![][1] The ancient Japanese imperial court issued a "meat-eating ban" for the first time in the eighth century. After that, the emperor continued to issue several edicts, and the aristocracy finally changed their meat-eating habits. At that time, the common people studied writing in monasteries and relied on monks for medical treatment when they were sick. In the eyes of the common people, monks were omnipotent "intellectuals" who were respected by the public. Therefore, the common people who were influenced by the education of monks gradually stayed away from meat. For about 1,200 to 3,000 years, the Japanese did not have the habit of eating meat. However, is it true that all Japanese do not eat animal meat? And lasted for more than a thousand years? Of course it's impossible. However, it is a fact that ordinary people will never eat animal meat unless absolutely necessary. For example, when people are sick or are born with weak health, people will tacitly allow them to eat animal meat, and even encourage patients to take these "supplements". In addition to patients, there are some so-called "gourmets" who are the customers who support Orion's livelihood. In the 12th century, Japan began to enter a war-prone samurai society. The first thing that took place was the fierce war between the two samurai groups Minamoto and Taira, who were both descendants of the Emperor. What did people eat during the Genpei period? Let’s start investigating from this question! It seems that the reason for the Heike's defeat was not just the corruption of the public officials, but also the difference in food. Everyone must be very interested in further research on this aspect! In the fourth year of the Torah era (AD 1180), the Taira clan withdrew to Mizutori Hagone, where they fought the decisive battle of the Genpei era - the "Fujigawa Battle". It was precisely in this year that the Kansai region, centered on Kyoto and Shiga, An unprecedented severe drought occurred, and hunger broke out. Even the seeds that farmers cherished the most were eaten as food. As a result, starting from the second year, there was no harvest for three consecutive years, and starvation was everywhere in the Kansai area. Wails spread everywhere (another three years of natural disasters!). Three consecutive years of major disasters not only claimed the lives of countless lower-class farmers, but also threatened the rule of the Wu family. So, what did the people of the Heike and Genji eat during this period? First, we will introduce their daily diet before hunger occurs. While the Taira clan was a samurai class, they also slowly transformed into elegant ministers who lived in temples. The gorgeous life of the nobles has infiltrated their bodies and minds, and their original simple and good living habits have long been forgotten, and their daily living habits have all fallen into a morbid vicious cycle. Of course, their diet will naturally produce many aristocratic diseases when they enter the superior aristocratic social level. People of the Heike often like foods that are sent as tributes from distant countries. In order to preserve their quality, these foods contain a lot of salt and are hard and difficult to digest. For example, dried salted fish sprinkled with a large amount of salt, steamed and dried brown rice, and the like. When the Taira family eats, they almost never touch the vegetables, and only use chopsticks to pick up a few of them. Nutritional imbalance is evident. Due to the constraints of Buddhism and superstition, nutrition is often unbalanced, and the humble position of diet in Buddhist thought often controls people's desires and prevents them from taking in more nutrients that are beneficial to the body and mind. The consequences of this may be the foreshadowing of the demise of the regime. "The Tale of Genji" and "Pillow" barely mention food (this can be compared with our country's "A Dream of Red Mansions"). In the dietary life of the late Heian period, meat eating gradually became more prominent, and even eating fish was often prohibited. In Fujiwara Kesada's "Meigetsuki", there is a confession such as "I got sick because of eating fish, and I am ashamed of it." In literature, there are almost no descriptions of food preparation, taste enjoyment and other matters except in diaries. This is very different from the overwhelming introduction of food culture in the media today. In addition, people of the Heike often live a life of staying indoors and not exercising enough. They also dislike bathing and pay no attention to personal hygiene. Especially women, because they live in deep houses and have no contact with the outside world, they often die of tuberculosis, and athlete's foot and skin diseases often plague them. What we usually see is the corrupt life of the elegant minister in the Faust painting. In fact, it is far from reality. So, how does the dietary life of the Eastern Kingdom samurai compare with this? Paying attention to the quality of diet can be said to be a characteristic of the Eastern Kingdom warriors. They got rid of the shackles of Buddhism and superstition. They not only ate meat such as birds and beasts, and consumed a large amount of animal protein, they also often drank miso soup, ate some sour and salty foods such as prunes, etc. Aids digestion. Moreover, through unremitting martial arts training and long-distance cultivation in the mountains of the Eastern Kingdom, he lived a healthy and good life. From this aspect alone, one can compare the physical differences between the two warriors. It would be difficult for a Heike samurai with a female physique to defeat a Togoku samurai who is as strong as an ox. In addition, the three years of famine that began in 1180 AD only occurred in the Kansai region, while the Eastern Kingdom had a good harvest, and the situation was more favorable to Genji. However, for Genji Yori, who had to prepare for war and raise military supplies, it was not easy to rely entirely on Dongguo to collect supplies. It became very difficult to prepare food and fodder for tens of thousands of troops and horses. At that time, each soldier needed eight to one liter of food per day. In principle, he brought his own food, but after entering a long formation, it could be provided by the master. Generally speaking, dry rice is soaked in water, soup, etc., and other foods such as miso balls are the most suitable food to supplement salt. This was a treasure during the Warring States Period. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu all relied on this to conquer the world. Each soldier is given one liter of rice per day. Ten thousand soldiers need 250 taels per day (one tahu equals 40 liters). One hundred thousand soldiers require 2500 taels per day, plus the requirements for horses. One head of soybeans requires about three liters per day (horses eat more than humans).

