[MR] LONG POST: bread and such in pre1600 Japan

[Janie]

Owain looked this information up in response to a question on the SCA Garb
list.  I thought there might be others interested in the Portuguese/Japanese
culture of the 1500's.
 
Gwendolyn Fitch
(Janie)

  _____  

Subject: bread and such in pre1600 Japan



A cut from Earthyfamily.com/J-culture

 

1333 - 1573: Muromachi Period
The Muromachi district where the government buildings were located from 1378
gave the government and the historical period their names. The warrior
culture and arts continued to develop. This was a period riddled with war
between rivaling clans and the demand for samurai was very high. The wars
resulted in the central government breaking into independent states. 

The first Europeans came to Japan and European contact lasted for 100 years.
The cities grew around the trading ports and castles grew. The Europeans
brought firearms, bread, tobacco and Christianity. After the Europeans were
banned from Japan, the Shogun also banned Christianity.

 

And from a better source:

http://www.uwosh.edu/home_pages/faculty_staff/earns/etchu.html

 

EUROPEAN INFLUENCE ON THE "CULTURE OF FOOD" IN NAGASAKI 

Etchu Tetsuya

translated by Fumiko F. Earns

Eating may be viewed simply as a biological function based upon physical and
physiological needs, but when it comes to eating habits and the content of
meals, a variety of factors must be considered. For this reason, I coined
the phrase "shoku no bunka shi" (the cultural history of food) and began to
publish on this topic in 1960, arguing that diet changes according to
regional climate, politics, history and customs, and that it displays
distinctive characteristics from one region to another. In particular, I
paid special attention to the culture of food in the Nagasaki region as it
is quite unique in Japan and provides a keen insight into the city's
colorful history of international exchange. 

The Opening of Nagasaki Harbor and the Culture of Food 

The person who opened the door for the introduction of Western culture and
Christianity in the Nagasaki region was the feudal lord Nagasaki Sumikage, a
vassal of the daimyo Omura Sumitada. In May 1563, Omura and twenty-five of
his vassals (including Sumikage) were baptized in the port town of
Yokoseura, which the previous year had been visited by the annual Portuguese
ship. After the baptism, Sumikage returned to Nagasaki. Omura Sumitada's
baptism meant that everyone who resided in his domain had to convert to
Christianity. 

At this time, a Catholic church was built in Yokoseura, and bread (pan, from
the Portuguese word pao) and wine were provided for use in the Mass. The
word pan was already well known among the Christian population in Japan. 

In August 1563, the town of Yokoseura was attacked by anti-Christian forces
and everything in the town, including the church, was burned down. As a
result, both Sumitada and his Portuguese guests had no choice but to look
for another port within the domain to replace Yokoseura. 

In 1567, Cosme de Torres, the head of the Jesuit mission in Japan, sent Luis
de Almeida to Nagasaki for the purpose of propagating Christianity. Almeida
thus became the first Portuguese to visit Nagasaki. Two years later, the
first church, Todos os Santos, was built here on a summit overlooking the
town, which at the time was little more than a fishing village huddled at
the head of the bay in what is now Shindaiku-machi. While in Nagasaki, the
Jesuits admired the fine harbor and reported it later to the Portuguese
traders. 

In the early summer of 1572, the first Portuguese ship entered Nagasaki
Harbor. By this time, almost all of the people in the area were Christians
and a new church and Jesuit headquarters was being constructed at the tip of
the cape projecting into the harbor--the "long cape" from which Nagasaki
gets its name. Portuguese sailors could walk freely about the town, and the
traders could take up residence wherever they wanted. During the following
months and years, houses and churches were built one after another on and
around the cape by the Portuguese and Japanese residents of Nagasaki. 

When Omura Sumitada transferred jurisdiction over Nagasaki and its environs
to the Jesuits in 1580, large numbers of Japanese Christians poured into
Nagasaki, transforming the former fishing village into a "little Rome."
Given such a background, it is not surprising that the culture of food in
Nagasaki gradually came to resemble that of a European city. 

Nagasaki and European Customs 

To learn about the Japanese diet prior to the opening of Nagasaki Harbor, a
good reference is the Portuguese Jesuit Luis Frois (1532-1597). Let me cite
several of his observations: 1) Europeans prefer food such as hen, quail and
pie. On the other hand, the Japanese prefer wild dog, crane, cat and raw
seaweed. 2) Europeans like dairy products, such as cheese and butter, and
bone marrow, but the Japanese dislike all of these. The Japanese say they
give off bad odors. 3) Europeans do not eat dogs, but they do eat cows. The
Japanese do not eat cows, but they eat dogs for medicinal purposes. 

