Feature Article : ‘Japan-consciousness’ in the Past, Present and Future : Rice-eating as an Urban Culture

Rice was not mere food in early modern Japan. As shown in the phrase “gold, silver, rice, and money”, it was treated as a kind of goods as a standard for land prices, taxation, and salary of the samurai. People who could eat rice habitually were limited hierarchically and regionally and cereals and potato were staple food in the farm village. Even in the modern, this situation did not change. It is often discussed that it was after the 20th century when rice became “staple food of the Japanese” as we simply imagine now. Whether rice did not have a symbolic meaning in early modern Japan? In this paper we point out that rice was recognized as a symbol of an urban district, especially Edo, based on literary works. We will show the following things examining documents: seeing rice with a special light was a result of affirmation and admiration of the richness of the urban culture rather than a factor of the religious and folk belief that has been emphasized conventionally. It accords with the actual situation of people in the early modern Japan