The First European Description of Japan, 1585 (35 page)

3
  In some parts of Europe bread made up between 70–80 percent of the diet of peasants and towns-people. Laurence Brockliss and Crolin Jones,
The Medical World of Early Modern France
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 58.

4
  After the Black Death, many parts of Europe experienced steady population growth that continued for several centuries.

5
  Eric Jones,
The European Miracle
. Third Edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 78.

6
  A.R. Disney,
A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire, From Beginnings to 1807 Volume I: Portugal
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 146.

7
  Joanna Waley-Cohen, “The Quest for Perfect Balance, Taste and Gastronomy in Imperial China.” In
Food: The History of Taste
, ed. Paul Freedman, pp. 99–132. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 108–109.

8
  The title of Chikuba Joji's book was all too typical of the times: “Rice-eating Civilization, Meat-eating Civilization” (
Beisshoku, Nikushoku-No Bunmei
). An earlier best-seller, and far more original book by Sabata Toyoyuki, titled “Carnivore Thoughts” (
Niku-Shoku-No Shiso
), also set pastoral meat culture against rice paddy culture, and bread against rice. See also Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, “McDonald's in Japan,” In
Golden Arches East, McDonald's in East Asia
, ed. James L. Watson, pp. 161–183 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), 167.

9
  Fernand Braudel,
Capitalism and Material Life 1400–1800
(New York: Harper Colophon, 1973[1967]), 128. See also Ken Albala,
Food in Early Modern Europe
; Barbara Ketcham Wheaton,
Savoring the Past
The French Kitchen and Table from 1300 to 1789 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983); and Joan Thirsk,
Food in Early Modern England
(New York: Hambledon Continuum, 2007).

10
  António Henrique de Oliveira Marques,
Daily Life in Portugal in the Late Middle Ages
(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1971), 17.

11
  Ironically, during the 1970s it was not uncommon to see Japanese men eating butter in bars. Thick slices of butter, with two or three raisins embedded in each, were eaten with tooth-picks as an appetizer, or
pupu
(the Hawaiian term for such).

12
  Suzanne Von Drachenfels,
The Art of the Table
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 331. According to Sarti, as late as the eighteenth century it was not uncommon for poor households in Europe to lack chairs and even a table. Raffaella Sarti, “The Material Conditions of Family Life,” In
The History of the European Family, Volume I, Family Life in Early Modern Times
, 1500–1789, eds. David I. Kertzer and Marzio Barbagli, pp. 11–23 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 6, 10; Marques,
Daily Life in Portugal
, 130.

13
  Marques,
Daily Life in Portugal
, 30.

14
  Douglas Sladen and and Norma Lorimer,
More Queer Things About Japan
(London: Anthony Treherne & Company, 1905), 375.

15
  Isabella L. Bird,
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1987[1880]).

16
  Von Drachenfels,
Art of the Table
, 331–355.

17
  Marques,
Daily Life in Portugal
, 16–17.

18
  Keith Thomas,
The Ends of Life
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 115.

19
  João Rodrigues,
This Island of Japon
, trans. and ed. Michael Cooper (Tokyo: Kodansha International Limited, 1973[ca. 1620]), 236–241.

20
  Ken Albala,
Food in Early Modern Europe
(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003), 124–125; see also Maestro Martino of Como,
The Art of Cooking
, ed. Luigi Ballerina, trans. Jeremy Parzen (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005).

21
  Marques,
Daily Life in Portugal
, 33.

22
  
Shiru
is a term which
can
mean “soup” but also means “juice,” “stock” (as in “chicken stock”), or “sap.” Here it is soup, not as we understand it in the West, but rather more like broth.

23
  Today, most Japanese
do not
ferment their bean curd from scratch, but they still select and mix it with other ingredients to make their
miso-shiru
. Because each mother's
miso-shiru
is different and the only other thing besides rice to appear at every meal, the flavor of that
miso
becomes an important part of the taste identity of every Japanese.

24
  
Prata ou estanho
. The Japanese have translated
estanho
as “tin,” which is denotatively correct, but in English the connotation would be one of “cheapness.” Frois does not appear to have had this meaning in mind. Pewter is an alloy of over 90 percent tin with a little copper or antimony.

