“Not Befitting Our Divine Country”: Eating Meat in Japanese Discourses of Self and Other from the Seventeenth Century to the Present
2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 16; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/07409710701885135
ISSN1542-3484
Autores Tópico(s)Chinese history and philosophy
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgment This paper has benefited enormously from the many comments generously proffered by Marjan Boogert, Fabian Drixler, Till Knaudt, Katrina L. Moore, Tillman W. Nechtman, Aaron Skabelund, Charlotte Ullrich, Klaus Vollmer, and the three anonymous readers. The author wishes to thank all of the aforementioned for their valuable help. Notes 1. Kobayashi Yoshinori, Shin gōmanizumu sengen supesharu sensōron 3 (Tōkyō: Gentōsha, 2003), pp. 160–161. According to the publisher, sales of all three volumes of the series which was started in 1998, reached 1.5 million copies by 2005. 2. Harada Nobuo, Washoku to Nihon bunka: Nihon ryōri no shakaishi (Tōkyō: Shōgakukan, 2005), pp. 8–10. 3. Katarzyna Cwiertka, "The Making of Modern Culinary Tradition in Japan" (PhD diss., Leiden University, 1999), pp. 49–59, 189–191. 4. Harada, Washoku, pp. 12–13. Although Harada emphasizes the historicity of the concept of 'Japanese food,' he still believes that there can be "no doubt that there is a Japanese cuisine representing the food culture of Japan" (235) and that "washoku is certainly the crystallization of Japanese culture" (239). 5. Penelope Francks, "Consuming Rice: Food, 'Traditional' Products, and the History of Consumption in Japan." Japan Forum 19, no. 2 (2007): 161–162. 6. Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, Rice as Self: Japanese Identities Through Time (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). 7. Ohnuki-Tierney, pp. 106. A variation of this dualism is to portray Japan as a 'fish-eating' culture as opposed to a 'meat-eating' culture. 8. See also the brief treatment of "Western meat, Japanese rice" in Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, "Rice as Metaphor of the Japanese Self." In Paths Toward the Past: African Historical Essays in Honor of Jan Vansina, ed. Robert W. Harms et al. (Atlanta: African Studies Association Press, 1994), p. 463. 9. With 34 kg per capita in the year 2005, it ranged in the same category as Eastern European countries such as Ukraine (34 kg) or Croatia (36 kg) and somewhat below Northern European fishery countries such as Sweden (53 kg) or Finland (65 kg). Calculated from statistics provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "FAOSTAT Data: Statistical Database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations," http://faostat.fao.org (accessed August 2007). 10. William George Aston, Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1896), pp. 328–329. 11. Examples from the premodern history of Japanese Buddhism show, however, that it was possible to argue in favor of killing animals even within the framework of Buddhist thought. See Klaus Vollmer, "Buddhism and the Killing of Animals in Premodern Japan." In Buddhism and Violence, ed. Michael Zimmermann (Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute, 2006), pp. 195–211. 12. Nobi Shōji, Shokuniku no burakushi (Tōkyō: Akashi shoten, 1998), pp. 33–40. 13. On the social distribution of rice and meat eating in ancient and medieval Japan see Harada Nobuo, "Shokuji no taikei to kyōshoku, kyōen." In Nihon no shakaishi, vol. 8: Seikatsu kankaku to shakai, ed. Asao Naohiro (Tōkyō: Iwanami, 1987), pp. 52–61. 14. Watanabe Minoru, Nihon shoku seikatsu shi (Tōkyō: Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 1964), pp. 147–148. 15. Luis Frois, Kulturgegensätze Europa–Japan (1585) (Tokyo: Sophia University, 1955), pp. 175, 179, 183. 16. Uchiyama Junzō, "San'ei-chō and Meat-Eating in Buddhist Edo." