha International|year=1985|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9XWAAAAMAAJ|isbn=9784770017079}}, p.63</ref> Sufficient ''tare'' sauce is poured over so that some of it seeps through the rice underneath.<ref name=richie/> By convention, pulverized dried berries of [[Zanthoxylum piperitum|sanshō]] (called Japanese pepper, although botanically unrelated) are sprinkled on top as seasoning. It is also very popular outside of Japan, particularly in [[Taiwan]] and the [[Japanese Americans|United States]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Twitter |date=2017-11-06 |title=Taiwan finds a lot to like about its former colonizer, Japan |url=https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-taiwan-japan-20171106-story.html |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Morishita |first=Yuuna |date=2020-10-18 |title=Japanese Culture vs American Culture |url=https://thejapaneseway.com/how-has-japanese-culture-influenced-america/ |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=THE JAPANESE WAY |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Variations==

Variations include ''unajū'' (鰻重, the same dish served in ''[[jūbako]]'' (重箱), food boxes often lacquered), ''nagayaki'' (長焼き, the eel and rice are served separately), and ''hitsumabushi'' (ひつまぶし, finely chopped eel kabayaki scattered (mabusu) over rice in a wooden rice container (hitsu) from [[Nagoya]]).

There are two styles of grilled eel, the topic of which is covered more precisely under ''[[kabayaki]]''. Essentially, in the [[Kantō region]] style, the eel is steamed before being grilled with sauce, which makes the eel more tender.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barber|first=Kimiko |title=The Japanese Kitchen: A Book Of Essential Ingredients With 200 Authentic Recipes
|place=Tokyo|publisher=Kyle Books|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LZQAQAAIAAJ|isbn= 9781904920021}}, p.144-</ref> The other is the [[Kansai region]] style, which is grilled without steaming.

==History==
Una-don was the first type of ''[[donburi]]'' rice dish, invented in the late [[Edo period]], during the [[Bunka]] era (1804–1818)<ref name=theeast>{{Harvnb|The East|1991}}, section "Una-don, the First Donburi-mono", p.24-</ref> by a man named {{Interlanguage link multi|Imasuke Ōkubo|ja|vertical-align=sup}}<ref name=theeast/> of Sakai-machi (in present-day Nihonbashi Ningyōchō, [[Chūō, Tokyo]]), and became a hit in the neighborhood, where the [[Nakamura-za]] and [[Ichimura-za]] once stood.

The first eatery to sell it as a business is claimed to be {{Nihongo|Ōnoya|大野屋}},<ref name=mori>{{cite book|last=Mori|first=Senzō (森銑三)|title=明治東京逸聞史|volume=2|publisher=Heibonsha|orig-year=1968|year=1969|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2UfAQAAMAAJ}}, p.270, quote;:"鰻丼を始めたのは日本橘葺屋町の大野屋で、天保の飢饉当時に、大丼の鰻飯を天保銭一枚で売ったのが当って"</ref> in {{Nihongo|Fukiyachō|葺屋町}} (adjacent to Sakai-chō) at some indeterminate time, but presumably before the theaters burnt down in 1841 and moved off. After the great famine of 1844, it started selling the ''unadon'' for one oblong [[Tenpō Tsūhō|Tenpō-sen]] coin, and became a hit.<ref name=mori/>

As for ''unajū'', where the eel and rice is stuffed in ''jūbako'' boxes, one theory ascribes its originator to one {{Nihongo|Gihei|大谷儀兵衛}}, who started a freshwater fish restaurant business in Sanya, [[Asakusa, Tokyo]], called {{Nihongo|Funagi|鮒儀}}<ref name=mori/> (later known as Jūbako, the current generation of the restaurant is in Akasaka). According to this version the ''unajū'' was already around by late [[Edo period]], but there are detractors to this view.<ref>{{cite book|last=多田|first=鉄之助|title=たべもの日本史|volume=1|publisher=新人物往来社|year=1972|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LIMVAAAAMAAJ}}, p.?, the author claims to have heard from the current successor to the restaurant that it was not the original innovator to put eel in ''jubako'', and the old restaurant in Sanya was so named because the architecture resembled the ''jubako'' boxes</ref> Other commentators say ''unajū'' appeared in the [[Taishō era]], and by using lacquered boxes, aimed at appearance of luxury. ''Unajū'' is usually pricier than ''unadon''.<ref>[http://www.excite.co.jp/News/bit/00091184601035.html うな重とうな丼、違いは名前と器だけ] (Excite News, 22 July 2007; author: Wakako Tasachi (田幸和歌子)</ref>

==See also==
{{Commons category}}
*[[Katsudon]]
*[[Gyūdon]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite journal|author=The East|title=Donburi-mono|journal=The East|volume=27|date=Nov–Dec 1991|pages=24–}}
{{Refend}}

{{Japanese food and drink|state=autocollapse}}
{{Rice dishes}}
{{eel topics}}
{{seafood}}

[[Category:Donburi]]
[[Category:Japanese rice dishes]]