[Lee Jong-gil's Autumn Return] What Is the Difference Between Hoe and Sashimi?

Professor of Japanese at Chosun University: "Delicious Japanese Cuisine Tasted Through Culture"

While traveling around Mount Aso in Kyushu, Japan, I encountered an unfamiliar dish. It was chicken sashimi called ‘Torisashi.’ The chef served thinly sliced raw chicken with wasabi. They said it was a local specialty of Kagoshima Prefecture... It looked fresh, but I just couldn’t bring myself to try it. The same went for ‘Basashi’ I encountered at an izakaya in Oita Prefecture. It is horse meat sashimi. I was worried about getting food poisoning.

The origin of ‘Basashi’ dates back to the Imjin War. When Kato Kiyomasa, the lord of Kumamoto Castle who invaded Joseon, ran out of food supplies for his troops, they ate raw horse meat. After the war ended and he returned to Kumamoto, eating raw horse meat became a cultural practice.

Sashimi became widely popular throughout Japan during the mid-Edo period. Unlike today, it did not have a luxurious image. At that time, samurai and wealthy merchants rarely ate raw fish. This was because distribution, refrigeration, and freezing technologies were not developed enough to maintain freshness. Therefore, it was mainly enjoyed by commoners.

In Japan, sashimi is recognized as one of the cooking methods alongside grilling, simmering, frying, and steaming. Why is the process of slicing the meat with a knife so important? According to the definition in the book Delicious Japanese Cuisine Tasted Through Culture written by a professor of Japanese language at Chosun University, it is compared to furniture made from solid wood. Just as understanding the characteristics of wood and how to saw it increases its value, the taste of meat changes depending on how it is cut. "The key is to slice fresh fish meat with a sharp sashimi knife without crushing it, thereby locking in the umami flavor."

The origin of sashimi is not Japan but China. There are records from the Western Zhou period around 800 BCE that mention eating fish raw. After victorious northern expeditions, generals were served carp dishes thinly sliced and sprinkled with finely chopped radish like clouds. From the Warring States period, raw meat or fish was eaten dipped in vinegar along with accompaniments like scallions or mustard greens.

In Japan, the habit of eating raw fish also dates back to before the Common Era. However, records of eating it in sashimi form first appear in Kamakura period documents. It was an impromptu dish by fishermen who ate finely sliced fish meat as is. It was only during the Muromachi period that people began to eat it with seasoned vinegars such as wasabi vinegar or ginger vinegar, or dressed with pickled plum, wasabi vinegar, mustard vinegar, ginger vinegar, miso, or irizake (fermented fish). The Japanese called this style of eating raw fish ‘hoe (膾)’ and pronounced it ‘namasu.’

The sashimi form as we know it today developed in the late Muromachi period when soy sauce was introduced. People ate it without seasoning, dipping it in wasabi soy sauce. The distinction between the terms ‘hoe’ and ‘sashimi’ in Japan began at this time. Delicious Japanese Cuisine Tasted Through Culture clearly explains this.

"Until the Kamakura period, raw meat or fish was expressed as ‘hoe’ just like in Korea, but during the Muromachi period, ‘hoe,’ or namasu, changed into a different dish using vinegar as a dressed raw dish, and from the late Muromachi period, as people began dipping raw fish in wasabi soy sauce, the term ‘sashimi’ started to be used instead of ‘hoe’ to refer to raw meat or fish."