Authentic Voices:
Conversations on Food and Agriculture

Professor Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney is a William F. Vilas Research Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. An expert in the social, cultural, and symbolic anthropology of Japan, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of 12 books in English and Japanese, including “Illness and Culture in Contemporary Japan: An Anthropological View” (1984), “The Monkey as Mirror: Symbolic Transformations in Japanese History and Ritual” (1987), “Rice as Self: Japanese Identities Through Time” (1993), and “Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: the Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History” (2002). Professor Ohnuki-Tierney has been awarded the Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Japan Foundation fellowships, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1. Background

2. Significance of Rice and other Foods in Japan

3. Concept of Nature and what is Natural in Japanese Foods

4. Food Safety in Japan

5. McDonald’s and Changing Table Manners in Japan

6. Globalism and the Japan/United States Food Market

7. Concluding Thoughts

Significance of Rice and other Foods in Japan

L: I thought we'd start with a discussion about rice--the significance of rice--and you've written a wonderful book called, "The Rice as Self"—in it you talk about how rice is related to the Japanese concept of self.

OT: Yes—

L: I thought we'd first go back to ancient Japan--how was rice viewed?

OT: Well, I was doing research about marginalized people in Japan--the Ainu minority. And then I did research on the monkey itself. Initially I had only wanted to do research on the monkey until I realized the monkey trainers were formerly hisabetsu burakumin [the community settlers "under discrimination"]. And so the rice was my attempt to understand the so-called dominant Japanese. I think the creation of minorities was the flipside of the development of the agrarian culture.

In ancient Japan, rice was introduced from the Asian continent and became the food of the elite. So even during the modernizing period, government and industry wanted to attract women from rural Japan. They told them they could provide the women--rice--three times a day. So I realized, throughout Japan until very recently, rice was prestige food confined to the elite and that farmers were rice producers, not the consumers.

And so it's only a recent phenomenon--yet the Japanese talk now about Japanese rice--they believe in this. But in fact, Japanese agriculture was very exceptional in that there were no national seed distributors in Japan. Rice was reproduced by the local farmers from their old seeds, last year's seeds [planting homegrown seeds].

L: Could you tell us about the mythologies of ancient Japan and how these are related to rice--how rice came to be sacred and deified? In particular, you've written about the stories about Amaterasu [the Sun Goddess and imperial ancestress] and other deities.

OT: There are many versions of the myth--but one version is that the grandson [Ninigi-no Mikoto] of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu Ômikami, delegated to him to bring down [the rice grains] from Takamagahara [Heaven], where the original rice was grown. So the origin myth of Japan is about how the grandson of Amaterasu transformed a wilderness [Japan] into a land of succulent rice crops, in contrast to the origin myth of other peoples that are creation myths.

L: In your book, "Rice as Self," you write that rice is mentioned in the first written chronicles, the “Kojiki"[712 A.D.] and the "Nihonshoki,”[720 A.D.].

OT: Yes, that's right. There is some controversy among scholars, but they believe the "Ta-no-Kami," the Deity of Rice Paddies, came from the mountains. The mountains were the most sacred place in the Japanese universe, or at least in the agrarian cosmology. So the Mountain Deity [Yama-no-Kami] became the Deity of Rice Paddies. The [Mountain] Deity came down to the rice paddies [and lodged] on the petals of the cherry blossoms to look after agricultural production. So the farmers planted rice at the time of cherry blossoms. And if you had gorgeous cherry blossoms, it forecast a good rice crop in the fall. Cherry blossoms were the spring counterpart of rice.

L: And that's why farmers planted cherry trees around the rice paddies. It's an interesting connection between cherry blossoms and rice.

OT: Yes--the cherry trees used to be only in the mountains—it was only later on when the farmers wanted to have their own cherry blossoms that they planted [the trees] in sato, the people's villages.

L: With that of course comes the cherry blossoms--what is the significance of the blossoms?

OT: Yes, the cherry blossoms were assigned with the power to expel evil spirits. So the flower festivals were all to expel evil spirits that cause epidemics and all negative phenomena, by the vitality of the flower. And so I spent a great deal of time following those flower festivals at the beginning of my research.

L: It must have been a lot of fun!

OT: Yes, yes--going around Kyoto—

L: During the flower festivals, didn't people pray for the cherry blossom petals to last as long as possible?

OT: Yes, that's right. Like the Yasurai Matsuri—which means to rest and stay as long as possible.

