EARLY MODERN JAPAN 2008 Banquets Against Boredom: Towards Understanding (Samurai) Cuisine in Early Modern Japan (original) (raw)
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Japan’s Cuisines: Food, Place and Identity by Eric Rath
[Japanese cuisine] has basic common characteristics but has great diversity from Hokkaido in northern Japan, to Okinawa in southern Japan, responding to the wide range of geographical conditions and the differences of historical background (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage nomination file). The nomination of washoku, or Japanese cuisine, as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage did much more than safeguard a central part of Japanese traditions, it helped solidify the idea of a common national cuisine in a land with tremendous regional and historical diversity. In Japan's cuisines: Food, Place and Identity, Eric Rath an historian of pre-modern Japan and expert on the construction of traditions makes the case for the many cuisines of Japan. His main goal is to question homogenous representations of Japanese cuisine introducing the reader to a country with cuisines that differ throughout time and geographical areas. In truth, the book's subtitle could have very well be called: Foods, Places and Identities as it aims to uncover the multiplicity of foods, places and identities upon which Japanese cuisine is constructed. For the author, Japanese cuisine is an ideological tool of control and belonging shaped by a specific agenda. In this process, representations of culinary traditions are carefully selected or omitted to produce an idealized picture of traditional cuisine. However, it might be limiting to attribute a unique diet to an entire population as eating practices are far different from ideal representations. For example, rural cuisine is considered an unchanging representation of the past, yet habitants of these peripheral regions take an active role in shaping and reaffirming claim over their culinary repertoire. In this manner, Rath's approach resonates with past studies that seek to uncover the invention of traditions (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1992; Vlastos 1998). The chapters of the book all contribute to the author's main argument but they address separate culinary elements and should therefore be briefly presented in this review. In the first chapter, Rath makes the case that although washoku is presented as Japanese cuisine, it is in fact a nationalist ideology. In this chapter, he sets the stage for his book dispelling the monolithic dimension of Japanese cuisine and presenting the regional and historical heterogeneity of the Japanese diet. In chapter two, Rath introduces the reader to cha kaiseki, the course meal served in conjuncture with the Japanese tea ceremony and an essential part of the so-called traditional culinary esthetic. The author presents compelling evidence that this heavily formalized meal has been mistakenly attributed to a single tea master−in part to empower the descendants of his legacy−when it is in fact the product of broader historical developments. In the third chapter, Rath tackles the prominence of rice consumption widely considered a cornerstone of Japanese culture. Using historical data, he unveils a much more diffuse image of daily diet where few people outside of urban dwellers consumed much rice in its polish form opting instead for porridges made of small amounts of rice mixed with other easier to grow staples in ways that are out of use today. The fourth chapter presents
A Note on the Making of Culinary Tradition—an Example of Modern Japan
Appetite, 1998
This article deals with the transition of Japanese food culture in the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. It explains the three main stages of this transition, namely the adoption of Western haute cuisine by the Japanese élite, the diffusion of Western ingredients, dishes and cookery techniques among the urban middle class, and the popularization of the new Japanese-Western hybrid cuisine by the military. This new cuisine began to acquire the status of culinary "tradition" from the 1950s onwards. Dietary changes in modern Japan were to a large extent a consequence of deliberate policies of the government. In the early stage, Westernization of the élite's diet was regarded as necessary in order to achieve a status of a "civilized" nation. Later, deliberate dietary reforms were undertaken with the aim of improving physical conditions of the population. These deliberate actions were directly influenced by the political circumstances in which Japan found itself in the period discussed.