Considering this, it is also a quite huge number. Next, we use some data to support the importance of diet. The following introduces the differences in the average life span of emperors, military commanders, and ordinary people (public servants, ordinary samurai, monks, etc.) in each era. (Accidents and war dead are excluded) Emperor's generals and ordinary people Early Heian period: 54 years old, 62 years old, 61 years old Middle Heian period: 41 years old, 70 years old, 57 years old Late Heian period: 38 years old, 66 years old, 64 years old Kamakura period: 44 years old, 56 years old, 64 years old Heian period Starting from the middle to late period, the age of natural death has been pushed forward, which is inseparable from the culture of being ashamed of meat at that time. Next, we will introduce the height of men in each era. The Jomon period: 159.1cm, the Kofun period: 163cm, the Kamakura period: 159cm, the Muromachi period: 156.8cm, the Edo period: 157.1cm, the early Meiji period: 155.3cm. It is not difficult to see that the height changes from the Kofun period to the future. Gradually decreasing, this is closely related to the intake of animal protein. In this way, the difference in food intake between the Genpei family ultimately led to the difference in their fate. Therefore, in the context of political, military and other issues, it is not necessary to connect it with the actual social life at that time. During the Warring States Period, due to frequent wars, food became more focused on serving samurai. Originally, the nobility did not eat meat. Meat was only eaten by farmers and hunters without status. Gradually the ministers became malnourished, while the farmers or hunters who preyed on everything seemed much healthier. The warriors who fought compared their own lives with their status, and may have thought that their lives and their stomachs were more important. And venison is even more delicious among delicacies, so the famous dish roasted venison with pepper and salt appeared. However, roasted venison with pepper and salt is not suitable as dry food, and it takes a certain amount of time to prepare this dish, which is somewhat inappropriate on the battlefield. When there is a war, the soldiers will bring the food needed for the war to the battlefield. Because nigiri sushi can be eaten in a short time and can easily fill an empty stomach, it is regarded as a very important food. Nigiri sushi is a dumpling filled with rice and wrapped with a layer of kelp or something like that. Although it was easy to fill the stomach, it was also easy to make the samurai thirsty. The samurai carried roasted miso cubes with them. When going to the battlefield, they only needed to dissolve it in the soup and drink it. So miso soup, which is absolutely indispensable in Japanese cuisine, was born. From the perspective of samurai warriors who could drink miso soup with gusto, noodles were a luxury item. Noodles were introduced from China before the Muromachi period. At that time, in addition to soy sauce and wine, seasonings such as bonito and kombu were also invented, which added to the deliciousness of the soup. When it comes to noodles, we have to talk about the Tiger of Kai - Takeda Shingen. The favorite food of Takeda Shingen's Koshu army is to boil udon-like noodles with vegetables and then season them with miso. This is extremely nutritious for the soldiers who have to use physical strength to decide victory or defeat. We have to consider whether the Takeda Army lasted for such a long time in Kawanakajima because of the power of noodles. At that time, Japan had very few available resources and agricultural productivity was very low. The reason why many lords continued to plunder other people's territories was actually to rob the resources in other territories. As for the common people, it can be said that almost all of them eat chaff and drink too much water, so many people simply gave up farming and went to fight. If they were lucky, they might be able to get credit and be rewarded. At that time, the raising of poultry and livestock was not common in Japan, and many poultry and livestock were only owned by large landowners. Ordinary people would not eat fish themselves because they had to pay taxes to the lords, so for fish, The meat and fish are generally sold but not eaten. Most people usually eat vegetables and some even just drink gruel. In the temple, both the Ichiko sect and the old sect of Honganji Temple live on vegetarian food. Fried tofu, made with oil and miso since the Kamakura period, gradually became the main dish of monks. I don’t know whether it’s because wheat flour is very easy to make, or whether the monks were influenced by the customs of northern China. Foods made of wheat flour such as noodles, udon noodles, bean paste buns, etc. are all served as afternoon tea snacks. Attachment: Emperor Meiji was only fifteen years old when the Meiji Restoration led to Japan's modernization. The fifteenth Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Keiki, who transferred power to Emperor Meiji, was only thirty years old at the time and only reigned for one year. Five years later, the chaotic society gradually stabilized, and the Meiji government lifted the 1,200-year-old "meat ban." However, even if the ban was lifted, the people would not be able to get used to eating meat immediately, so Emperor Meiji had no choice but to set an example for the people. But in fact, Emperor Meiji hated eating meat. But because we have to interact with Westerners and demonstrate to the people, we reluctantly eat meat in public.

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