contributor
26,979
edits
Changes
Created page with " Though premodern Japanese are often said to have eaten a strictly pescetarian diet, in fact poultry and red meat had their place in premodern cuisine. Meat-eating was certai..."
Though premodern Japanese are often said to have eaten a strictly pescetarian diet, in fact poultry and red meat had their place in premodern cuisine.
Meat-eating was certainly not unknown in the [[Yayoi period]], and archaeological evidence suggests that while dog was likely not eaten in the [[Jomon period|Jômon period]], it was in the Yayoi period.<ref>Tatsuo Kobayashi, “Nurturing the Jomon,” in ''Jomon Reflections'' (Oxford: Oxbow, 2004), 87.</ref>
Though the avoidance of meat is often said to be a Buddhist practice, in connection with particular Buddhist beliefs about respecting life and not killing other beings, even [[Shinran]] (1173-1262), founder of Japanese [[Jodo shinshu|Pure Land Buddhism]], is said to have eaten meat after abandoning monastic practice and returning to lay life.<ref>Tsunoda Ryûsaku,
ed. ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'', 1st Edition, vol. 1, Columbia University Press (1968), 203.</ref>
In the Edo period, foreigners (esp. Chinese, Koreans, and Ryukyuans) were strongly associated with meat-eating, and were occasionally depicted eating meat, or alongside animals, with an implication of this being a dirty or even repugnant (or simply foreign) practice. To be sure, meat occupied a more central role in Chinese, Korean, Ryukyuan, and [[Ainu]] diets than in that of the Japanese; pigs were raised chiefly only in [[Nagasaki]] and [[Kagoshima]], and the consumption of beef was all but unknown.<ref name=plutschow47>Herbert Plutschow, ''A Reader in Edo Period Travel'', Kent: Global Oriental (2006), 47.</ref>
Nevertheless, historian Herbert Plutschow cites numerous exceptions to a supposed Japanese pescetarianism, including the consumption in various parts of the archipelago of fowl and of game animals such as [[bear]], [[boar]], and [[deer]], and the consumption of meat for medical purposes.<ref name=plutschow47/> At some point it became traditional - and remains so today - to refer to various meats by the names of flowers or leaves, as a sort of half-joking open secret, as if one were not serving or eating meat; venison (deer) is known as ''momiji'' (maple leaves), boar as ''botan'' (peony flowers), and [[horses|horse meat]] as ''sakura'' (cherry blossoms). [[Whaling|Whale]] meat was also consumed in some areas.<ref>Arne Kalland, ''Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan'', University of Hawaii Press (1995), 180-184.</ref> Though records of meat-eating in [[Edo]] prior to the 1730s are quite rare, mentions of meat-eating begin to appear in documents from the late 18th century, and all the more so in the 1830s-1840s.<ref>Takatsu Takashi 高津孝. ''Nihon kinsei seikatsu ehiki: Ryûkyûjin gyôretsu to Edo hen'' 日本近世生活絵引：琉球人行列と江戸編、Research Center for Nonwritten Cultural Materials, Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture, Kanagawa University 神奈川大学日本常民文化研究所非文字資料研究センター (2020), 84.</ref>
The fact that nobles such as [[Konoe Motohiro]] (1648-1722) is identified as shying away from meat-eating on particular dates due to spiritual taboos and ideas about purity suggests that on other days, meat-eating may have been relatively normal.<ref>Cecilia Segawa Seigle, "Shinanomiya Tsuneko: Portrait of a Court Lady," in Anne Walthall (ed.), ''The Human Tradition in Modern Japan'', Scholarly Resources, Inc. (2002), 7.</ref> Similarly, pilgrims to sites such as [[Ise Shrine]] often refrained from meat-eating while on pilgrimage, an indication again that outside of particular religious occasions or contexts, meat-eating was relatively typical. The town of [[Furuichi]], a neighborhood near Ise Shrine where pilgrims could enjoy alcohol, women, and other pleasures after abstaining during their pilgrimage, also boasted shops serving meat.
{{stub}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Resource Articles]]