Grab your Chopsticks: The last post....... Yakitori, All Japanese people were vegetarian??

Konichiwa, good day all,

I will be posting about the history of "Yakitori" which translates to chicken spuarial.

I have experimental connection with "Yakitori", as it was my first work place.

I want to briefly explain about how the chickens were brought to Japan, (As Japan is an island, and Chickens cant fly, someone would have brought them to Japan). It has been told that first chickens to be brought to Japan was sometime during the Joumon period (14,000–300 BC) with horses, cows, dogs and pigs. As Chickens cannot fly they were easier to look after and good alarm to wake up in the morning. As chickens have the characteristics of defending its territories, the people used to ply gambling through "Toukei"chicken fights.

Since then there are many evidence such as "Haniwa", which demonstrate connection between the Japanese people back then and chickens. There was a huge change in Japanes diet, when Tenmu Emperor announced that people should eat horses, dogs, cows, monkeys and chicken.

Horses were used for farming, dogs were used as a watch dog/guards and chicken played important role of being the clock.

During this period, the influence of buddism was very strong. Soon the only meat that people ate was wild birds if they were desperate. These working animals were considered as labor/capital not for fulfilling the desire our hunger. The chicken farming and poultry only become part of the Japanese people during the period Tokugawa Yoshimune was in charge (1716~45), to generate extra income for lower class Samurais.

As the time passed on, improvement in transport and equipment helped many Japanese people to grow their chicken farms and poultries. However, even during this Edo period, chickens were not common to be on the dining table. Even the cooking book during Edo period described all the ingredient as wild birds.

The Meji revolution not only changed the social aspect of Japan through westernisation, but changes in Japanese people's diet. During the period chicken was more precious than any other meat. The famous dish during initial change in the diet was "Sukiyaki", which is still loved by many citizens.

Yakitori, became famous as chicken was considered as precious, however if started with low quality and parts which has been used to make soup. It has been noted that chicken farms were nearly over before the world war has begin. During war, any food supply did not meet the demand, Yakitori business kept quiet under the black market, selling other kind of meat.

It was only after the WW2, when the Americans introduced Broiler chickens, which is raised specifically for meat production. After the Broiler chicken was available to chicken farmers, Yakitori become available once again.

Yakitori now days are loved by many business man after hard work with coupld of beers to finish the day. Yakitori has become very popular and is definately something you MUST try when you visit Japan. There are special street dedicated for small restaurants like yakitori. Have a look at the photo, here is the offical touring site if you want to have few drinks in the middle of Tokyo, amongst local Japanese workers.