The Edo-period sushi style that used vinegar to avoid long fermentation was hayazushi.
Hayazushi means “早寿司,” commonly translated as “fast sushi.” During the Edo period, cooks mixed vinegar into rice to reproduce the sour taste that earlier sushi developed through lactic fermentation. This allowed the rice and fish to be eaten together much sooner, eliminating the lengthy fermentation process used in older narezushi.
The change helped turn sushi into a convenient food, especially in the growing urban culture of Edo. Hayazushi includes several later sushi forms, including oshizushi and nigirizushi, although those names describe particular shapes or preparation methods rather than the broader vinegar-based historical category. Narezushi is the major contrast: it relies on fermentation, while hayazushi uses added vinegar. Inarizushi is defined by sweet tofu pouches filled with sushi rice, so it is not the answer to this historical question.