Why Japanese Food Is the Healthiest Way to Eat for a Happy Life
It’s not the ingredients necessarily, but the principles which form the foundation
Japanese food is harmony food
Quite literally.
“Japanese food” in Japanese is read as washoku (和食), with wa (和) meaning harmony, and shoku (食) meaning food. In fact, the kanji 「和」 is often interchangeably used to mean “harmony” or “Japanese”.
The kanji character for Japanese was actually first「倭」, read phonetically as “wa”, but this kanji was assigned by the Chinese and didn’t have much significance. Upon learning this, Japanese Empress Genmei assigned the kanji for harmony, or 「和」to replace the existing character during the Nara period (710 to 794 AD) to represent Japan.
It is thought that she was inspired by The Seventeen-Article Constitution, a decree centered on moral principles and virtues, written by politician Prince Shotoku and adopted by her predecessor, the first decree which is 「以和為貴」or to hold harmony in precious regard.
以和為貴: to hold harmony in precious regard
