Preface
For the average American diner, knowledge about and interest in Japa-
nese food seemed to be confined to a few popular dishes until fairly recently.
American exposure to Japanese food was largely limited to Japanese
steakhouse chain offerings and deep-fried tempura. One primary ingredi-
ent epitomized for the non-Japanese person Japanese food at its pinna-
cle—raw fish. However, authentically prepared Japanese cuisine using raw
fish as its centerpiece was for many years unavailable outside Japan. The
ingredient itself was also a major barrier to undiluted worldwide acclaim
of Japanese cuisine. To the uninitiated diner decades ago, sushi (raw fish
and vinegared rice balls) or sashimi (raw fish slices) were breathtakingly
aesthetic in concept and very visually tempting, but all interest stopped
there. Those who did not wish to offend their hosts surreptitiously de-
posited sashimi into a convenient paper napkin, or else swallowed it
unchewed and washed it down with copious gulps of beer or saké.
It does seem an injustice that for a very long time Japanese food did not
receive the widespread recognition that it deserves. Many first-time
eaters, though bowled over by its aesthetic presentation, describe Japa-
nese food as insipid, because the subtlety of Japanese haute cuisine, as
demonstrated in the kaiseki, or tea-ceremony, style of cooking, is lost on
palates expecting elaborate blends of seasoning. Highly seasoned Chinese
or intricately sauced French dishes are more likely to win over experi-
menting palates. Palates have to be educated to fully appreciate Japanese
food beyond the familiar stews, tempura (deep fried), and the lavishly sea-
soned grilled dishes. Tongues have to learn to become sensitive to the
slight nuances of taste, to discern the intrinsic and undisguised natural fla-
vors in each ingredient.
The aesthetic presentation of Japanese food naturally encourages this
focused attention. In classical Japanese cuisine, before each diner is an
array of small individual servings, each a work of art framed in its own ex-
quisite receptacle. “Feed the eye first,” is the first injunction to the Japa-
nese cook. Artistry is not limited to the table arrangements, outdoor
gardens, or exterior and interior architecture of the venue and main
rooms. In the washrooms you may be fortunate to see an exquisite sea-
sonal floral arrangement in a bamboo receptacle, to match the bamboo
paneling on the walls, or perhaps a rustic stone sink.
The visual appeal of a feast can be bewildering to the uninitiated. Plates
of all possible geometric shapes—square, rectangular, crescent- or fan-
shaped—in many colors, sizes, and textures decorate the table. Not all are
porcelain—slabs of wood, baskets, even chestnut husks can hold food.
Garnishes can be greens, similar to parsley, to which most non-Japanese
people can relate; but what does one do with red maple leaves, pale pink
ginger shoots, and stalks with flower buds? Is one expected to eat these as
well? (Yes, but not the maple leaves.)
And, to complicate matters particularly during a banquet, where is the
rice? Having been told that rice is the foundation of all east Asian meals,
the uninitiated diner at a celebratory meal is perplexed. There is no rice
to be glimpsed among the vast array of artful tidbits arranged at the table.
Endless rounds of saké (rice wine) are offered, awkwardness disappears,
everyone else starts eating, and no one seems to mind that there is no rice.
Finally when everyone is bursting to repletion and saké-muddled, the rice
appears with pickles and miso (soybean paste) soup. The neophyte eater
cannot imagine room for another morsel, but everyone digs in, all mirac-
ulously sobered up, relishing the salty pickles and commenting on them
with nostalgia, particularly if the ingredients and flavoring are an unusual
combination.
What does this say about food in Japan? That at its best, it is an over-
whelming sensory aesthetic experience. And it is that meticulous atten-
tion to every phase—from selecting the freshest ingredients, choosing the
serving receptacles, and most of all, the graciousness of service and atten-
tion to guests—that characterizes the fine art of Japanese omotenashi
(hosting a meal).
Compared to 20 or even 10 years ago, in most cosmopolitan cities, it is
no longer difficult to find places that serve Japanese food. Noodle bars spe-
cializing in variably flavored udon or râmen have sprung up, joining the
proliferating kaiten zushi (budget-priced restaurants featuring ready-made
sushi) as the east Asian competitors to Western fast foods. Even miso (soy-
bean paste) soup has found favor with Western chefs dabbling in East-
West fusion cooking.
