Things About Japan

Last update September 2, 2025

Japanese Food - Gohan -


  

     

Gohan

Cooked Rice

The equivalent of the Western world’s bread, the word Gohan also means food in general, like a necessity for sustaining life. Or a meal, as in “Have you finished your Gohan?” Yes, it means “rice”, but we specifically mean “cooked rice” by this term. For uncooked or plant rice, there’s the word Kome. With all this said, let me show you various kinds of Gohan. First of all, when we say Shiro Gohan (Shiro: white), it’s plain rice. Takikomi Gohan is rice cooked and seasoned together with small-cut vegetables, mushrooms, chicken or other ingredients. So basically, you can mix season’s food materials together with rice to cook “such-and-such Gohan”, and this is how we enjoy every season. In spring, there’s Takenoko Gohan cooked with Takenoko (bamboo shoots). Early summer is for Mame Gohan, boiled with green peas. And in autumn there are Matsutake Gohan and Kuri Gohan, cooked with Matsutake mushrooms and chestnuts respectively.

japanese-food-gohan
Shiro Gohan served in a bowl. 		japanese-food-sekihan
Seki Han or red rice, cooked with Azuki beans. 		japanese-food-chahan
Chahan or Chinese-style stir-fried rice.
japanese-food-furikake
Gohan sprinkled with Firukake. 		japanese-food-sansai-okowa
Sansai Okowa or glutinous rice cooked with mountain vegetables. 		japanese-food-omusubi
Omusubi or rice balls wrapped in a Nori sheet.
japanese-food-gohan
Shiro Gohan served in a bowl.

japanese-food-sekihan
Seki Han or red rice, cooked with Azuki beans.

japanese-food-chahan
Chahan or Chinese-style stir-fried rice.

japanese-food-furikake
Gohan sprinkled with Firukake.

japanese-food-sansai-okowa
Sansai Okowa or glutinous rice cooked with mountain vegetables.

japanese-food-omusubi
Omusubi or rice balls wrapped in a Nori sheet.