Japanese cuisine is categorized into three main types: Honzen, Kaiseki and Kaiseki.

Honsen cuisine

A system of cuisine based on traditional culture and customs. It originated in the Muromachi period (around the 14th century) and is a product of the Japanese Rikkyo system. Nowadays, formal "Honzen cuisine" is rare, and is only found on a few formal occasions, such as weddings, funerals, coming-of-age ceremonies, and festive banquets, and is a form of negotiated cuisine used for red and white celebrations. This meal is usually served with three dishes and one soup, five dishes and two soups, or seven dishes and three soups, and is prepared with an emphasis on color, aroma, and taste. It is also made into a certain figure to indicate good luck. There are also rules when eating, such as: hold the bowl on the left with your left hand and put the lid on the left with your right hand. On the other hand, use the right hand to open the lid. Hold the bowl with both hands, put down the right hand, and take the chopsticks with the right hand. Every time you take two bites of rice, set the bowl down, then pick up the bowl of soup with both hands and take two sips before putting the bowl down. After that, the same way, eat two bites of rice and then chopsticks once.

Kaiseki cuisine

An exquisite dish prepared for guests before a tea ceremony. In medieval Japan (referring to the Kamakura and Muromachi eras of Japan), the tea ceremony was formed, which gave rise to kaiseki cuisine, which is based on very strict rules. The earliest and most orthodox cooking system in Japanese cuisine is "Kaiseki cuisine", which has a history of more than 450 years. According to an old Japanese legend, the word "kaiseki" was derived from the Zen monk's "Onishi". In those days, Zen monks who were practicing Zen Buddhism had to follow the precept that they should eat only breakfast and lunch and not eat in the afternoon. However, the young monks could not stand the hunger and cold, so they wrapped heated stones in rags called "wenshi" and carried them in their arms, holding them against their stomachs to withstand the hunger and cold. Later, the name "kaiseki" was developed as a way to eat less food to keep the hunger and cold at bay. Later, Kaiseki cuisine passed down the original spirit of simplicity and lightness, seeking the essence of the original flavor of the food, and developed a set of sophisticated rules of dining, from utensils to plates, full of Zen and atmosphere.

Kai-Shi Cuisine

Kai-Shi Cuisine is a typical Japanese banquet cuisine, and it is a general term for all the dishes served at a banquet. Kaiseki cuisine was created in the middle of the Edo period in the cooking teahouses. Kaiseki cuisine absorbed the forms of Honzen cuisine and Chawaiishi cuisine, which had a lot of rituals in the middle of the Edo period, and then developed in the direction of casual meals for sake banquets in accordance with the actual needs, and gained wide acceptance in the society. As the times changed, kaiseki cuisine also adapted its form and content. In the beginning, the basic specification of kaiseki cuisine was three dishes and one soup. But the more later specifications will be more and more up, from three dishes and two soups, five dishes and two soups, until nine dishes and three soups, more and more rich in variety, and color, aroma, taste, equipment, shape is also very concerned about up, the dishes are cooked in accordance with the menu order of the table one by one for the guests to enjoy. Kaiseki cuisine can usually be enjoyed at restaurants specializing in Japanese cuisine.

Other categorizations:

Nabemono Cuisine

Nabemono is a Chinese style dining table, known as a bacchanal. Nabemono cuisine is a Chinese style cuisine that includes mushrooms, fish cakes, vegetables in soup and lo mein noodles. It is characterized by guests sitting in reclining chairs around a table where all the meals are placed on one table. This cuisine has its origins in the Buddhist vegetarian cuisine of ancient China, which was developed by Zen Master Yumoto as "Pucha cuisine" (a dish in which tea is served in place of alcohol). It is also known as Nagasaki cuisine because it is popular in Nagasaki. The chef created Omotenashi cuisine by incorporating locally produced meat and seafood into the Buddhist vegetarian diet. The main dishes of Omotenashi include shark's fin soup, tea, large plates, medium plates, small dishes, stews, rice cake and small bean soup, and fruits. The small dishes are divided into five, seven, and nine dishes, with seven dishes being the most common. At the beginning, all the small dishes are placed on the table first, and the shark's fin consommé and other dishes are placed on the table as they are eaten.

1, flavor characteristics

Since ancient times, Japanese cuisine has been known as "five flavors, five colors, five methods of food". "Five flavors" refers to sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, salty; "five colors" refers to white, yellow, red, green, black; "five methods" refers to raw, boiled, grilled, fried, steamed cooking method. The formation of the unique flavor of Japanese cuisine is inseparable from its unique geographical environment and traditional oriental culture. Its basic characteristics are: strong seasonality; delicious flavor, keeping the original taste light and not greasy, many dishes are raw; the selection of materials to the sea and vegetable-based; processing fine, bright colors. The first and foremost characteristic of Japanese cuisine is that it is seasonal, with different dishes for different seasons. It can be compared in this way, the four seasons are like the longitude and the festivals are like the latitude, which are intertwined with each other to form the dishes of each period and each season. In terms of preparation methods, Japanese cuisine has its own unique characteristics.

2, raw materials

The raw materials of the dish should ensure freshness, what season to have what season vegetables and fish. Among the vegetables to a variety of taro, small eggplant, radish, bean curd and so on. Fish is also seasonal. People can eat different kinds of fresh fish in different seasons, for example: snapper in spring, pine fish in early summer, eel in the middle of summer, mackerel in early fall, swordfish in fall, salmon in late fall, and anchovies and dolphins in winter. Meat is predominantly beef, followed by chicken and pork, but pork is less commonly used. Also, more varieties of mushrooms are used.

3, cooking

Japanese cuisine in the cooking mainly to maintain the freshness of the dish and the dish's own flavor, many of which are mainly eaten raw. In the practice of boiling, grilling, steaming, with oil dishes is very little. In the method of adding flavor to most of the first sugar, taste wine, soy sauce, salt, because sugar and wine not only play a role in regulating the taste, but also maintain a variety of nutrients in the vegetables. MSG is also put as little as possible.

4, ingredients

In cooking most of the wooden fish flower soup-based, rarely use water. Therefore, the cooking of Japanese dishes with kokeshi flower broth is very important, just as important as chicken broth in Chinese food and beef broth in Western food. That is why high-class cuisine is based on the use of mizutaki broth and sake, and the amount of sake used is very large. There are three types of soy sauce used in Japanese cuisine: light, thick, and heavy. Light, which is lighter in color, thick, which is regular soy sauce, and heavy, which is darker in color and sweeter in taste. In terms of the taste of the dishes, the small wine dishes are mainly sweet, salty and sour, and the soup dishes are mainly light, with a small amount of refined dishes. The garnishes for the side dishes vary according to the seasons and include pepper leaves, sakura leaves, bamboo leaves, persimmon leaves, chrysanthemum leaves, and so on. Japan uses different flowers and leaves for the four seasons to garnish the dishes, which expresses the content of Kaiseki cuisine even more. Japanese cuisine also uses a variety of soy sauce, generally used for breakfast Shinshu soy sauce or white soy sauce for miso soup, lunch and dinner with red soy sauce for miso soup. There are many seasonings and toppings in Japanese cuisine, but these are the main ones.