Vegetarian Fuso people Toyo people Emperor's people Yamato people The ancient Japanese imperial court first issued a "meat-eating ban" in the eighth century. After that, the emperor continued to issue several edicts, and the aristocracy completely 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 300 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 common people will never eat animal meat unless absolutely necessary.

For example, when people are sick or are naturally weak, 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 limited to the corruption of the public ministers, 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 family retreated 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 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 family 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. The original simple and good living habits have long been forgotten, and their daily living habits have fallen into a morbid vicious circle.

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 so-called 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 often leads to unbalanced nutrition, 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 absorbed a large amount of animal protein, they also often drank miso soup, ate some sour and salty foods such as prunes, etc.

aid 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 woman-like physique to defeat a Togoku samurai who was as strong as an ox.

In addition, the three years of famine that began in 1180 AD only occurred in the Kansai region, but the East 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 food and grass.

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.