料理
りょうり
ryouri
= cooking; cuisine; a dish; to cook
料理 (ryouri) means both cooking as an activity and cuisine or dishes as a result. 料理する (ryouri suru — to cook) and 料理が得意 (ryouri ga tokui — good at cooking) are everyday expressions. Japanese cuisine — 日本料理 (Nihon ryouri) or 和食 (washoku) — was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013, reflecting the depth of craft and cultural significance embedded in the concept of 料理 in Japan.
Ryouri (料理) means: 1) Cooking as an activity or skill: 料理する (ryouri suru — to cook), 料理が上手 (ryouri ga jouzu — good at cooking), 料理が苦手 (ryouri ga nigate — bad at cooking). 2) A cooked dish or cuisine: 中華料理 (chuuka ryouri — Chinese cuisine), フランス料理 (Furansu ryouri — French cuisine), 家庭料理 (katei ryouri — home cooking), おふくろの味 (ofukuro no aji — the taste of mom’s cooking). 3) The art of preparation: 料理の腕 (ryouri no ude — cooking skill/skill with a knife).
料理する (ryouri suru) vs. 作る (tsukuru — to make): both can mean ‘to cook’ but tsukuru is more general (making anything) while ryouri suru specifically means cooking food. 「ご飯を作る」and「料理する」are both natural. Japanese cooking techniques worth knowing: 煮る (niru — to simmer/boil), 焼く (yaku — to grill/bake), 蒸す (musu — to steam), 揚げる (ageru — to deep fry), 炒める (itameru — to stir-fry). Each technique has a distinctive verb.
料理 combines 料 (ryou — materials, ingredients, fee, measure) + 理 (ri — reason, logic, principle, manage). Together: applying logic/principle to materials = cooking. 料 in 材料 (zairyou — ingredients/materials) and 料金 (ryoukin — fee). 理 in 理由 (riyuu — reason), 管理 (kanri — management). The character combination suggests that cooking is a principled craft — applying systematic knowledge and skill to ingredients.
Everyday use
週末は時間があるので、料理を作り置きしておくようにしている。
Shuumatsu wa jikan ga aru node, ryouri wo tsukurioki shite oku you ni shite iru.
Since I have time on weekends, I make a habit of batch cooking to have food ready ahead of time.
Casual / Social Media
初めて一人暮らしして料理できなさにびっくりした 目玉焼きすら失敗した
Hajimete hitori-gurashi shite ryouri dekinasa ni bikkuri shita Medama-yaki sura shippai shita
When I started living alone for the first time I was shocked by how bad I was at cooking. I even failed at fried eggs
Formal / Cultural context
和食（日本料理）は2013年にユネスコ無形文化遺産に登録された。登録の要件として「自然の尊重」「栄養バランス」「美しい盛り付け」「年中行事との関係性」の四点が評価された。一汁三菜（いちじゅうさんさい）という基本構成—ご飯・汁物・主菜・副菜2品—はこの栄養・美学的基準の具体的表れであり、世界的な和食ブームの文化的根拠として参照されている。
Washoku (Nihon ryouri) wa 2013-nen ni Yunesuko mukei bunka isan ni touroku sareta. Touroku no youken toshite ‘shizen no sonchuu’ ‘eiyou baransu’ ‘utsukushii moritsuke’ ‘nenchu gyouji to no kankesei’ no yon-ten ga hyouka sareta. Ichijuu sansai to iu kihon kousei gohan shirumono shusai fukusai ni-hin wa kono eiyou bigakuteki kijun no gutaiteki arawere de ari, sekaiteki na washoku buumu no bunkateki konkyo toshite sanshoo sarete iru.
Washoku (Japanese cuisine) was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. The four points evaluated as registration criteria were ‘respect for nature,’ ‘nutritional balance,’ ‘beautiful presentation,’ and ‘relationship with annual events.’ The basic composition of ichiju sansai (one soup, three sides: rice, soup, main dish, two side dishes) is a concrete expression of these nutritional and aesthetic standards, and is referenced as the cultural basis for the global washoku boom.
一汁三菜 (ichijuu sansai — one soup, three sides) is the foundational structure of traditional Japanese cooking. A proper Japanese meal consists of: ご飯 (gohan — steamed rice), 汁物 (shirumono — soup, typically miso soup), 主菜 (shusai — a main protein dish), and two 副菜 (fukusai — side dishes, typically vegetables). This structure ensures nutritional completeness and aesthetic variety. It appears in school lunches (給食), home cooking, and restaurant set meals (定食, teishoku), making ichijuu sansai one of the most practically influential culinary concepts in Japanese daily life.
料理人 (ryourinin — professional cook/chef) culture in Japan has produced some of the world’s most respected culinary professionals. The concept of 職人 (shokunin — craftsperson with deep mastery) applies powerfully to cooking: master sushi chefs (寿司職人, sushi shokunin) train for years before being trusted to handle a knife. Japan has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other country — Tokyo alone has over 200 Michelin stars, more than Paris. This reflects both the depth of culinary craft embedded in 料理 as a concept and the extraordinarily high standards Japanese food culture demands.
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