Editing Onigiri (section)

==History==
[[File:NDL-DC 1309950-Utagawa Hiroshige-東海道五十三次細見図会 藤沢-crd.jpg|thumb|Pilgrims eating onigiri, print by [[Utagawa Hiroshige|Hiroshige]], 1845]]
[[File:Onigiri 002.jpg|thumb|Onigiri wrapped in ''[[nori]]'']]

=== Prehistoric ===
On November 12, 1987,<ref name=":0">[http://www.ishikawa-maibun.jp/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/iseki_26.pdf “平成18年度発掘速報会「よみがえる石川の遺跡」- 『いしかわの遺跡 No.26』”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326040909/https://www.ishikawa-maibun.jp/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/iseki_26.pdf |date=2023-03-26 }} . ''公式ウェブサイト''. 石川県埋蔵文化財センター. p. 7 (2007年3月30日). 2020年4月21日閲覧。</ref> lumps of carbonized grains of rice, thought to be riceballs, were excavated from a building belonging to the [[Yayoi period]] (2000 years ago) in the Sugitani Chanobatake Ruins in [[Ishikawa Prefecture]]. The carbonized rice had traces which revealed that it was formed by human hands, thus it was initially documented as "the oldest onigiri."<ref name=":0" /><ref>[https://www.town.nakanoto.ishikawa.jp/material/files/group/4/onigiri.pdf “物語10 日本最古のおにぎりが出土 杉谷チャノバタケ遺跡 - 中能登百物語（おにぎりの歴史）”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326040908/https://www.town.nakanoto.ishikawa.jp/material/files/group/4/onigiri.pdf |date=2023-03-26 }} . ''公式ウェブサイト''. 中能登町. 2020年4月21日閲覧。</ref> In subsequent research, it was thought to be steamed and grilled, rather than boiled like today's rice, similar to another dish called ''[[Zongzi|chimaki]]''.<ref name=":0" /><ref>「[https://web.archive.org/web/20080916143729/http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/ishikawa/toku/genba/CK2008090602000236.html 『おにぎりの里』再び 町おこしの熱意 合併後も消えず]」『中日新聞』中日新聞社、2008年9月6日。2008年9月16日閲覧。オリジナルの2018年3月13日時点におけるアーカイブ。</ref> Since then, it has been academically called the "chimaki-shaped carbonized rice lumps (チマキ状炭化米塊)".

In Nakanoto, there is a replica of the relic on display at the roadside station Orihime-no-sato Nakanoto.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=杉谷チャノバタケ遺跡 |url=http://noto-satoyamasatoumi.jp/detail.php?tp_no=371 |accessdate=2020-04-21 |publisher=「能登の里山里海」世界農業遺産活用実行委員会 |archive-date=2020-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928183630/http://noto-satoyamasatoumi.jp/detail.php?tp_no=371 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Pre-modern ===
[[File:Onigiri lunch by k14 in Niigata.jpg|thumb|Onigiri as part of a meal]]
Before the use of [[chopsticks]] became widespread, in the [[Nara period]], rice was often rolled into a small ball so that it could be easily picked up. In the [[Heian period]], rice was made into small rectangular shapes known as ''[[wikt:屯食|tonjiki]]'' so that they could be piled onto a plate and easily eaten. At that time, onigiri were called ''tonjiki'' and often consumed at outdoor picnic lunches.<ref>''A Taste of Japan'', Donald Richie, [[Kodansha]], 2001, {{ISBN|4-7700-1707-3}}</ref>