On a personal note, because of the initial scarcity of Japanese restau-
rants where we lived, and later because the Japanese dishes that we
wanted to eat were not available, we began to cook our own. As amateur
cooks, we could not hope to attain the virtuoso expertise of Japanese chefs
with years of traditional training behind them. Although we had cooked
our own meals while living in Japan, there were certain dishes that we had
only sampled at restaurants that specialized in one type of food. These
specialist restaurants were favorites because we could watch the cooking
process as tempura was fried to unmatchable light crispness or chat with
the sushi chef to ask which fish was in season as we sat at the counter
slowly savoring our tea.
In those days, unlike today, laver (edible seaweeds), Japanese soy sauce,
miso, and buckwheat noodles were impossible to get at our local super-
market in England and so we resorted to having them sent from Japan and
keeping them deep frozen, rationing our supplies so that we could cook
them throughout the year. We had acquired a few traditional kitchen
knives and miscellaneous tools, including variously shaped tableware, and
set about teaching ourselves to cook the Japanese way. As a result, our two
younger children, who had never been to Japan, have come to prefer Jap-
anese food to all other food. Their childhood favorites, in common with
most Japanese children, were furikake (a powdered mixed seasoning for
cooked rice) and nori, and remain so, even in their teens.
More than the elaborate multicourse kaiseki banquets, it was the simple
everyday dishes, such as blanched vegetables, grilled fish, and plain fresh
tofu, cold or hot, or, in Michael’s case, hand-cut soba noodles, that we
longed for most when we craved Japanese food. Except for freshly made
silken tofu (kinugoshi), unobtainable locally, very fresh green vegetables
and freshwater and air-shipped sea fish are now readily available. The ul-
timate objective in serving Japanese food is to use local and fresh ingredi-
ents in season as much as possible.
In practical terms, a mix of ingredients sourced locally and elsewhere is
usual for all but the most exacting Japanese chef. Even classical Kyoto
cooking, which is considered the acme of refinement, has always used
dried foodstuff such as marine fish and seafood brought in salted and pre-
served from elsewhere, because landlocked Kyoto was self-sufficient only
in freshwater supplies.
The key to good food is fresh quality ingredients; this is the recurring
message of professional cooks and literature the world over. The Japanese
have taken this message to an extreme, and the vegetables and fruit in su-
permarkets, department stores, and greengrocers in Japan are not only
fresh, but also of perfect appearance, shape, and size. Fish and seafood are
bright-eyed and glisten attractively: there is none of the dense and in-
criminating fishy smell that from a distance unmistakably identifies fish-
mongers elsewhere. Twenty years ago, most Japanese shopped for food
every day to ensure freshness, something that would be difficult to do now
even in Japan. The realities of working life force even the authors to stock
up on food items so that we shop as rarely as possible. However, when we
do, and we find superb ingredients, we cook these immediately in the Jap-
anese style. And these days, even nonlocal foodstuffs can be of impecca-
ble quality and freshness. Modern freezing and transportation methods
have made exotic marine foodstuffs and fresh Asian vegetables and fungi
available to all. Organic crop production and local farmers’ markets are
also making it easier to find chemical-free produce nearby.
Aside from its gustatory and aesthetic appeal, there is one more com-
pelling reason to cook and eat Japanese food. It is good for you. Not only
is it a balanced diet in its combination of rice, vegetables, and emphasis
on fish and seafood, with a modicum intake of animal protein and fat, but
many of its components have disease-preventing qualities.
This book attempts to relate Japanese food to its cultural surroundings
in a way that makes sense to non-Japanese readers. Chapter 1 supplies
context: the historical and geographical factors that have shaped Japanese
food. Chapter 2 shifts to a closer examination if the various major com-
ponents 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 pre-
pared: 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 encoun-
tered, even in the Japanese home. Chapter 6 examines foods served for
festive occasions and on special days and continues to explore the dy-
namic 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-
books on Japanese food available today: more than 100 in English alone
(a selected list is found in the Resource Guide at the back of this book).