25
  A porringer is a pot/bowl with a handle.

26
  Sarti, “The Material Conditions of Family Life,” 11.

27
  John Dominick Crossan,
Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography
(San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1994), 179–181.

28
  Sarti, “The Material Conditions of Family Life,” 14.

29
  Marques,
Daily Life in Portugal
, 21.

30
  Louis Stouff,
La Table Provençale: Boire et manger en Provence à la fin du Moyen Âge
(Avignon: A. Barthelemy, 1996), 205.

31
  Marques,
Daily Life in Portugal
, 21.

32
  
Daily Life in Portugal
, 25.

33
  Sir Rutherford Alcock,
The Capital of the Tycoon, A Narrative of a Three Years' Residence in Japan
. 2 Vols. (London: Longman, Green, and Roberts, 1969[1863]), I, 322. Note that of all Japanese fruits, Alcock found only watermelons, persimmons, and grapes passable. Both he and Frois failed to note that persimmons often are left on the tree until they shriveled up like enormous raisins, turning white with exuded sugar. One cannot get riper than that. (These ripe persimmons are strung on straw cords.)

34
  Allen J. Grieco, “Food and Social Classes in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy.” In
Food, A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present
, eds. Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari, pp. 302–313 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999).

35
  Jean-Louis Flandrin, “Dietary Choices and Culinary Technique, 1500–1800.” In
Food, A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present
, Flandrin, Jean-Louis, and Massimo Montanari, eds., pp. 403–418. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 321.

36
  Von Drachenfels,
The Art of the Table
, 374–375.

37
  Brian Cowan, “New Worlds, New Tastes, Food Fashions after the Renaissance.” In
Food, The History of Taste
, ed. Paul Freedman, pp. 197–232 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 220. Marques,
Daily Life in Portugal
, 24–25, points out that the Portuguese in the late Middle Ages had numerous milk delicacies that were eaten as dessert.

38
  The scarcity of sugar in Japan is suggested by the fact that it was considered medicine and handled by medicine wholesalers. Ochiai Kô, “The Shift to Domestic Sugar and the Ideology of the National Interest.” In
Economic Thought In Early Modern Japan
, eds. Bettina Gramlich Oka and Gregory Smits, pp. 89–111 (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 90.

39
  As an aside, the Japanese do not call things or even people “sweet” in the complimentary sense (e.g. “sweetie-pie,” “honey,” “sugar buns”) as we do in English (or in Chinese, for that matter). It is only used to mean “slut” (
ama'kko
) or as a predicate complement meaning “soft,” “shallow” or “a sucker.” Perhaps this lack of a sweet vocabulary proves Frois' point.

40
  See Dennis Hirota,
Wind in the Pines
(Freemont, California: Asian Humanities Press, 1995).

41
  Edward Muir,
Ritual in Early Modern Europe
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000[1997]), 128.

42
  Cowan, “New Worlds, New Tastes,” 203.

43
  
Adibe
, which can mean wolf or jackal and probably referred to feral dog in Japan. Antônio Houaiss, Mauro de Salles Villar, and Francisco Manoel de Mello Franco, eds.,
Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa
(Rio de Janiero: Objetiva, 2001).

44
  
Llimos da praya
.

45
  
Manjar branco
, a cold dessert similar to pudding, is today made with milk, sugar, flavorings and cornstarch.

46
  Albala,
Food in Early Modern Europe
, 66.

47
  Rodrigues,
This Island of Japon
, 232.

48
  Marques,
Daily Life in Portugal
, 31, notes that the glasses (
vasos
), grails (
grais
), and chalices (
tagras
) used by elites in late medieval Portugal often were so large that they did require two hands.

49
  Rodrigues,
This Island of Japon
, 214–220. Some sake cups were truly unusual; Rodrigues mentions some that were made of gold, silver, rhinoceros horn, red sandalwood, the very large red and beautiful beaks of certain birds found in China, very fine red scented wood with delicate work on the outside and silver inlay on the inside, and still others of porcelain.

50
  Wolfgang Schivelbusch,
Tastes of Paradise: a Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants
, trans. David Jacobson (New York: Pantheon Books, 1992).