L: To ensure a good crop and long season?

OT: Yes, and in this one festival, the Yasurai Matsuri, a prayer for the cherry blossoms to stay long was written on a fan and paraded at the festival.

L: You also wrote about the etymology of the cherry blossom--sakura. The sa and kura. Sa means?

OT: The sa [namely, the Deity of Rice Paddies] etymology is the same as in fortune and all auspicious things. Kura means the seat of the spirit of the deity. Kura means seat, for example, the leather equipment on a horse.

L: Sa also in used in the word sake [rice wine]?

OT: Yes.

L: It's interesting that sa signifies prosperity. And with rice being a significant symbol, among other symbols such as cherry blossoms as you talked about in your presentation last night, how is rice a symbol of an "unchanging Japan"? You had written about rice weathering the storm of westernization, urbanization, and modernization. What do the rice paddies represent?

OT: Nationalism so to speak--we have to distinguish between cultural nationalism and political nationalism. But in both cases, whether it's in Germany or Japan, they construct a primordial self. And so here we have a reflection of the dominant agrarian culture providing the primordial self of the Japanese--which they find in rice agriculture. It's like when Mao Zedong wanted to bring Chinese agriculture as their identification of the Chinese primordial self. That primordial self in Japan was aestheticized by woodblock prints in Japan.

L: The primordial self is unchanging and also pure. In the woodblock prints, the rice paddies are shown without the sweat and manure. Rice in this way is shown to be pristine?

OT: Yes, that’s right.

L: Could you explain the Japanese notion of soul in relation to rice?

OT: Rice is the locus for the deities—and that’s how the mythology and deities build up the importance and sacredness of rice. And later on with the Confucian ideology--you cannot waste even a single grain of rice. The grain is the locus of the soul of the rice [plant]. Interesting part about rice is that the deities are supposed to have both aspects of the aratama [violent power] and the nigitama [peaceful/positive power]. But in the case of rice, it has only the nigitama. As for aratama, it is assigned to such things as flooding, and other deities.

L: And is the rice deity referred to as the ear of the rice plant and not the grain?

OT: The term used is mizuho—the ear—water [succulent] heads of rice. But, the grain is important.

L: And is the grain the soul?

OT: Yes, that’s right.

L: The soul is alive, is that right? It departs like the human soul?

OT: Yes—in the ancient idea about the soul, after death it departs from the body. There have been rituals to bring the soul back into the body.

L: You have also written about commensality between deities and humans. Could you tell us about the significance of harvest rituals?

OT: The harvest rituals involve repayment, in other words, a return gift to the deities. So you multiply the original seeds and then—it’s almost like you earn interest or a kind of investment—you return [and repay] the deities by eating together with the deities and humans, and then among humans.

L: So, getting back to the rice again—considering the kind of rice that the Japanese now think as Japanese—domestic short-grained rice [japonica type], in fact, it was a foreign import brought back from somewhere in Asia.

OT: Exactly, the Japanese had to come up with the mythology of rice—that rice was grown in the Japanese heaven—precisely because the rice was imported matter.

L: As you pointed out earlier, it is important to note that rice was not a prevalent food for the masses and it was only for the elite.

OT: Yes, absolutely. All the rest was called sakkoku [miscellaneous grains]. And only rice was singled out.

L: And the rice was singled out for rituals, was it not?

OT: Upper class ate rice in their daily lives--but rice was really a ritual food for others.

L: And so considering all that, do you think that to the average Japanese consumer, whether the rice is homegrown or imported from California, matters to them? You had written about the GATT issue in 1993 between Japan and the U.S. [1995]—do you think these trade issues are important to the consumer now? Is there a distinction made between Japanese and U.S. rice?

OT: Rice purchase in Japan is an intriguing affair in that most households have their own grocers. And it is the responsibility of the grocers to deliver the best rice to the households.

L: So it becomes the grocer’s rather than the consumer's decision.

OT: Yes, that’s right.

L: Would this apply to farmers, to everyone?

OT: I don’t know but for sure in urban areas. After Hosokawa [former Prime Minister of Japan] decided to import rice, suddenly the government went through all kinds of interesting experiments. They showed them on television—without telling the testers [school childres] which rice was from California and which one was grown in Japan. It was meant to show that they couldn’t make distinctions. But, before the government decided to import rice, it was interesting that housewives started writing to the Japanese newspapers to point out that California rice does not purify the Japanese air. And the California rice is contaminated with chemicals. In fact, Japanese rice is contaminated with chemicals.

