Getting to Grips with Knives, Forks and Spoons: Guides to Western-Style Dining for Japanese Audiences, c.1800–1875

Abstract

The mid- to late-nineteenth century was a time of intense political and social change in Japan. As the Meiji-era government encouraged its citizens to eat meat, official banquets had already become a scene of diplomatic interaction: transnational tables at which Japanese diners had to get to grips with an unfamiliar dining culture. This article takes as its subject five illustrated books that introduced their readers to Western knives, forks, and spoons in the late Edo period and early Meiji era: Ransetsu benwaku, Yokohama kaikō kenmon shi, Seiyō ishokujū, Seiyō ryōri tsū, and Seiyō ryōri shinan. These publications occupy a cross-cultural space, offering descriptions of Western-style tableware to a Japanese readership. Examining whether these publications intended to offer their readers a form of intercultural competence or were anticipated to function as entertainment, this article argues that this foreign material culture of dining and the knowledge required for its appropriate use became both a matter of grave importance and light amusement within a changing and differentiated Japan.