What's the difference between "巻寿司" (makizushi), "海苔巻き" (norimaki), and "巻物" (makimono)?


It seems there are three words for the same Japanese food item, a kind of
"sushi in a long roll":

  * "巻寿司" (makizushi)
  * "海苔巻き" (norimaki)
  * "巻物" (makimono)

Are they all identical / synonyms? Do they refer to subtly different things?
Are they used in different regions? Are they used by different generations of
Japanese?

[Sidenote: At the risk of side-tracking another food question, there only
seems to be one word for these in Korean: "김밥" (gimbap).]




The literal meanings of these words are:

  * 巻寿司 (まきずし): sushi roll
  * 海苔巻き (のりまき): something rolled with [nori](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nori), a specific kind of seaweed
  * 巻物 (まきもの): something rolled

[海苔巻き](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%B7%E8%8B%94%E5%B7%BB%E3%81%8D)
usually refers to sushi roll with nori, but depending on the context, it can
refer to other kinds of food, including [海苔巻き卵
(のりまきたまご)](http://cookpad.com/recipe/544345) and [海苔巻き煎餅
(のりまきせんべい)](http://www.minatoya.biz/shohin/okaki_senbei/nori/norimaki.html).

Unlike 海苔巻き, I do not think that 巻物 is understood as sushi roll unless it is
clear from the context that one is talking about sushi. As crunchyt wrote, 巻物
can also mean a scroll.

When used to describe kinds of sushi, these three words are almost synonymous,
but sushi rolled with something other than nori ([usually
egg](http://www.onigiriya.co.jp/products/norimaki.htm)) can be called 巻寿司 or
巻物 but not 海苔巻き.




The literal meanings of these words are:

  * 巻寿司 (まきずし): sushi roll
  * 海苔巻き (のりまき): something rolled with [nori](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nori), a specific kind of seaweed
  * 巻物 (まきもの): something rolled

[海苔巻き](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%B7%E8%8B%94%E5%B7%BB%E3%81%8D)
usually refers to sushi roll with nori, but depending on the context, it can
refer to other kinds of food, including [海苔巻き卵
(のりまきたまご)](http://cookpad.com/recipe/544345) and [海苔巻き煎餅
(のりまきせんべい)](http://www.minatoya.biz/shohin/okaki_senbei/nori/norimaki.html).

Unlike 海苔巻き, I do not think that 巻物 is understood as sushi roll unless it is
clear from the context that one is talking about sushi. As crunchyt wrote, 巻物
can also mean a scroll.

When used to describe kinds of sushi, these three words are almost synonymous,
but sushi rolled with something other than nori ([usually
egg](http://www.onigiriya.co.jp/products/norimaki.htm)) can be called 巻寿司 or
巻物 but not 海苔巻き.

