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of the meat-eating taboo fitted perfectly with the principles outlined in the
Charter Oath, a blueprint of the new regime proclaimed in the name of
the emperor a few months after the overthrow of the Tokugawa government.
The two last points of the Oath declared that ‘evil customs of the
past shall be broken off ’ and that ‘knowledge shall be sought throughout
the world’ to strengthen the empire. 62
The emperor’s adoption of meat eating, like his birthday party,
proved a deed of great symbolic potential. It represented the beginning of
Japan’s transformation into a world power on a par with Western countries
and launched the emperor as a progressive ruler who would lead the nation
through this journey. Eating for ‘civilization and enlightenment’ during
the first half of the Meiji period should be viewed in the first place as
symbolic; the amounts of beef consumed by the Meiji Japanese were
negligible and fundamental changes in their consumption practices began
to take place after the turn of the twentieth century. However, the international
and domestic politics of the new government undoubtedly played
a very important role in setting the stage for this transformation.
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