The first incarnation of the word ''onigiri'' is attested in the ''[[:ja:常陸国風土記|Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki]]'' (''[[Hitachi Province]] Gazette''), dated to 721 AD. In it, the word used is ''nigiri-ihi'' (握飯) or "crumpled rice":<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Yoshikai |first=Naoto |date=23 Oct 2018 |title=「おにぎり」と「おむすび」の違い |url=https://www.dwc.doshisha.ac.jp/research/faculty_column/2018-10-23-09-00 |access-date=20 Apr 2020 |publisher=[[Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts]] |language=ja |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525112646/https://www.dwc.doshisha.ac.jp/research/faculty_column/2018-10-23-09-00 |url-status=live }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
![[Kanbun]]-notated text
|〈風俗說云<sub>二</sub>握飯筑波之國<sub>一</sub>。〉<ref>{{Cite journal|author=川副由理子|date=2013-02-26|title=『常陸国風土記』行方郡に見える建借間命の国見記事について|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2065/39272|journal=早稲田大学大学院文学研究科紀要. 第3分冊, 日本語日本文学 演劇映像学 美術史学 表象・メディア論 現代文芸|publisher=早稲田大学大学院文学研究科|volume=58|issue=|pages=85|hdl=2065/39272|issn=1341-7533|access-date=2023-07-22|archive-date=2024-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620135128/https://waseda.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/1604|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
![[Old Japanese]]
|〈{{ruby|握飯|にぎりいひ}} {{ruby|筑波の国|つくはのくに}}、{{ruby|風俗|くにぶり}}の{{ruby|説|ことば}}に{{ruby|云|い}}ふ。〉
''Nigiri-ihi Tsukuba no kuni, kuniburi no kotoba-ni ifu.''

("In the Tsukuba{{Efn|"Tsukuba" here refers to [[Tsukuba District, Ibaraki|Tsukuba District]] south of [[Hitachi Province]].}} dialect, it is known as nigiri-ihi.")
|}
In [[Murasaki Shikibu]]'s 11th-century diary ''[[The Diary of Lady Murasaki|Murasaki Shikibu Nikki]]'', she writes of people eating ''tonjiki'' rice balls.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Ikeda
  | first = Kikan
  |author2=Shinji Kishigami |author3=Ken Akiyama
   | title = Koten Bungaku Taikei 19: Makura no Sōshi, Murasaki Shikibu Nikki
  | publisher = [[Iwanami Shoten Publishing|Iwanami Shoten]]
  | year = 1958
  | page= 455
  | location = Tōkyō
  | isbn = 4-00-060019-2
  }}</ref><ref>{{cite book
  | last = Hasegawa
  | first = Masaharu
  |author2=Yūichirō Imanishi
  | title = Shin Koten Bungaku Taikei 24: Tosa Nikki, Kagerō Nikki, Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, Sarashina Nikki
  | publisher = [[Iwanami Shoten Publishing|Iwanami Shoten]]
  | year = 1989
  | page = 266
  | location = Tōkyō
  | isbn = 4-00-240024-7
  }}</ref> Other writings, dating back as far as the seventeenth century, state that many [[samurai]] stored [[rice]] balls wrapped in [[bamboo]] sheath as a quick lunchtime meal during war.

From the [[Kamakura period]] to the early [[Edo period]], onigiri was used as a quick meal. This made sense as cooks simply had to think about making enough onigiri and did not have to concern themselves with serving. These onigiri were simply balls of rice flavored with [[salt]]. [[Nori]] did not become widely available until the [[Genroku|Genroku era]] (1688–1704) of the mid-Edo period, when the farming of nori and fashioning it into sheets became widespread.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

=== Modern ===
[[File:Rice balls of Seven-Eleven.jpg|thumb|Onigiri sold at a Japanese [[7-Eleven]]]]
In the 1980s, a machine to make triangular onigiri was invented. Rather than rolling the filling inside, the flavoring was put into a hole in the onigiri and the hole was hidden by nori. Since the onigiri made by this machine came with nori already applied to the rice ball, over time the nori became moist and sticky, clinging to the rice.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

A packaging improvement allowed the nori to be stored separately from the rice. Before eating, the diner could open the packet of nori and wrap the onigiri. The use of a hole for filling the onigiri made new flavors of onigiri easier to produce as this cooking process did not require changes from ingredient to ingredient. Modern mechanically wrapped onigiri are specially folded so that the plastic wrapping is between the nori and rice to act as a moisture barrier. When the packaging is pulled open at both ends, the nori and rice come into contact and are eaten together. This packaging is commonly found for both triangular onigiri and rolls (細巻き).{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}