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 19, no. 2–3 (1993): 302. There was no clear-cut concept congruous with the term "mammal" in Japan before the 19th century. Instead, kemono (hereafter translated as 'beast') was usually used to refer to four-footed land-animals. Sometimes, but not always, this was meant to include domesticated as well as wild animals. 17. Uchiyama, p. 299. 18. Klaus Vollmer, "Kegare und der Hunger nach Fleisch." In Referate des 10. Deutschsprachigen Japanologentages vom 9. bis 12. Oktober 1996 in München, ed. Ulrich Apel, Josef Holzapfel, and Peter Pörtner (München: Japan-Zentrum der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 1997), p. 333. 19. The text of the Ryōri monogatari is printed in Zoku gunsho ruijū, vol. 19c, ed. Hanawa Hokinoichi (Tōkyō: Zoku gunsho ruijū kanseikai, 1925), pp. 335–375. The recipes mentioned can be found on p. 342. 20. Harada Nobuo, Edo no ryōrishi. Ryōribon to ryōri bunka (Tōkyō: Chūō kōronsha, 1989), pp. 21–23. See below for a fuller discussion of Harada's views. 21. Matsushita Sachiko, Zusetsu Edo ryōri jiten (Tōkyō: Kashiwa shobō, 1996), pp. 403–426. 22. Matsushita, pp. 7–8. 23. This argument is advanced by Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey, "The Laws of Compassion." Monumenta Nipponica 40, no. 2 (1985): 171. See also Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey, The Dog Shogun: The Personality and Policies of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006) pp. 128–160; Tsukamoto Manabu, Shōrui o meguru seiji (Tōkyō: Heibonsha, 1983). 24. Andrew Markus, "Meat and Potatoes: Two Selections from the Edo Hanjōki." Sino-Japanese Studies 4, no. 2 (1992): p. 12. 25. Markus, pp. 13–15. 26. Kitagawa Morisada, Ruijū kinsei fūzoku shi (Tōkyō: Uosumi shoten, 1928), vol. 1: 121 and vol. 2: 449. 27. Nobi, pp. 150–153. 28. Nobi, pp. 25–27. 29. For other discussions of actual meat eating practices in the Edo period see Susan B. Hanley, Everyday Things in Premodern Japan. The Hidden Legacy of Material Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), pp. 65–77, Michael Kinski, "Bratfisch und Vogelbeine. Frühmoderne Etikettevorschriften zum Verhältnis von Mensch, Tier und Nahrung in Japan." Japonica Humboldtiana 3 (1999), 63–69, or Brett L. Walker, "Commercial Growth and Environmental Change in Early-Modern Japan: Hachinohe's Wild-Boar Famine of 1749." In JAPANimals: History and Culture in Japan's Animal Life, ed. Gregory M. Pflugfelder and Brett L. Walker (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, 2005), pp. 181–182. 30. Nobi, p. 40. 31. For an example of a medical guidebook see Kaibara Ekken's Yōjōkun (Kaibara Ekken, Ekken zenshū, vol. 3, ed. Ekkenkai (Tōkyō: Ekken zenshū kankōbu, 1911, pp. 476–604); references to meat on pages 497, 509, 513, and 516. Of course, the fact that it seemed necessary to enlighten readers about the evils of eating meat is another indication that meat must have been consumed in the first place. 32. The Meiji government in particular sought to revise the unequal treaties which had been forced upon the country by the North American and European powers during the 1850s and 1860s. 33. See Cwiertka, pp. 47, 61, 99–100. The imperial court started eating meat from cows, sheep, pigs, and other animals early in 1872, the first reports on which appeared a few weeks after the fact. See Harada Nobuo, Rekishi no naka no kome to niku. Shokumotsu to tennō, sabetsu (Tōkyō: Heibonsha, 1993), pp. 255–259. 34. Fukuzawa Yukichi, "Nikushoku no setsu." In Fukuzawa Yukichi zenshū, vol. 20, ed. Keiō Gijuku (Tōkyō: Iwanami, 1963), pp. 38–39. Fukuzawa later elaborated his views on eating meat in another article entitled "One must eat meat," dating from 1882. See Fukuzawa Yukichi, "Nikushoku sezaru bekarazu." In Fukuzawa Yukichi zenshū, vol. 8, ed. Keiō Gijuku (Tōkyō: Iwanami, 1960), pp. 452–457. 