  A unicellular map, or one-face map, is a graph embedded in an orientable
surface such that its complement is a topological disk. In this paper, we give
a new viewpoint to the structure of these objects, by describing a
decomposition of any unicellular map into a unicellular map of smaller genus.
This gives a new combinatorial identity for the number $\epsilon_g(n)$ of
unicellular maps of size $n$ and genus $g$. Contrarily to the Harer-Zagier
recurrence formula, this identity is recursive in only one parameter (the
genus). Iterating the construction gives an explicit bijection between
unicellular maps and plane trees with distinguished vertices, which gives a
combinatorial explanation (and proof) of the fact that $\epsilon_g(n)$ is the
product of the $n$-th Catalan number by a polynomial in $n$. The combinatorial
interpretation also gives a new and simple formula for this polynomial.
Variants of the problem are considered, like bipartite unicellular maps, or
unicellular maps with cubic vertices only.
