Editing Onigiri (section)

=== 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}}