So the purity/impurity principle is applied to rice. They reported they found mice in the Chinese rice and this and that. So the consumers were unwittingly cooperating with the government. On the other hand, other rice [imported rice] had been used for such things as rice cakes and rice crackers. I tried to eat at different kinds of restaurants, including lower-class restaurants, and obviously all kinds of rice were used.

L: Can you distinguish between homegrown Japanese rice and California rice?

OT: Not California rice but I can distinguish between old rice and new rice. Old rice is much drier. But I’m not that fussy so I cannot be the best judge.

L: In consideration of what we have discussed—this notion of Japanese uniqueness—being distinct—does that apply here? Is the rice issue important to the average consumer and to government agencies?

OT: It’s only when there is an external pressure, as in the case of California rice. So we have to consider when the other presses the Japanese. That’s the time nationalism comes out. Yes—just like in the States—right after 9/11—

L: What about the younger generation?

OT: As far the younger generation, their tastes have changed so much—they use garlic as extensively as the Koreans do. And they love Kim chi and meat.

L: Do you think the younger generation is as concerned about the quality of rice?

OT: I don’t think they are—much.

L: Also, talking about the aesthetics of rice, as expressed in Japanese poems, essays, and works of art such as woodblock prints—I’ve brought some examples here—

OT: This is not articulated in the minds of the people but if you look at the brands [referring to rice brands], they label their products as sasanishiki and koshihikari [Japanese rice cultivars]. Those brand names capitalize on the luster and aesthetics of rice. And then a literary figure like Tanizaki would describe the rice “like pearls in the dark [black lacquer].”

L: Rice is described in literature as you said to have luster—and it perhaps refers back to when rice was used as currency before coins and in this way rice is also described to have a golden luster.

OT: Yes, and gold was used for assess the daimyo— the feudal lord’s—territory and the golden waves of rice, that is, [measured by] how many koku [about 5 bushels], that’s the yield of rice. And in the fall there were golden waves of rice in a daimyo’s territory, referring to rice plants. Money actually in every society starts with a religious meaning. [Juno] Moneta is the temple where coins were minted in Greece [where the word money originates]. In the West as well, money is sacred.

L: Yet, money itself in Japan is not considered clean and especially in the case of the metallic currency that was first introduced.

OT: Yes, it took a long time to change to coin currency. And it went back to rice at one time. Currency itself, when it became secularized, acquired an ambivalent value. On the one hand, [it was considered] in terms of the economic value of the time. On the other hand, in the day-to-day Japanese notion, to be greedy was bad, and capitalism was bad, and money was handled by anybody—you always had to wash your hands after handling money.

L: For example, when you receive or give a gift of money in Japan, you always put it in an envelope.

OT: It also has to be a non-circulated bill, so you can’t give a person a used bill as a gift. And you have to give the money in a certain kind of envelope.

L: In talking about the aesthetics of rice, you described particular woodblock prints [Hokusai and Hiroshige prints. In the prints, what do you see as significant features referring to rice and rice agriculture?

OT: At the time of these woodblock prints, Edo was the urban center. For example—the 53 Tôkaidô stations—people were always paying homage to Edo. But along the way, what they were depicting was an unchanging Japan, symbolized by cherry blossoms, rice paddies, Mount Fuji, and the travelers going to Edo and back in the unchanging part of Japan.

L: And the travelers themselves were in a kind of liminal space?

OT: Yes, that’s right.

L: You have mentioned that, in the scenes of rice paddies—the rice paddies are always portrayed as pristine and pure.

OT: Yes—agriculture is often displayed in nationalism for the identity of self—without manure, without sweat, without taxation.

L: What was the significance of the rice sheaf itself?

OT: The significance of the ear of the rice plant.

NL: Are there any other foods as significant as rice in Japan?

OT: Depends upon how significant—for example, rice is above everything else—it is the only food that is shared. Commensality is very important. And even today, in Japanese households, people have their own rice bowls and the dishes are not shared but rice is shared. It always comes [from a single container] and then the head of the household—that is, the woman of the house would scoop and serve the rice [with a spatula].

Fish is important, sea bream is the fish for celebration—but there is nothing comparable to rice. McDonald’s became very prosperous but it is always considered to be a snack.

Next: Concept of Nature and what is Natural in Japanese Foods