1988 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Characteristics of the Cultural Aspects of the Food Customs of Okinawa -- Particularly those of the Period of the Ryukyuan Kingdom --
| Project/Area Number |
60580063
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
家政学
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| Research Institution | University of the Ryukyus |
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Principal Investigator |
KINJO Sumiko College of Education, University of the Ryukyus, Associate Professor, 教育学部, 助教授 (00044933)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1985 – 1987
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| Keywords | Cultural Aspects of the Food-Custom of Okinawa / Custom of Eating of Hog Meat / 中国食文化の影響 / 膳符日記 |
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| Research Abstract |
In order to discern the characteristics of the cultural aspects of the food custom of Okinawa, we have judged indispensable to make a historical study of the food custom of Okinawa of the period of the Ryukyuan Kingdom. We have made reference to and an analysis of archives as well as other histroeical records. Furthermore, to find out regional discrepancies, we have conducted an investigatin of the good custom of some regions. The findings are as follows.
1. One of the characteristics of the food custom of Okinawa is the custom of eating the meat of livestock. Already in the prehistoric age, the meat of such animals as wild boars, cattle, horses, pigs, and goats were used as aliment. But it was after the 18th century that the culinary art of hog meat has been developed and had taken root in the life of the people. On the occasions of the festival of Seimei and other Buddhist services of Hoji, there still exists the custom of Sanmi, the custom of offering of a hog head or a piece of meat
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placed before the tablet of the deceased. We habe studied the background and the evolution of the custom of eating meat and presented the result of the study in Design of Life.
2. Distinct from Okinawa, Yaeyama has the custom of serving a vegetarian diet in the food offered in the functions of incense-burning. On the tray of Ryongu-Bon not a piece of meat is used. There exist similarities in materials and the culinary art between that of the mainaland Japan and Yaeyama. The Chinese custom of offerings of Sanmi mixed with this custom.
3. Becasue of the relations and exchanges with China, Southeast Asia, and Korea that existed in the period of the Ryukyuan Kingdom, the influences of these countries are evident in the food custom, particularly that of China.
4. In Yaeyama, there conserved an old document Zenfu Nikki which records in great detail the menu of the food, along with its culinary art, served in the festivities from the period of the Ryukyuan Kingdom to the present. For this reason, this document is of paramount importance for the study of the food custom of Okinawa. We have analysed and commented the text of this document. Less
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