51
  Rodrigues,
This Island of Japan
, 212. See also Eyal Ben-Ari, “At the interstices, drinking, management, and groups in a local Japanese organization.”
In Japan at Play: The ludic and the logic of power
, eds. Joy Hendry and Massimo Raveri, 129–152 (London: Routledge, 2002).

52
  
Shiru-goki
, or soup-bowl.

53
  
Escova de cana
, referring to a bamboo whisk.

54
  The Japanese attitude toward drinking water is not that unusual. Dysentery, typhoid, cholera, and other water-borne diseases historically convinced many Americans and Europeans that it was unwise to drink water.

55
  The West has a long history of allowing and even encouraging dogs at dinner, even if people were discouraged from petting the dog or cat. Dogs not only received burnt leftovers but were allowed to sample
entrees
! It was not until the nineteenth century that throwing food onto the floor and dogs themselves were discouraged at dinner. Margaret Visser,
Rituals of Dinner, The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities, and Meaning of Table Manners
(New York: Grove Press, 1991), 166.

56
  Akio Okada, trans. and ed.,
Yoroppa-Bunka to Nihon-Bunka
[European Culture and Japanese Culture] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1965).

57
  Michael Cooper,
They Came to Japan
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1965), 195.

58
  
Palmo
.

59
  Visser,
Rituals of Dinner
, 324.

60
  Michel de Montaigne,
The Complete Essays
, trans. M.A. Screech (London: Penguin, [1595] 2003), 296–303.

61
  Rodrigues,
This Island of Japon
, 211.

62
  Fermented soybean paste.

63
  See
Chapter 12
.

64
  Flandrin, “Dietary Choices,” 410.

65
  Jack Turner, “Spices and Christians.” In
Encompassing the Globe, Portugal and the World in the 16th & 17th Centuries
, ed. Jay Levenson (Washington, D.C.: Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2007), 47–49; Cowan, “New Worlds, New Tastes,” 201.

66
  Sacana =
sakana
=
hors d'oeuvres
.

67
  Josef Franz Schütte, S.J.,
Valignano's Mission Principles for Japan 1573–1582
. Volume I, Part II, trans. J. Coyne (St. Louis: Institute for Jesuit Sources, 1985), 170.

68
  
Tempura
is thought to have been derived from the Portuguese term
tempero
(seasoning), or more likely
temperas
, referring to holy days when you did not eat meat.

69
  In 1653, Izaak Walton published
The Compleat Angler
, the first of what would be countless books that celebrated fly-fishing.

70
  This plant produces terrible flatulence, something many Europeans have felt compelled to write about.

71
  Okada,
Yoroppa-Bunka to Nihon-Bunka
.

72
  
Adens
.

73
  The bracketed text is corrupted in the original. Schütte has suggested rabbits and ducks. Because Frois is talking about birds, we think pigeons (or geese) makes more sense than rabbits, although the latter certainly were raised in Portugal and other parts of Europe.

74
  Alessandro Valignano,
Sumario de Las Cosas de Japon
(1583),
Adiciones del Sumario de Japon
(1592), ed. José Luis Alvarez-Taladriz (Tokyo: Sophia University, 1954[1592], 242; see also Schütte,
Valignano's Mission Principles
, Vol. 1 Part II, 242–243.

7   Japanese offensive and defensive weapons and warfare

1. We use swords; the Japanese use cutlasses
.

As one might imagine, given all the dueling and warfare that took place in the sixteenth century,
¹
Europeans made use of a variety of swords, ranging from the huge German
zweihänder
to various types of rapiers or “long-swords” such as the
espada ropera
, which was favored by elites. European swords by and large were double-edged, absolutely straight, and had a sharp point. Correspondingly, swordplay was mostly a matter of stabbing and thrusting. The Japanese swordsman, by contrast, was intent on decapitation and his
katana
was what in English we would term a cutlass: approximately sixty centimeters, single-edged, slicing sharp, and slightly curved.
²
Because point and edge are covered elsewhere (
Chapter 1
,
#21
and
Chapter 7
,
#7
), Frois may have been focusing here on straight vs. curved. Note that today most people probably find the differences between a sword and a cutlass meaningless. However, in Frois' day Europe and Japan were extremely bellicose and both societies had for centuries imparted privilege and status to aristocrats and warriors bearing swords.
³