What soup often accompanies a sushi meal?

The soup that often accompanies a sushi meal is miso soup. It is a Japanese soup made by dissolving miso—fermented soybean paste, sometimes made with rice or barley—in dashi stock. Common additions include tofu, wakame seaweed, scallions, mushrooms, clams, or seasonal vegetables.

Miso soup is not a sushi topping or a special type of fish dish; it is a soup served alongside rice-based meals. Its savory, salty flavor complements sushi without competing with the delicate taste of the fish. In Japanese dining, it may arrive in a lidded lacquer bowl and is traditionally sipped directly from the bowl, while solid ingredients are eaten with chopsticks.

The dish has deep roots in Japanese food culture and is part of the traditional “one soup, three dishes” meal pattern. Tonjiru is a related but distinct pork-and-miso soup. Udon and ramen are noodle dishes, not the standard soup accompaniment implied by this question. Restaurants may serve other soups, but miso soup is the canonical answer.