However, as any good cookbook writer should, we have experimented
with all these recipes. The recipes range from the simplest home foods to
elaborate fare more commonly available in restaurants. Students and
other readers should be able to readily find the special ingredients in
Asian grocery stores and some in the Asian section in the supermarket.
The Resource Guide also includes a brief annotated list of suggested read-
ings, films/videos, and Web sites.
Acknowledgments
It’s always a pleasure to work on a subject that one is passionate about. Be-
sides 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 pro-
posed 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 dis-
cussion 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 in-
formed tasting of the recipes and dishes mentioned here. Chef Rob Ship-
man, who afforded us a glimpse behind the scenes of a modern Japanese
kitchen and who proves every day that Japanese food has become inter-
national, gave encouragement to the idea that we can all learn from Jap-
anese 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 li-
brarians 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 com-
pany 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.
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 farm-
ing/hunting-gathering economy to an agriculture-based state. Pot-
tery 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 perma-
nent 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 Mack-
erel Temple on the island of Shikoku.
794–1185 Historical Heian era. The imperial capital is established at Heian-
kyô (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 po-
tatoes 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 Toku-
gawa clan. The political capital is moved to Edo. During this pe-
riod, 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 influ-
ence 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 mod-
ern 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-
sumption and the opening of the first Western-cooking restaurant
in Tokyo.
1878 The first Japanese winery opens and Western wine is sold to the
public.
1886 The first “station box lunch” (ekiben) is sold at Utsunomiya Sta-
tion, starting a culinary tradition that continues today.
1889 A coffee specialist shop opens in Tokyo, influenced in part by the
popularity of coffee as a hot drink among Japanese soldiers sta-
tioned 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.
1905 Women’s magazines start publication and introduce to the public
menus, recipes, and new ways of cooking.
1915 Calpis fermented milk drink manufacturing and sale creates seri-
ous popular interest in milk products.
1932 The ministry of education starts a school lunch program to com-
bat child malnutrition.
1937 Outbreak of war with China. Hinomaru (Rising Sun) lunch box
becomes a fad to display patriotism and support the war effort.
1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor starts the Pacific theater of World
War II. During the war, rice shortages and rationing become com-
mon. Potatoes are introduced as a substitute for rice for many people.
1945 Kamikaze attacks. Japan surrenders to the Allied Powers after the
U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1970 American fast food companies start making inroads into Japan
and establish branches throughout the country. Both hamburgers
and fried chicken become popular foods, in both American and
Japanese versions.
1975 Cheesecake becomes popular in Japan as a major Western confec-
tionery, and demand for cheese and other milk products soars.
1979 Calorie-free devil’s foot root jelly (konnyaku) rises in popularity as
a diet food as the Japanese public becomes more weight-conscious;
increased health-consciousness inspires the development of
reduced-salt soy sauce and sports drinks, in addition to other
health drinks, become available.
1983 Post Office begins a delivery service shipping packages of “home-
town foods”—delicacies from small farming communities around
Japan—to city residents.
1991– Heisei era. Death of Shôwa Emperor (Hirohito). Succession by his
son, the current Emperor Heisei. Organic, locally sourced food is
in demand, and homemakers’ cooperatives are formed to source
food directly from farmers. There is a boom in highly spiced food,
and heightened interest in ethnic cuisines, health food, and vege-
tarian food (shôjin).
Historical Overview
To understand Japanese food, it is necessary to have geographical and his-
torical context. The history of Japan is strongly dictated by its geography:
the society that developed on this chain of volcanic islands was strongly
influenced by the Asian continent. Japan is close enough to the Asian
mainland to be influenced by Asian culture, yet far enough off the coast
not to be affected directly by continental events. The types of foodstuffs
the Japanese people ate, though often derived from Asiatic continental
sources, were modified by Japan’s relative isolation, by the environment of
fertile volcanic valleys watered by monsoon rains and artificial irrigation,
and by reliance on the sea. The nonmaterial component of food will also
be discussed: the ideas and sentiments that the Japanese have about their
surroundings powerfully influenced their foodways.
GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
The geography and climate of Japan have not changed materially
throughout Japanese history, with the exception of the arable areas (only
about 15 percent of the land is arable), which were gradually brought
under the plow.
Geography
Japan is a group of more than 3,600 islands stretching 3,500 km long,
roughly the area of California, but without its expanse of habitable ter-
rain. Steep mountains make up over 80 percent of the four main islands,
in the order north to south, Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.
The major cities of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe are on Honshu island.
Sapporo and Nagasaki are two major cities on Hokkaido and Kyushu, re-
spectively.
Surrounded on all sides by the sea or the mountains, the Japanese nat-
urally look to these sources for their food and lyrically refer to food as the
delights or treasures of the seas and the mountains (umi no sachi, yama no
sachi). Japan straddles four climate zones, with most of its landmass en-
joying distinct temperate seasons. Hokkaido as well as northern and east-
ern Honshu have a cold temperate climate with heavy snowfall for over
half of the year, beginning as early as October and only melting in April.
The rest of Honshu and Shikoku have a cool temperate climate, while
southern Kyushu and the Okinawan islands have a subtropical climate.
The four seasons are regular and clearly defined; the one oddity, from a
North American perspective, are the monsoon rains between May and
July. The food culture of the Japanese is much constrained by three geo-
graphical features: river valleys, mountains, and the sea.
River Valleys
Wide valleys where arable agriculture was practicable determined much
of Japanese history. The region west of the fortified barrier that controlled
passage to and from the imperial court in Kyoto (the Kansai) encompasses
what is now the Kyoto-Osaka area. At its center is the Yamato plain, the
cradle of Japanese civilization. This is where both the refined cuisine of
the Kyoto imperial court and the sumptuous cuisine of the Osaka mer-
chants developed. Kyoto taste exemplifies the most refined of all Japanese
regional cuisines. Landlocked Kyoto, without easy access to marine pro-
duce, focuses on the excellence of its vegetables and freshwater fish.
Osaka’s cuisine is noted for its brash showiness. A conspicuous wealth of
luxurious and rare items as well as an appreciation for hearty eating char-
acterize the bourgeois cooking favored by moneyed businessmen.
East of the ancient barrier is the Kantô area. Life was rougher here, but
in many ways easier since the well-irrigated, reasonably flat plain was ideal
for agriculture and a large landlocked bay allowed easy fishing. One fish-
ing village, Edo by name, became in the seventeenth century the political
capital of Japan. By the eighteenth century, and for some time after, Edo
(now known as Tokyo) was the largest city in the world. This is where the
retainer-warriors (samurai) of feudal lords came to stay at the order of the
effective political ruler, the shogun. And this is where a robust cuisine
evolved, based on bounty from the fields and the sea, becoming the dom-
inant Japanese cuisine today. Some of its representative dishes, such as
sushi, otherwise known as Edo sushi to distinguish it from Osaka sushi,
have become synonymous with Japanese cuisine world-wide.
About midway between these two dominant valleys and their cuisines
lies another fertile coastal plain. Centering more or less around the mod-
ern city of Nagoya and backed up against the mountains, the southern
plain (Nanzan) provides another culinary center, from which many ma-
rine foods come, since it is one of the centers of pelagic and seaweed farm-
ing.
The Japan Sea side of Honshu, from the cities of Kanazawa to Niigata,
is an area of lush, well-irrigated valleys and good access to the sea.
Kanazawa cuisine is as lush and luxurious as the area it comes from and its
barons in the Japanese Middle Ages were among the wealthiest in Japan.
Other areas in Japan, such as the plains around Sapporo in the north and
the cities of Nagasaki and Kagoshima in the south, also evolved their own
cuisines based on the wealth of the countryside.
Mountains
The mountains of Japan have been formidable barriers throughout its
history. Covered with forests, they were also the source of much desired
foodstuff—mushrooms, wild greens, wild fruit, and roots—called collec-
tively sansai, which the Japanese still adore to this day. The mountains
were also the domicile of the gods, and therefore, any food with that
provenance was considered something of a blessing. Significantly, too, the
mountains served as barriers between various political entities and re-
gional cuisines and preferences, each of which has contributed, in modern
times, to the entity we know as “Japanese cuisine.”
