A long time ago in China, there was a fishing village. The population of the village grew over the years and so there were many fishermen. The fishermen of the village caught a lot of fish and there was an oversupply of fish. A lot of the fish grew bad and had to be thrown away as there were no refrigerators during that time.
"What a waste," complained the villagers, "If only there was a way to preserve the fish for a long time."
One day, a group of playful young fishermen decided to put some of their leftover fish in rice. They played a game in which whoever lost had to eat the fish in the rice after a month.
A month later, the loser of the game was forced to eat the fish in the rice by his friends. To his surprise, the fish tasted good. After seeing that he enjoyed the fish, his friends tasted the fish as well and found that the fish was tasty.
The news of the incident spread through the village and soon everyone was preserving their fish in rice. The fish that had been preserved in rice was called sushi.
https://www.sushifaq.com/basic-sushi-experience-information/the-history-of-sushi/