Choice Reviews Online, 2004
Preface xi context: the historical and geographical factors that have shaped Japanese food. Chapter 2 shifts to a closer examination if the various major components of this cuisine. We discuss the primary foods: the rice, soybean paste, and stock that appear at virtually every meal, and the other major food items used. Chapter 3 covers who prepares food and how it is prepared: the various cooking methods that make up the repertoire of the Japanese cook. Chapter 4 presents the different types of Japanese meals. Japanese eat out a great deal, and chapter 5 concentrates on the various types of restaurants, some of which serve food that is difficult or complex to make even for a Japanese housewife and is, therefore, rarely encountered, even in the Japanese home. Chapter 6 examines foods served for festive occasions and on special days and continues to explore the dynamic area of aesthetics in Japanese food. Finally, chapter 7 looks at the modern Japanese diet and nutrition. Throughout the book, the reader will find recipes that complement the narrative. These are not intended to compete with the many fine cook-xii Preface Preface xiii It's always a pleasure to work on a subject that one is passionate about. Besides our own love of Japanese food and cooking, preparing this book has taught us a great deal. The book, however, would not have been possible without the help of many people. Ken Albala, the series editor, first proposed that we tackle this subject during a meeting of the annual Oxford Food Symposium, and we are grateful to him for the opportunity. Thanks are also due Wendi Schnaufer at Greenwood Press for encouragement and reading the manuscript before its completion. We are also grateful to the members of the Oxford Food Symposium for informal advice and criticism (often otherwise unacknowledged) during the writing of the book. We are grateful to the many members of the H-Japan and H-Asia Internet discussion lists, who came through with suggestions and obscure bits of data we were unable to track down. Oren Ashkenazi deserves thanks for helping translate and select items for inclusion, as do Erez and Maayan Ashkenazi for judgmental and informed tasting of the recipes and dishes mentioned here. Chef Rob Shipman, who afforded us a glimpse behind the scenes of a modern Japanese kitchen and who proves every day that Japanese food has become international, gave encouragement to the idea that we can all learn from Japanese cuisine. The Japan Foundation provided money, over a period of some years, for research in Japan, and we are, as always, in their debt. The Ajinomoto Food Institute in Tokyo gave us free run of their wonderful library, for which we thank them again. We are also grateful to the libraries and librarians of the School of Oriental Studies in London, and Gyosei College in Reading, UK, who were as helpful as always. A great deal of thanks is owed to the many chefs, researchers, and friends in Japan who, over many years of research, have offered us guidance and encouragement as we explored the world of Japanese food. Many of these are anonymous, some we only met fleetingly. We are obliged to all. Our greatest debt, inevitably, is owed Okuyama Shunzô. For more than 25 years, he was a close friend and mentor. He loved good food and good company and had a fine discernment of the aesthetic and sensory dimensions of Japanese food and art. A wonderful human being, we have been privileged to know him. Sadly, he passed away during the writing of this book. xvi Acknowledgments Timeline 7000 B.C.E.-Prearistocratic period (for historians, the Jômon, Yayoi, Yamato, 710 C.E. and Kofun eras). Japanese culture gradually moves from a farming/hunting-gathering economy to an agriculture-based state. Pottery and metallurgy are learned, possibly from Korean origins. Staple foods are bulbs, roots, and various types of millet. Rituals related to purity and food offerings to the deities are established and practiced. 531-580 Buddhism is introduced from Korea, along with Korean artisans in ceramics. The King of Paekche in Korea sends an image of the Buddha to Emperor Kimmei. In consequence, the path is set for a cuisine that uses little meat. Buddhist monasteries, in particular, develop their own meatless cuisine, and their cooks exert a great deal of influence on Japanese cooking. 607 First Japanese embassy is sent to China to learn Chinese ways. New forms of food and luxuries are imported from China. 710 onward Start of the aristocratic period with the establishment of a permanent capital at Nara. Rice cultivation based on mainland models commences, and rice meals become a feature of court life. 774-835 Life of Kôbô Daishi, founder of the Shingon Buddhist sect, which helped codify Japanese aesthetic ideas, and who is credited with many miracles, including reviving a dried fish at the site of Mackerel Temple on the island of Shikoku. 794-1185 Historical Heian era. The imperial capital is established at Heiankyô (modern Kyoto). A rich court life develops as the aristocracy in Heian-kyô refines its tastes. Lavish ritual feasts are performed at temples and recorded in novels, diaries, and paintings. 838 Twelfth and last embassy to China. 1180-85 The Gempei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans of warriors brings about the end of the aristocratic period; warriors establish a political capital at Kamakura, near modern Tokyo. The start of the samurai period brings with it a more austere aesthetic in art as well as in food. 1480-1568 The Sengoku (Civil War) era. 1542 or 1543 Portuguese arrive at Tanegashima and introduce Western firearms. Subsequently, as more Europeans arrive, the namban (sweets using lots of egg yolks and sugar, such as kasutera; meat cookery; and tempura deep frying) cooking styles are popularized; these styles gradually spread to the capital. New vegetables such as sweet potatoes and peppers are introduced to the Japanese, probably by Spanish visitors from the Americas. 1585? The tea ceremony rules are codified by Sen-no-Rikkyu (1522-91). Sen also lays the foundation for kaiseki-style cuisine, based partly on Buddhist temple cooking styles. 