Daibutsu, Kamakura

Daibutsu, Kamakura
Daibutsu in Kamakura, June 2010. There were thousands of school kids visiting that day. It was still great fun.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Satsumaimo

Satsumaimo, the Japanese sweet potato. Do you know where the name satsumaimo comes from?





The domain of Satsuma.

Satsuma was one of the powerful outside feudal domains during the Edo period. Satsuma was one of the domains that fought against and lost to Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603.

However, Satsuma remained a powerful outside domain. Although the domains were forbidden by the Tokugawa Shoguns to engage in foreign trade, Satsuma domain did not abide by this rule. Satsuma engaged in much international trading during the Edo period (1603-1868), including with China, where they originally imported sweet potato's from.  Later, Satsuma became famous for growing the sweet potato's in their domain.

Hence, the name, satsumaimo.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:37 PM

    I like how you can get hot ones right from the grocery store for only ¥100 in Tokyo. The only reasonably priced food around!

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  2. I loooove the hot ones.

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  3. I'm still waiting for them to get peddled around the neighborhood.

    Usually at what time of the year do they sell these things anyway?

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  4. You know, I don't know what time of year they do that. I'll have to ask my wife.

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  5. Eating too much sweet potatoes give me gas. LOL

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  6. Eating brownie bites in the morning gives me to much gas also Lina.

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  7. Anonymous3:59 AM

    Ahhh, I have been wondering why they were called that! This makes it so much easier to remember the name of this veggie now. Thanks! and nice blog!

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  8. Thank you. The samurai were also referred to by their enemies with the derogatory term "Potato Samurai". Especially by the samurai of Aizu, a bitter enemy after Satsuma betrayed them during the Meiji Resotoration.

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