35. Kanagaki Robun, "Aguranabe." In Nihon kindai bungaku taikei, vol. 1: Meiji kaikaki bungakushū, ed. Okitsu Kaname and Maeda Ai (Tōkyō: Kadokawa, 1970), p. 57. Translation quoted from: "The Beefeater." In Modern Japanese Literature, ed. Donald Keene (New York: Grove, 1956), p. 32. 36. Tetsuro Watsuji, A Climate. A Philosophical Study by Watsuji Tetsuro (Tokyo: Ministry of Education, 1961), pp. 31–33. 37. Watsuji, p. 7. 38. Watsuji, p. 15. 39. Klaus Vollmer, "Animalität vs. Vegetabilität—zu einem Topos der 'Japan-Diskurse' (nihonron) im 20. Jahrhundert." Minikomi. Informationen des Akademischen Arbeitskreises Japan 1 (1997): pp. 11–12. 40. Robert C. Toth, "Issue: Exports to Japan. Dog's Best Friend Sure to Be a Briton." Los Angeles Times, May 25, 1969, p. G6. 41. Sabata Toyoyuki, "Nihonjin to seiyōjin to inu. Aratamete sōgō rikai no konnan omou." Yomiuri Shinbun, June 6, 1969, evening edition. My thanks go to Aaron Skabelund for directing me to this newspaper article. 42. Francks, p. 159. 43. Figures based on Sōmushō tōkeikyoku, "Nihon no chōki tōkei keiretsu," Table No. 20-3 "Annual Household Expenditure and Quantity Purchased by Commodities (All Households)—Japan (1963–2003)," http://www.stat.go.jp/data/chouki/zuhyou/20-03.xls (accessed August 2007). 44. Norio Kogure and Keiko Yamazaki, "Attitudes to Animal Euthanasia in Japan: A Brief Review of Cultural Influences." Anthrozoos 3, no. 3 (1990): pp. 151–154. 45. In contrast to the assumptions of this study, in surveys on animal protection conducted by the Japanese government in 1986, 1990, 2000, and 2003 a consistent majority of over 60 percent of respondents has found that "if one cannot let dogs and cats live, then it is necessary to euthanize them," while only about a quarter favored the response "as life is too precious, euthanasia should not be performed" (Naikakufu daijin kanbō seifu kōhōshitsu, "Dōbutsu aigo ni kansuru yoron chōsa," http://www8.cao.go.jp/survey/h15/h15-doubutu/ (accessed August 2007)). 46. Watanabe, pp. 147–148, 190ff. 47. Harada, Edo no ryōrishi, pp. 22–23. 48. Harada, Edo no ryōrishi, p. 21. 49. Harada, Rekishi no naka, pp. 255–259. 50. Harada, Rekishi no naka, p. 8. 51. In a 1988 book chapter, for instance, he calls attention to the dangers of trying to explain patterns of meat consumption in Japan solely by referring to religion and offers a nuanced treatment of meat-eating in ancient and medieval Japan (Harada Nobuo, "Shōjin ryōri to Nihon no shoku seikatsu." In Gairai no shoku no bunka, ed. Kumakura Isao and Ishige Naomichi (Tōkyō: Domesu shuppan, 1988), pp. 68–70). 52. Harada Nobuo, "Inasaku bunka to nikushoku no kinki." In Dōbutsu to ningen no bunkashi, ed. Kokuritsu rekishi minzoku hakubutsukan (Tōkyō: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1997), pp. 191–193. 53. John Oswald, The Cry of Nature; or, an Appeal to Mercy and to Justice on Behalf of the Persecuted Animals (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 2000), 18. Nor was Oswald the first to see an opposition of Eastern compassion and Western cruelty. See the numerous examples in Tristram Stuart, The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times (New York: Norton, 2007). 54. Vollmer, "Animalität," p. 10. 55. Harumi Befu, "Nationalism and Nihonjinron." In Cultural Nationalism in East Asia. Representation and Identity, ed. Harumi Befu, pp. 107–135. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), p. 107. 56. Harumi Befu, Hegemony of Homogeneity. An Anthropological Analysis of Nihonjinron (Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2001), pp. 17–44. Nihonjinron authors are usually considered to consciously argue for Japanese uniqueness, although, as the discussion of Harada above shows, other authors who would justifiably resist being identified with the movement can sometimes be seen to employ similar rhetoric strategies. 57. Befu, "Nationalism," p. 114. 