Nigiri にぎり

An oblong shaped slab of sushi rice topped with certain types of fish or egg laid neatly over the base. Sometimes nigiri is held together with a strip or “nori” seaweed.

Maki まき

Maki refers to rolled sushi, either with an outer layer of sushi rice or wrapped in nori. The filling runs through the centre of the rice, and can consist of many things from raw fish or meat to bean curd.

Gunkan Maki ぐんかんまき

A roll of nori filled with sushi rice and usually topped with fish eggs.

Temaki てまき

Hand rolled sushi wrapped in a cone of nori, with the filling of fish or fish eggs popping out of the top!

Onigiri おにぎり
(strictly not actually sushi…)

Onigiri refers to Japanese rice balls, often shaped in triangles and wrapped in nori. I’ve included this here because like sushi, onigiri is a food that looks distinctly Japanese!