The traditional Japanese diet in Nagasaki, however, gradually adopted
European elements. The following are reasons as to why this may have
occurred: 1) When the Portuguese started to live in Nagasaki, their servants
and Japanese wives prepared European dishes for them; 2) the Catholic
priests, who were revered by Japanese Christians, ate European food; 3)
people of the day found European culture quite advanced; and 4) the Japanese
developed a taste for European dishes through prolonged and intense contact.


Before the arrival of the Europeans the Japanese rarely ate beef. This was
due to the influence of Chinese culture and Buddhism, not to mention the
fact that cows were considered valuable work animals. But the taboo on
beef-eating gradually disappeared after the Europeans established themselves
in Japan. Let me cite one example. Avila Giron came to Nagasaki for the
first time in 1594 and subsequently visited quite frequently for extended
periods of time. In his book, Nippon okokuk, Giron related how the price of
beef had skyrocketed over the years. He claimed that the reason for the high
cost was that all the citizens of Nagasaki had begun to eat beef. 

In addition to this book, there are Japanese accounts which relate how the
eating of beef gradually gained popularity throughout the country. A
representative work is Nagusamegusa, written by Matsunaga Teitoku, a famous
linked-verse poet of the early sixteenth century. Matsunaga says that
"Around the time when Christianity was introduced to Japan, even people in
the Kyoto region referred to beef as waka and ate it as a highly prized
delicacy." 

Waka comes from the Portuguese word vaca, meaning "cow" or "beef."
Portuguese words were fashionable during the late sixteenth century, as were
numerous other aspects of Nanban ("Southern Barbarian") culture. The
Nagasaki dialect still includes a considerable number of Portuguese words
from that era, such as banco (isu in Japanese, "chair" in English); vidro
(garasu in Japanese, "glass" in English); gibao (juban in Japanese,
"undershirt" in English);capa (kappa in Japanese, "raincoat" in English);
raxa (rasha in Japanese, "woolen cloth" in English); frasco (furasuko in
Japanese, "flask" in English); copo (koppu in Japanese, "cup" in English);
and tobaco (tobako in Japanese, "tobacco" in English). 

A number of Portuguese words referring to foods and sweets also remain to
this day, and although used throughout Japan, they still elicit associations
with Nagasaki for most people. Portuguese words for sweets are especially
well-known: bolo de Castella (kasutera in Japanese, "sponge cake" in
English); bolo (maruboro in Japanese, "small round sponge cake" in English);
pao (pan in Japanese, "bread" in English); zamboa zabon in Japanese,
"shaddock" in English); tempora (tempura in both Japanese and English);
alfeloa (aruheito in Japanese, "toffee" in English); biscoito (bisuketto in
Japanese, "biscuit" or "cracker" in English); and abobora (kabocha in
Japanese, "pumpkin" in English). 

In Nagasaki churches, a variety of European dishes were prepared. In 1618,
the Jesuit priest Matheus de Couras, who was stationed at a church in
Nagasaki, wrote about the meals of the circuit priest Viela. In the account,
we find dishes like sirloin steak and chicken, as well as desserts such as
pears pickled in sugar. The families of influential townsmen in Nagasaki
undoubtedly enjoyed European-style dishes such as these, a supposition that
is supported by the recent excavation of eating utensils and other
sixteenth-century European paraphernalia from construction sites in the old
neighborhoods of Nagasaki. The people of Nagasaki also enjoyed European wine
and were the first Japanese to use glasses to drink. 

Western Food in the Tokugawa Period 

The prohibition of Christianity in the early seventeenth century brought
about drastic changes in the field of Western cooking. These changes
included prohibitions against the eating of beef (since it was associated
with Christianity) and the making of bread (which symbolized the flesh of
Christ). Because of this, people came to fear Western food. The residents of
Nagasaki did not forget, however, the taste of food brought by the
Portuguese, such as sugar, pickled vinegar dishes, fried foods, desserts and
oven-baked dishes. Some of these dishes have been handed down to this day,
although the original ingredients may have been replaced with other more
readily available foods (such as fish for beef) and the names of the dishes
have often changed.