The size of a nigiri sushi piece differs from restaurant to restaurant. The best fit between a piece and a persons actual size of mouth comes when you sit at the counter and the chef actually pays attention to the guest being served. In an article I read in the Nikkei Weekly some of weeks ago, the sushi chef Yosuke Imada of Kuybey in Tokyo could tell us that about “250 grains of rice is just the right size for a person to eat a piece of sushi in one go and to be able to fully relish the taste”.

“But that is no more than a rough guide”, he added. “The nuts and the bolts are to adjust the amount of shari while imagining how a particular topping fit in the mouth”. He alters the size fo the shari portion to suit the customer, for example making it a little smaller for elderly customers. On one occastion, counting the grains of rice in a piece tuna-topped sushi shaped by Imada, yielded 239 in a regular-size piece, 204 in a smaller one and 330 in a larger one. According to him it takes 10 years to become a full-fledge sushi chef who can adeptly make such subtle differences.

When the current style of hand-rolled sushi was born in the early 19th century, a piece of sushi weighed about 45 grams, containing roughly 900 rice grains which took two bites to eat, said an official of major vinegar producer Mizkan Group Corp.

The size of sushi’s shari portion shrank just after World War II when rice was rationed. A person who wanted to eat sushi typically had to take to a sushi shop 1 go, or about 150 grams, of rice from which chefs then made a serving of sushi, resulting in a smaller size of shari for each piece.

Meanwhile, Chiyoda-Sushi Co. which operates take-out sushi shops in the Tokyo area, produces relatively large sushi weighing 21grams and consisting of about 420 rice grains per piece. The size is larger so that the sushi does not look meager and also it will sit stably in a container.

“The average weight of a piece of sushi is 12-13g at upmarket sushi restaurants, 18-20g at conveyor-belt sushi bars and 20-21g at take-out sushi shops”, said an official of Chiyoda-Sushi. Sushi-making robots manufactured by Suzumo Machinery Co., which are used by the majority of conveyor-belt sushi bars and take-out shops in Japan, can create differeent weights of sushi pieces, from 16-30g.

Don’t think I will be counting grains while visiting sushi bars, but I will probably be more aware of the size of the nigiri piece. It does make you even more appreciative of the ones that know what they are doing and who can give you the proper amount of sushi rice grains.

Nikkei Weekly Online - if you have a subscription