Donburi: What are Itoko Don and Tanin Don?

As you may already know, Donburi (丼), literally meaning a bowl, is the Japanese word for a rice bowl dish.

And the representative variety includes Una-Don (鰻丼: Unagi Eel Donburi), Katsu-Don (カツ丼: Pork Cutlet Donburi), and Oyako-Don (親子丼: Parent and Child Donburi).

When it comes to Oyakodon, in its name, Oyako (親子) literally means parent and child in Japanese, but the parent and child here respectively refer to chicken and egg.

If you are well acquainted with Japanese food, you should know this, but how about Itoko Don (いとこ丼) and Tanin Don (他人丼)?

Itoko Don (いとこ丼) & Tanin Don (他人丼)

In the names of Itoko Don and Tanin Don, Itoko (いとこ) means a cousin, while the meaning of Tanin (他人) is a stranger.

In these cases, the Itoko and Tanin are actually based on the Oyako part of Oyakodon. Then, what do they stand for?

Itoko Don (いとこ丼)

The Itoko in Itoko Don refers to duck meat, and the Donburi is a variant of Oyako Don using duck as a replacement for chicken, found in the Kansai region around Osaka.

By the way, you can see Itokodon in the northernmost prefecture of Japan, Hokkaido/北海道, too, where Itoko Don refers to a Kaisen Don (海鮮丼: Seafood Donburi) using salmon sashimi and Ikura roe. 

Tanin Don (他人丼)

Tanin Don is also a variant of Oyako Don whose main ingredient is not chicken but meat other than chicken (in many cases, beef or pork, and Tanin Don with the former is also called Gyu-Toji Don/牛とじ丼).

Tanindon is a word/name mainly used in West Japan, where the dish typically uses beef. In the Kanto region around Tokyo, Tanin Don is generally known as Kaika-Don (開化丼).

(Reference Pages: Wikipedia 他人丼, Pixiv Encyclopedia いとこ丼 )