1600-1868 Historical Tokugawa (or Edo) era. Power is assumed by the Tokugawa clan. The political capital is moved to Edo. During this period, Japan is secluded and no foreigners are allowed to live in the country, nor are Japanese allowed to leave it. As a consequence, Japanese food customs develop and mature with minimal influence from other cuisines. 1868-1912 Historical Meiji era. The emperor returns as ruler, and the imperial capital is moved to Edo, which is renamed Tokyo. Start of the modern period as Japanese society introduces industrial and other forms of technology. First beef stew restaurant is opened in Tokyo. A brewery is established in Yokohama by Americans, which becomes the forerunner of the Kirin beer company. Bread becomes common and is even requisitioned by a rebel army in the first years of the era. 1870 Bread is publicly sold by the many bakeshops that now open in Yokohama and Tokyo. Ice cream is first sold in Yokohama, and the first Western food restaurant opened in Yokohama. 1873 The first railway in Japan between Shimbashi and Yokohama opens, and Emperor Meiji tries beef, giving a boost to meat con-xviii Timeline sumption and the opening of the first Western-cooking restaurant in Tokyo. The first Japanese winery opens and Western wine is sold to the public. The first "station box lunch" (ekiben) is sold at Utsunomiya Station, starting a culinary tradition that continues today. A coffee specialist shop opens in Tokyo, influenced in part by the popularity of coffee as a hot drink among Japanese soldiers stationed in northern Hokkaido. 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. First defeat of a European power by a non-European one as the Japanese fleet sinks the Russian Far-East Fleet in Tsushima Straits. Women's magazines start publication and introduce to the public menus, recipes, and new ways of cooking. Calpis fermented milk drink manufacturing and sale creates serious popular interest in milk products. The ministry of education starts a school lunch program to combat child malnutrition. Outbreak of war with China. Hinomaru (Rising Sun) lunch box becomes a fad to display patriotism and support the war effort. Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor starts the Pacific theater of World War II. During the war, rice shortages and rationing become common. Potatoes are introduced as a substitute for rice for many people.
Known Unknowns in Japanese Food History
Asian Pacific Perspectives, 16.2, 2020
As more scholars enter the field of Japanese food history, we are all becoming aware of how much more there is to learn. Our progress rests on the availability of primary sources which are plentiful for some topics but nonexistent for others, especially for premodern Japan (before1868). This essay explores several “known unknowns,” instances when my own research on sake, recipes, and restaurants faced unanswered questions due to a lack of sources. I also touch briefly on meat eating in premodern Japan, which is another longstanding issue of debate in food history.
East Asian Publishing and Society, 2013
Japanese television has turned cooking into a competition, as exemplified by the show Iron Chef and its imitators. Readers in the early modern period could enjoy similar contests between famous restaurants and popular dishes as presented on one-page broadsheets called ‘topical fight cards’ (mitate banzuke). Tracing the history of mitate banzuke as they developed from kabuki and sumo banzuke, this article offers a close reading of one culinary banzuke published in the 1830s, examining how it borrowed the format and graphic presentation of sumo banzuke to turn a listing of ordinary seafood and vegetable side dishes into an entertaining culinary contest. Sushi, sashimi, and tempura, which are the modern hallmarks of traditional Japanese cuisine, scarcely appear on the culinary banzuke examined here, which spotlights the more frugal fare and dietary preferences of urban commoners and illuminates the ways that popular print culture made fun with food.
The Meanings of Cookery: Everyday Life and Aesthetics in Meiji Japan
2013
The aim of the paper is to explore the emergence of new women's domestic narratives of cooking and modern family life which accompanied the growth of consumer culture in Japan. Japanese haute cuisine had been largely produced by professional chiefs who via the patriarchal apprentice system, but began to be democratized in the late nineteenth century. The first Japanese cooking school started in 1882 attracted the higher class women. Cooking began to be seen as a prestigious form of knowledge and status symbol. Around 1887, the influential Meiji reformers and other intellectuals presented the modern family as a sanctuary based on greater intimacy between the couple with the emphasis on the home (houmu or Katei) as opposed to the patriarchal conservative family system (ie). Women became seen as the domestic managers of modern family life with the key duty to produce and maintain healthy citizens, which fitted into the national project. In this sense, cooking become designated as scientific and rational, a part of women's domestic practice. With the growth of urbanization and industrialization in the 1900s, the new middle class modern family become presented as the ideal consumption unit. At the same time, the expanding commercial women's magazines started to provide, not only new recipes, but also new knowledge about aspects of food culture and lifestyle. Cooking became commercialised and popularized as systematised domestic knowledge as well as being seen as a form of home entertainment as part of a new consumer lifestyle. I will explore the relationship between wider social and cultural change and the configuration of cooking discourses in order to illustrate how cooking as a domestic banal practice and set of experiences was re-and de-contexualised in the wake of the Meiji Restoration, and the development of consumer culture and the emergence of domestic and vernacular aesthetic sensitivities late 19 th century Japan.