History of Natto and Its Relatives (1405-2012 - SoyInfo Center

Fermented Foods. Food Industry Research and Development
Institute, P.O. Box 246, Hsinchu, (300) Taiwan. iv + 229 p.
See p. 58-70. [19 ref]
• Summary: Tao-jeow is Thai miso. Sufu is fermented tofu.
The author uses the terms tao-nou and thuo-nao instead
of thua-nao throughout; he even misspells it when citing
Sundhagul 1970. It is sold as a paste or chips. Soy sauce
(the Chinese type), soy paste and fermented soybean curd
are commonly available throughout the country although
they are more common in the Chinese community. Tao-nou,
however, is the product which is popular in the northern part
of the country. Flowcharts show the processes for producing
soy sauce and tao jeow, tofu and sufu, and thuo-nao.
Note: This is the earliest (and only) English-language
document seen (Jan. 2012) that uses the term “tao-nou” or
the term “thuo-nao” to refer to thua-nao. Address: Dep. of
Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol Univ., Rama VI
Rd., Bangkok 4, Thailand.
845. Doi, Tadao; Takeshi, Morita; Chonan, Minoru. 1980.
Hôyaku Nippo jisho [Vocabulary of the language of Japan].
Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. xxxiv + 862 p. 27 cm. [Jap; Por]
• Summary: This is a Japanese-language translation of the
original 1603 edition, Vocabulario da Lingua de Iapam, the
second earliest dictionary of the Japanese language compiled
by Europeans. Soy-related terms in this dictionary, which
are translated from the original hard-to-read Portuguese into
modern Japanese, are described in detail at the reference for
the original 1603 dictionary, which see.
In the Forward, the author notes that this is the
entire translation of the Nagasaki edition of the Japanese
Portuguese Dictionary. The original title is Vocabulario
da Lingoa de Iapam com a declacaraçao em Portugues
(Japanese dictionary with explanation in Portuguese),
published in 1603 by the Japanese Society of Jesus (Nihon
Iezuzu-kai). In 1604 a second dictionary was published,
titled Arte da Lingoa de Iapam Composta Pello Padre Iaao
Rodriguez (1604-1608).
Christian priests traveled by boat to Japan to teach the
Japanese Christianity. As a result, they left many historical
documents. Francis Xavier fi rst arrived in Japan in 1549
and only 54 years later his group published this remarkable
Japanese dictionary. The year 1603 was also the year that
Tokugawa Ieyasu became the shogun (Seiitaishogun, or
highest ranking samurai), founding the Tokugawa Shogunate
or Edo period. In Japanese history it was the turning point
at which the country changed from the medieval period to
the modern one. This dictionary is a very unique mirror
which refl ects this period and is regarded as an important
document that raises many questions in Japanese cultural
history. The dictionary is indispensable in Japanese linguistic
history since it contains many Japanese words of the period
with explanations in Portuguese. In those days the Japanese
had dictionaries that focused on Chinese characters (kanji)
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 272
and simple dictionaries for waka and renka poems. This
dictionary picked up a wide range of words from daily
conversation, organizing and defi ning them in modern
dictionary form. The original edition was stored in a secret
place in Europe, inaccessible to Japanese, who therefore
had to largely depend on a 19th century French translation
by Leon Pajes. A rotogravure edition of the book stored at
Oxford University entered Japan during the Taisho period
(1912-1926) and was studied. Only recently was a facsimile
copy of the original edition published, and it is being used
increasingly.
This dictionary was produced by the Japanese Society of
Jesus [Jesuits] to further their goal of spreading Christianity.
The 1603 dictionary was developed to help the priests
understand dialects, lower-class speech, and the confessions
of the local common people. The 1604 dictionary focused on
the speech of the upper classes and more educated people.
Thus the 1603 dictionary collected words the priests needed
to understand, while the 1604 dictionary collected those that
they wanted to use.
846. Fukushima, Danji; Hashimoto, Hikotaka. 1980. Oriental
soybean foods. In: F.T. Corbin, ed. 1980. World Soybean
Research Conference II: Proceedings. Boulder, Colorado:
Westview Press. xv + 897 p. See p. 729-743. [7 ref]
• Summary: Contents: Fermented soybean foods. Nonfermented
soybean food. Conclusion. References.
The following statistics show the amount (tons) of
whole soybeans / defatted soybean grits / total of whole and
grits consumed for various soybean foods and feeds in Japan
in 1976.
Fermented soyfoods: Shoyu (soy sauce) 10,000 /
165,000 / 175,000, miso 190,500 / 5,000 / 195,500. Natto
69,000 / 0 / 69,000.
Non-fermented soyfoods: tofu and aburage (fried tofu
pouches) 411,500, 55,000 / 466,500. Kori-tofu (dried-frozen
tofu) 29,000 / 0 / 29,000. Others 16,000 / 75,000 / 91,000.
Animal feeds: 30,000 / 1,950,000 / 1,980,000. Thus
total use for foods and feeds is whole soybeans 756,000.
Defatted soybean grits 2,250,000, total of both 3,006,000.
By type of use, animal feeds account for 65.9% of total
Japanese usage of whole soybeans and defatted grits, nonfermented
soyfoods account for 19.5%, and fermented
soyfoods account for 14.6%. The top three food users are
tofu (466,500 tons, 45.5% of all food uses), miso (195,500),
and shoyu (175,000). There are 35,000 tofu plants in Japan.
Fermented soybean foods described are shoyu (soy
sauce; 5 types), miso (3 basic types, 6 varieties), sufu
(Chinese soybean cheese), tempeh (fermented soybean cake),
natto (fermented whole soybeans; itohiki-natto and hamanatto),
and fermented soymilk (recently a new fermented
soybean product appeared on the market in Japan. It is a soy
milk drink fermented by lactic acid bacteria).
Non-fermented soybean foods described are tofu (soy