In Edo Period Japan, wine was only produced for five years – and then never again. Japanese historians have now found out why based on documents from the early Edo period. According to this, the last delivery of wine was ordered and produced in October 1632, but then the Hosokawa clan had to leave their territory and stopped making wine, which was already considered a Christian and thus Western bad habit at the time.
Wine made from grapes was originally unknown in ancient Japan. It was only through contact with western missionaries and trade representatives that some Japanese got to know this drink and how it is made. However, wine production in Japan was never able to establish itself permanently. During the Edo period, which began in the 17th century, wine was already considered a Christian bad habit and its production was temporarily tolerated, but then banned by the Shogunate.
Soybean and wild grape wine
How it came to winemaking in Japan in the first place and when and why it stopped, scientists working with Tsuguharu Inaba from Kumamoto University on Kyushu have now clarified on the basis of historical documents. Accordingly, there were the first beginnings of winemaking from 1627 on the island of Kyushu. There, Tadatoshi Hosokawa, leader of the Hosokawa clan, had his vassals make wine from black soybeans and wild grapes, as the documents show. They are the oldest known evidence of Japanese wine production. However, the resulting drink was not considered a luxury food, but was produced and drunk for medicinal purposes.
But how long did this wine production last? So far there have been no clear historical references to this for the period after 1630. But now the researchers have discovered a document among the documents of the Hosokawa clan kept in the Eisei Bunko library that offers new insights. It is a document dated October 3, 1632, in which the magistrate reports on the order for a wine delivery on behalf of the clan prince. Loosely translated it says: “Taroemon Ueda has informed the magistrate’s office that, on the order of the prince, wild grapes are to be collected and brought to him for wine-making.” Ueda was a vassal of Hosokawa who had learned to make wine according to Western tradition. A little later a note followed that reported the handover of the wild grapes to Taroemon Ueda.
Ordered move ended wine production
However, these documents show that, contrary to previous assumptions, wine production in Japan continued until the end of 1932. But then it came to an end – not only because of a ban, but probably mainly because the Hosokawa clan had to leave their ancestral territory: On January 18, 1633, the shogunate ordered that the Hosokawa clan move from its previous territory in the north Kyushus was to move to what is now Kumamoto Prefecture in central Kyushu. With this, Tadatoshi Hosokawa and his vassals also lost direct access to their wild wine, as Inaba and his colleagues report.
In addition, after moving to its new area, the Hosokawa clan did not have time to re-establish wine production. Because he had to fight against western influenced rebels at the behest of the shogunate. These mostly Christian farmers and ownerless samurai defended themselves against the prohibition of Christianity and against excessive taxes. These struggles, combined with ever stricter anti-Western regulations, brought the art of wine making, which was already exotic for Japan, to a complete standstill, the scientists concluded.
Source: Kumamoto University