The Sea
Developed by dwellers on an archipelago with many fine bays and a
large inland sea, Japanese cuisine, no less than its history, is affected by
the ocean. Fish and marine products have always been major food items.
Marine cultivation started in Japan in early history. The sea not only pro-
vided a bounty, it also provided this bounty according to a regular routine,
so that feelings of dependency, expectation, and even anxiety were bound
up with feelings about the sea. Because, regular as the sea was in the long-
term, there were no guarantees of short-term success, and the lives of
those working the sea are always perilous. The Seto-nai kai (Inland Sea) is
connected to the Sea of Japan on one side and the Pacific Ocean by three
narrow straits; its many bays and rocky islets are the setting for the earli-
est of Japanese legends, as well as for numerous local cuisines based on the
sea. Crabs with the faces of heroic warriors prowl the depths. Whales
swim past. Shoals of fish such as bonito, tuna, and mackerel flash by. This
is also a sea of miracles and legends: dried salted mackerel brought back to
life and allowed to swim away by a Buddhist saint; bream that provide he-
roes with fishing magic, seaweed-girt monsters. The Seto Inland Sea is im-
portant not only because of the food it provided (and still does) but also
because it served as a highway along which ideas and foods traveled con-
stantly from one area to another.
Climate
Japan’s climate ranges from cool in Hokkaido to semitropical in the
Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa Prefecture to the south. Summers tend to be
hot and humid. Winters in the mountains and in the lowlands of
Hokkaido and Honshu can be snowy, with the Northeast receiving up to
six feet of snow in some areas.
The seasons are well defined. Spring (around March/April) is marked
by the emergence of blossoms and of green buds that were, historically, an
important food source for the poor. Spring ends with the monsoon season
in May, when torrential downpours last until July. The monsoon is essen-
tial for the growth of Japan’s most important staple crop, rice. Summer
ends around October, when the weather gradually cools and settles down
in a lengthy, often dry season that lasts until January, when winter rains
and snow start.
Seasons not only affect growth on land and the crops available. There
is also a clear set of seasons in the seas around Japan. Certain species of
fish appear at regular intervals and are best eaten at particular times.
HISTORY
Japanese history can be divided into three broad periods. The aristo-
cratic period, running roughly from the dawn of Japanese history in the
third or fourth century C.E. to the twelfth century, was an age of noble-
men—officials who were dependent on the emperor for their position and
income. The Japanese Middle Ages started with the rise of warriors—
samurai—who ruled Japan until the ranks were abolished in 1868. The
cuisine of the samurai period was strongly influenced by the samurai ethic
and ideals of frugality and restraint. From 1868, Japan entered into a mod-
ern period which persists to this day.
Aristocratic Period
The Japanese state emerged from a welter of smaller kingdoms around
the fifth century C.E. Centered near modern Kyoto, it managed to control
the Japanese islands by about the tenth century C.E. During most of this
time, it was ruled by an emperor, who managed the country through a
small group of courtier-officials, a system based upon Chinese models.
Older sons inherited their fathers’ office, younger sons were sent to man-
age estates in the countryside. The capital, called variously Miyako and
Heian-kyô at different times, was the center of culture and learning. Re-
fined living was the major goal of life for most people, but only the aristo-
cratic few could manage it in practice, and men and women of the
aristocracy were expected to excel in the arts. The mass of the population
was rural, poor, and spent their lives toiling in the fields. A small urban
class emerged, mainly people serving the aristocracy.
The food of this period was marked by a substantive change. In the pe-
riod before the start of urban living in Japan (before about the fifth cen-
tury C.E.), the dominant crops were tubers (yams, lily bulbs, taro) and
various forms of millet. The introduction of rice cultivation after the fifth
century C.E. revolutionized Japanese food—rice is far more nutritious than
the other staples—and Japanese society as well: the surpluses from the
cultivation of rice allowed the emergence of a court and imperial system.
