A New Year's Banquet.

(From Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry (JJTI))

Byline: Patricia Massy

New Year's Day for a provincial lord during the Tokugawa Period (1603-1867) was not a time to spend restfully with his family. On this day he was expected to treat his closest retainers to a sumptuous meal of rare and special food symbolizing health and happiness for the year to come. In its strict formality the meal also bespoke the rigid order of each of his next 364 days because, as the head of his fief, he had to conform to the set social patterns of the Confucian-based feudal government of the Tokugawas.

The food was served on finely lacquered low tables called zen that stand just above knee level. The order of presenting these table-trays depended on the purpose of the gathering, felicitous occasions calling for the appearance of "7-5-3 trays," so called for the number of dishes on each tray. These lucky numbers are still observed today in the festival occurring on Nov. 15 when children aged seven, five or three are expected to pay a visit to a shrine.

The type of formal meal that a lord would have hosted originated in the palaces of Heian Period Kyoto some 1,000 years ago. Life in those days was composed of a series of rituals marking the passing of time, and these were celebrated with gala banquets which relieved the tedium of the aristocrats' usual meal of a bowl packed with a mound of rice and accompanied by several small dishes of condiments. At a banquet the food was heaped in many dishes all of equal size much in the same manner that offerings were presented to the gods, for after all human beings theoretically rubbed elbows with celestial visitors on those sacred days.

The fish and fowl were prepared as befits an offering. To avoid polluting the meat by human contact, the chef held the carcass with a pair of metal chopsticks while flourishing a long carving knife in his right hand. Although originally it was the duty of the host to undertake this feat before the eyes of his guests, eventually carving became the preserve of professional chefs who were highly respected for their skill. Until 1873, a white crane was ritually carved before the emperor on New Year's Day. Emperor Meiji, however, seemed not to enjoy the spectacle. Since the fifth year of his reign white cranes have been allowed to grace the skies rather than the table.

With the passing of time, bowls and plates came to be seen as more than vessels in which to pile the food in conical mounds. Space was left in the dish to frame the food, and only enough was placed in the dish as to appear appetizing. Seasonings also improved. Taste therefore became as important a criterion as form. During the Heian Period the nobility knew only salt, vinegar and a primitive soy sauce that was merely the liquid drained from miso (soybean paste). In the 12th century the advent of the grinding bowl, or suribachi, made it possible to turn miso into a soluble paste that could be used to flavor soup. This and the discovery of the method of producing pure soy sauce in the 16th century revolutionized Japanese cuisine. In the Tokugawa Period there appeared ...