The Edo Period’s Contribution to Food Knowledge
Fish encyclopedias can now be found in many places, including books and websites. In fact, even in the Edo period, there was a fish encyclopedia. It is a book called “Uwo-Kagami”.
Along with illustrations, this practical book describes where the 133 fish species(marine food) come from, the origin of their names, how to eat them, and even what is good food or bad food for people.
Insight into Kurodai (Black Sea Bream) Entry
Let’s read one page for the sake of it. I wrote down the “Kurodai”(Black Sea Bream) verse.
くろだい 倭名抄に出づ。食経にホウ魚と訓す。又弁式立成に海鲫魚和名ちぬ。西国にちぬだい。小なるものを俗にかひづといふ。漢名烏頬魚ミン志にみゆ。形たいに似て、全身灰色なり。古へよりいやしむといへども、その味ひ美し。真鯛に次ぐものなり。気味温毒なし。妊婦食ふときわ堕胎す。蕨とともに食うことを忌む
魚鑑 下巻
It appears in the classics and that it was called chinu or kaizu (the names are the same as in modern times in Japane). The shape of the fish is like that of a sea bream, and while it was regarded as tasty, it was also despised, probably because of its color. Moreover, it retains knowledge that is not commonly preserved today, such as the belief that pregnant women should not eat black sea breams as they may cause miscarriage, or that black sea breams should not be eaten together with bracken ferns.
Additionally, it includes detailed descriptions such as eating too much tuna can cause a rash, eating Mate shellfish can cure diarrhea caused by cold, Pacific saury was called ‘Sayori’ in Kyoto, and people suffering from eye diseases should not eat Spanish mackerel. Regardless of whether it is true or not, the details continue.
Who Was Behind Uwo-Kagami?
The question is, what kind of person wrote such a detailed encyclopedia in the Edo period? How did he gather his knowledge of fish?
The author was a man named Shusaku Takei. Let me briefly introduce his biography, which was written in the preface of the Uwo-Kagami. The original text is a bit long, and many of the characters are in a font that cannot be used, so I will omit it, but you can read it at the link.
The introduction begins with ‘In my youth, I engaged in the study of medicine under the Dutch (referred to as ‘Ōnishi’ here). I also once followed the study of ‘Shaben’ (herbal medicine)…’ Here, ‘Ōnishi’ refers to the Netherlands, and ‘Shaben’ refers to the study of herbal medicine. Herbal medicine is a discipline that broadly seeks medicines from nature and had elements of what we would now consider natural history. In essence, Takei Shūsaku was a doctor who dabbled in natural history. He seems to have been a disciple of Katsuragawa Hoshū, who translated ‘Tafel Anatomie’ (Anatomische Tabellen).
The Purpose Behind the Creation of Uwo-Kagami
The question then arises: why did such a person create this encyclopedia? The purpose is documented.
嘗テ意フ。本邦海国魚蝦頗繁シ。之ヲ彙テ以テ一部通俗ノ書ヲ撰ント欲スルコト久シ…
In other words, it seems that the book was written under the intention of contributing to the health of the common people by showing knowledge of the fish that appear on their daily tables, in a country that is surrounded by the sea and blessed with abundant marine resources. At that time, he lived near the fish market in Nihonbashi. He reportedly frequently visited the market to interview the people involved in the fish trade.
How splendid Mr. Takei Shūsaku was. Even then, he understood the richness of Japan’s marine resources and deeply understood the benefits of fish for the body, spreading this knowledge to the general public to contribute to their health.
In the encyclopedia of Edo-period fish, I saw the strong will of one person. I may not be exactly like him, but with a similar aspiration, I also want to create my own works.
Uwo-Kagami can be read at the Digital Archive of the Library of Congress in Japan. The Thumbnail and images are also cited from here.