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ws162_WHY?: questions about Japan - Table Manners (a)
ws163_WHY?: questions about Japan - Table Manners (b)
2021-03-12 1:00amhttps://youtu.be/sL29GQS1Ru4
hope this series helps you to understand the Japan country and people.
外国人が疑問に思う事柄の動画です。日本に興味のある外国人が知り合いにいたらぜひシェアしてください。
text テキスト: 『なぜ、日本人は？ 答えに詰まる外国人の質問178 Hard-to-Answer Questinos about Japan』著：内池久貴他 written by Uchiiké Hisataka and others／訳：マイケル・ブレーズ translated by Michael Brase（ジャパンブック JapanBook 2009）
Chawanmushi (茶碗蒸し, chawammushi, literally "tea cup steam" or "steamed in a tea bowl") is an egg custard dish found in Japan.[1] Unlike many other custards, it is usually eaten as a dish in a meal, as chawanmushi contains savory rather than sweet ingredients. The custard consists of an egg mixture flavored with soy sauce, dashi, and mirin, with numerous ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, kamaboko, yuri-ne (lily root), ginkgo and boiled shrimp placed into a tea-cup-like container.[1] The recipe for the dish is similar to that of Chinese steamed eggs, but the toppings often differ. Since egg custard can't be picked up by chopsticks, it's one of the few Japanese dishes that is eaten with a spoon.
Shikki is craftwork coated with lacquer, and it has been in general use all over Southeast Asia for more than 2,000 years. Bamboo, wood and cloth materials are painted with a mixture of paints and concentrated lacquer tree sap. In Japan there was a strong influence from China in the sixth century when Buddhism was introduced, and the techniques of making shikki improved rapidly. Subsequently, shikki was used widely in daily life for furniture and tableware and before long it was even made in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it was widely introduced into Europe and in English was called “japan.” The chief characteristics of shikki are its strength against humidity and heat and its outstanding durability. Even now, Wajima lacquer and Aizu lacquer, among other kinds, are still being made.
──『日本文化を英語で紹介する事典
A Bilingual Handbook on Japanese Culture【第３版】』
杉浦洋一＋John K. Gillespie（ナツメ社／2004年）
なぜ、お酒をあんなに小さい器で飲むのですか？ Why do Japanese drink saké in such small cups?
Hinamatsuri occurs on March 3 and is an occasion to pray for young girls’ growth and happiness. Most homes with girls display dolls for the Doll’s Festival and dedicate to them peach blossoms, rice cake cubes, special colored and diamond-shaped rice cakes, white sake, and other items. The origin of hinamatsuri is an ancient Chinese practice in which the sin of the body and misfortune are transferred to a doll and washed away by setting the doll in a river to drift away. When this practice spread to Japan, it was linked to girl’s playing with dolls and, in the Edo Period (1603-1867), was developed into the hinamatsuri.
Hina are small dolls for girls and have existed since the Heian Period (794-1185). They took their present from in the Edo Period (1603-1867). A “doll Emperor and Empress in ancient costume,” patterned after the Emperor and Empress, are placed on the highest tier of a five- or seven-tiered stand covered with a red carpet, and under them come the “Minister of the Right, Minister of the Left,” the “three court ladies,” and the “five court musicians,” among others. However, in recent times, more and more homes have simplified this by setting out only the Emperor and Empress dolls.
White, concentrated saké is called shirozaké. The manufacturing process is different form regular sake; it is made by blending a sweet kind of sake and low-class distilled spirits (shōchū) with steamed glutinous rice and rice malt. It is not a regular alcoholic beverage; with its sweetness, it is mostly drunk by women and girls on special days like the Doll’s Festival (Hina-Matsuri). Meanwhile, amazaké also has a sweet taste and is served mainly at Shinto shrines for New Year’s and other festivals and is also drunk in homes in the cold winter. This sake is brewed by blending malted rice with rice gruel.