Nonetheless, the food was relatively simple, and records we have of feasts
from the early Heian period (794–1185) show large mounds of multi-
colored rice decorated with millet and a few simple dishes. Gradually, as
wealth was accumulated, the food became more elaborate. This process
accelerated when the Japanese started sending embassies to China to
learn from the Chinese. Preservation methods such as fermented soybean
paste (miso), ceramic technology to improve cooking, chopsticks and rice
bowls, and the making of confectionery were all introduced and adapted
based on Chinese models. By the end of the aristocratic age, the Japanese
had inducted all these new ideas into their own cuisine, making modifica-
tions along the way.
Miso is to Japanese cooking what tomatoes and olive oil are to southern
Italian cooking and it exemplifies one such introduced food. It is made by
fermenting soybeans for a period of between six months and two years.
Miso is an original Chinese flavoring that entered Japan via Korea some-
time in the early aristocratic period. By the middle of the samurai period,
miso was being made in Buddhist monasteries and by the fifteenth century
it had become commonly available to all. By the 1620s, miso-making was
widespread throughout the country.
The importance of chefs was recognized very early in traditional Japan.
Entire clans (groups of related families) would struggle for the right to
cook the emperor’s food. The position was so important that in the eighth
century an interclan dispute over the right to be the emperor’s chef almost
broke out into open warfare. The processes of preparing foods for the em-
peror’s table, particularly fresh fish and the mounds of multicolored rice
that were an integral part of ancient banquets, are still preserved in the
rituals and offerings of some shrines in modern Kyoto.
Liquor has been associated with the Japanese way of life since prehis-
tory, and there are many pottery pieces from the prehistorical Jo¯mon pe-
riod that were apparently intended for the brewing and consumption of
liquor. Liquor plays a central part in Japanese myth, considered the medi-
cine par excellence. In one often-told story, a certain deity, Susano-wo,
was banished from the realm of the deities. In his wanderings, he came
upon a weeping couple who had sacrificed each of their daughters except
the last to a nine-headed dragon. Susano-wo bid the couple brew triple-
strength liquor, which he divided into nine barrels, placing each barrel
before a gate in a palisade. The nine-headed dragon stuck a head through
each opening, consumed a barrel of liquor per head, and fell into a
drunken stupor, whereupon the hero killed the beast and won the girl’s
hand.
Brewing and drinking alcohol were so much a part of life in ancient
Japan, that it remains today a major part of the offerings made at Shintô
shrines. Early Chinese reports felt consumption of liquor was so excessive
among Japanese that it merited special mention and was recorded in the
earliest outsider observations we have of Japanese society.
One of the greatest introductions from the mainland was religion. In
545 C.E., a Korean king sent the Japanese emperor an image of the Buddha
and some sacred Buddhist books. The Japanese, after a period of hesita-
tion and struggle, adopted the new religion. Buddhism dovetailed neatly
with the existing Japanese religion, Shintô. Shintô emphasized purity,
naturalness, and kinship with the gods, but spoke little of the afterlife or
transcendent things. Buddhism is largely flexible in the matter of gods,
and concentrates largely on the afterlife, so the two religions reached a
very satisfactory accommodation which is still in evidence today. Besides
reinforcing Japanese preferences for vegetables and the abhorrence of
meat, Buddhism brought a series of refinements to Japanese cuisine such
as strict aesthetic canons and the uses of color symbolism. It also brought
and popularized the drinking of tea. The tea bush (Camellia sinensis, a rel-
ative of the ornamental camellia plant, well known for its roselike flow-
ers) has a long history of use in China. The young leaves are cut from the
bush, dried, sometimes smoked, and sometimes powdered. The resulting
infusion tends to be green in various shades from pale yellow-tinged to
bright jade green color. The same leaves, fermented and roasted to ensure
preservation, make the black tea leaves that yield the reddish brew more
common in the West.
Tea, unlike rice wine (saké), which all Japanese who could consumed in
large quantities, was the province of the refined and the aristocratic. A
special ceremonial way of drinking tea evolved based on a Chinese model
and was used for meditative and medicinal purposes, particularly in the
many Buddhist temples and monasteries that were sprouting up through-
out the empire.
