A Samurai and His Toothpick (Patreon)

There's a famous saying that goes: 武士は食わねど高楊子 / Bushi ha kuwanedo takayōji. Or something like "even though the samurai hasn't eaten, he uses a toothpick."

The translation goes something like this:

-Bushi means samurai or warrior.

-Kū means to eat, kuwanu being the negative form of the verb. Then with the conditional "do," it translates as "even if they do no eat"

-Taka yōji means to use a toothpick after you've had a nice meal.

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Back in university in the States an exchange student tried to explain this saying to me and I just didn't get it. But now I think I do.

But first, I just read some and watched a interesting video and it all impressed on me once again how hard life was back in the day. That went for samurai, too. Samurai, even higher ranked ones, couldn't afford to, or were discouraged from eating fancy foods. The article went so far as to say it was forbidden for them to live lavishly (per bushido) and meals were to be simple.

From the Sengoku Jidai (Warring States Period, 1467~1567) until the beginning of the Edo Era (1603~1867) samurai (as were most people) were only eating two meals a day: breakfast and dinner. Eventually lunch was added during the Genroku Era (1688~).

There is a found diary from a samurai who was part of a group of ten who lived in what is now Saitama Prefecture. His name was Osaki Junnosuke and he wrote down what they ate for one week.

The year was not recorded but the month and day were. This was after three meals came into fashion.

This is so fascinating to me. Okay, here we go.

June 15: Breakfast--nothing

Lunch--grilled shellfish

Dinner--clam soup

June 16: Breakfast--tsumi-ire soup (minced fish made into balls and cooked in soup

Lunch--tofu

Dinner--tofu

June 17: Breakfast-- gobo or burdock root soup

Lunch--Eggplant

Dinner-- Katsuo bushi (shaved bonito flakes), burdock root, loach, cold tofu

June 18:  Breakfast-- nothing

Lunch--8-cup tofu soup (recipe below)

Dinner-- 8-cup tofu soup

June 19: Breakfast--nothing

Lunch--nothing

Dinner--piece of salted salmon and cold tofu

June 20: Breakfast--chazuke (eating rice that has had tea poured over it)

Lunch--chazuke

Dinner--chazuke

June 21: Breakfast--nothing

Lunch--nothing

Dinner--fried something (it doesn't say what) and salted eggplant

Late Meal--(went out to eat to small restaurant with his samurai friends) rolled egg, chawan mushi (a kind of egg custard, not sweet), eel, sweet boiled eggplant, plus one more thing (he doesn't say)

They were starving! Was my first reaction. 

So I looked up what 8-Cup Tofu was and found a recipe and made it! 

[Eight-cup tofu is an Edo Era soup made by putting a block of tofu in a pot consisting of six cups of water, one cup of soy sauce, and one cup of sake. Boil and serve. Some grated daikon was added to the one below.]

It wasn't bad. It was easy. You can pretty much imagine what it tasted like, right?

I can only imagine how amazing that late night meal with his friends tasted.

Back to the the old saying...

So the phrase that a samurai uses a toothpick even if he hasn't eaten (as I was told) means to show your dignity and selflessness. For the samurai even though he is very hungry, in front of others he acts with honor and reserve.

My friend also said it was used for example to not put others out. If someone offered a samurai a meal, knowing that person barely had enough to feed their own family, the samurai would politely refuse and use the toothpick and say, no they were full...even if they were very hungry. Which looking at the above, certainly they were!

My friend used it for something like that last example. When offered something (because Japanese friends are always giving things to each other), he'd say no he was good, thank you very much. Then jokingly pretend to use a toothpick and recite the saying.Speaking of being hungry, one thing you'll notice when you go to museums here is that oftentimes samurai armor is *very* small.

It's hard to tell from photos on line, but here's an old photo. People were very small. Of course, nutrition being what it was...

That has absolutely changed, however, and I remember going back to the States in the 90s one year and was shocked that the kids there looked a lot shorter than the ones the same age in Japan.

Anyway, I totally went down this rabbit hole and wanted to share. 

XO,

t