58. Befu, "Nationalism," pp. 121–127. 59. Vollmer, "Animalität," p. 10. Befu somewhat less clearly also sees modernization as an important factor for the development of Nihonjinron (Befu, Hegemony, pp. 126–130). Minami Hiroshi, the most prominent Japanese researcher of the Nihonjinron phenomenon, holds that "it was only as a result of Japan's encounter with Western civilization and culture after the Meiji Restoration that the Japanese became aware of the existence of their selves as Japanese for the first time." Minami Hiroshi, Nihonjinron: Meiji kara konnichi made (Tōkyō: Iwanami, 1994), p. 13. 60. Hirano Hitsudai, Honchō shoku kagami, vol. 1 (Tōkyō: Heibonsha, 1976), p. vi. 61. Hirano Hitsudai, Honchō shoku kagami, vol. 5 (Tōkyō: Heibonsha, 1981), p. 201. 62. Hirano, vol. 1, p. 47. 63. Quoted in: Harada, Rekishi no naka, p. 265. 64. Kaibara Ekken, Ekken zenshū, vol. 3, ed. Ekkenkai (Tōkyō: Ekken zenshū kankōbu, 1911), p. 516. 65. Kaibara Ekken, Ekken zenshū, vol. 6, ed. Ekkenkai (Tōkyō: Ekken zenshū kankōbu, 1911), pp. 26–27. 66. Terajima Ryōan, Wakan sansai zue (Tōkyō: Tōkyō bijutsu, 1970), pp. 429–436, 437–452, and 453–457, respectively. 67. Terajima, p. 429. 68. One of the few exceptions is the physician Kagawa Shūtoku (1683–1755) who advocated eating the meat of certain animals for medical purposes and criticized Buddhist precepts forbidding to do so (see Harada, Rekishi no naka, pp. 266–267). 69. Tsukamoto Manabu, "Dōbutsu to ningen shakai." In Nihon no shakaishi, vol. 8: Seikatsu kankaku to shakai, ed. Asao Naohiro (Tōkyō: Iwanami, 1987), p. 268. Tsukamoto Manabu, "Edo jidai ni okeru dōbutsu no seimei to jinmei." Kokuritsu rekishi minzoku hakubutsukan kenkyū nenpō 61 (1995): 31. 70. On the positive side of this process, see Ohnuki-Tierney, Rice as Self. 71. Late in the Tokugawa period, other 'others' are sometimes, if rarely, marked by ascribing the practice of eating meat to them. The explorer Mogami Tokunai, for example, in 1790 characterized the Ainu he observed on the Northern periphery of what was then considered to belong to the Japanese realm by their carnivorous diet, writing: "Ainu do not understand the way to cultivate grains, and would not even know a rice field if they saw one" (Brett L. Walker, The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590–1800 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 86). In 1818, the thinker Tadano Makuzu already identifies meat-eating with the West, claiming that in Russia "the five grains are not grown" and, differing from those in "the sacred imperial country of Japan," people eat meat, thereby shortening their lifespans (Janet R. Goodwin et al., "Solitary Thoughts: A Translation of Tadano Makuzu's Hitori Kangae, Part 1." Monumenta Nipponica 56, no. 1 (2001): 30–31, 33). 72. Befu, Hegemony, pp. 124–125. 73. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London and New York: Verso, 1983), pp. 13–15. 74. Anthony W. Marx, Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). 75. Hiroshi Mitani, "A Protonation-State and Its 'Unforgettable Other': The Prerequisites for Meiji International Relations." In New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan, ed. Helen Hardacre (Leiden: Brill, 1997), p. 301. 76. Mitani, p. 305. 77. Although Mitani's choice of words is somewhat unfelicitous—the term "unforgettable other" was first coined by Sigmund Freud to refer to the earliest object of infant sexuality, the mother's breast—I have decided to adopt his concept for the purposes of this essay in order to stress the specifics of Japan's identity formation (constancy of referent, actual influence, perceived superiority). 78. Mitani, p. 310. 79. Keiko Hirata, "Beached Whales: Examining Japan's Rejection of an International Norm." Social Science Japan Journal 7, no. 2 (2004): p. 188.
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