radishes from Higo province:

I have no idea to which degree the radishes of Higo (present-day Kumamoto Prefecture) were famous, the sources I’ve discovered so far report of two radish names that were apparently cultivated: Kubota and Kikuchi.

It is also interesting to see that the sources that mention Higo radishes were rather early ones, one from the mid-seventeenth century and the other ones from the beginning of eighteen century. An exception is a woodblock print (ukyoe) made by the artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861) dating from 1852.

The ukyoe is intriguing.

But before delving into the ukyoe print, let’s check the sources first.

Kubota radish

• The first source that mentions Higo radish is a poetry collection of the Edo period titled Kefukigusa (“[as] grass blowing hair [brush]”). The title is rather difficult to translate, maybe the author, the renga poet Matsue Shigeyori (1602-1680), wanted to evoke the image of his brush dancing on the paper like the grass blowing in the wind. The work actually is a manual for writing haikai no renga, which can be translated as “playful linked verses”.
• The author Matsue Shigeyori originally was from an affluent merchant family in Kyoto who traded thin silk fabrics. Yet he didn’t follow in the footsteps of his family but found his calling in poetry.

“[…] Rendaino and Yoshida radish in Yamashiro [province], Tenmangumae radish in Settsu [province], [further] Mishimae radish, they are all thick and used for zōni 雑煮, [next] Owari radish, from there is also dried radish, [then there is] Sagami ‘mouse’ radish, the radish ressembles mouse feet, [then, there is further] Hadano radish, Shiga Yamanaka radish in Ōmi [province], and Kubota radish in Higo [province]”. (Kefukigusa, 1645)

This doesn’t sound very poetic or playful, but it doesn’t have to — the purpose of this huge guide was to provide vocabulary (and rules and techniques) for prospective writers of haiku. A user manual, so to speak.

• The next source is called Kokka man’yōki (“Record of Floral emblems and ten-thousand leaves”, 1697) and is written by a person  called Kikumoto Gahō or Kikumoto Yoshimasu (dates unknown). It is a guidebook or topography of fourteen volumes, that contains the names of the daimyo of each domain and their crests, shrines and temples, famous flowers and trees, and their local products:

“Higo province: […] Origin of the famous products of this province: field radish. They are produced at a place called Kubota.” (Kokka man’yōki, vol. 14, second part, Higo, pp. 72a and 72b)

That’s about it. Not very thrilling.

At least, we learned that some other radishes mentioned in the Kefugigusa were used in zōni, which is a popular soup at/around New Year. The soup, which can be translated as “simmered sundries”, contains what the name suggests: a variety of simmered vegetables and mochi, and, depending on the region, also other ingredients, such as fish.

And in the Kokka man’yōki we learned that Kubota radish is named after its place of production.

And that the radish is a kind of field radish. (There will be another blog post about the different varieties of radish known at that time, such as the field radish.)

Let’s move on to the other radish name.

Kikuchi radish

“The Japanese name of radish is ōne “big root”, and now the characters 大根 are used […] The products in Kikuchi district in Higo [province], in Yoshida in Aki [province], in Tsu in Seishū [province], in Kagoshima in Sasshū [province], in Takeo in Hizen [province], they are all long.” (Wakan sansai zue, section garlic, p. 99)

At least, this passage gives two more clues about the radishes in Higo. Firstly, they seemed to have been rather long (and this may have been the reason why the ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi chose them as topic), and secondly, they have been cultivated at a place called Kikuchi. I could not find any further information about this district, though. There may be a connection between the place name and the powerful Kikuchi clan who were very influential in Higo province and beyond until the sixteenth century.

Now, if I had to ‘tag’ the information gained from the above sources, the key words would be:

• Kubota and Kikuchi as cultivation areas
• field radish
• long

That’s it. Not very thrilling either.

Despites the spares findings, the radishes from Higo must have been famous – somehow. Because more than 100 years later, they became the topic of a piece of art, a woodblock print made by the famous artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi

In the series Sankai medetai zue (translated as Celebrated Treasures of Mountains and Seas or as Auspicious Desires on Land and Sea, 1852), the subject of the prints are female figures placed in the center. They partake in activities of all sorts, and in the background the local products of the respective province are usually depicted. Kuniyoshi also gave each print a kind of catchphrase and for the print no 49 that depicts the radishes of Higo province the catchword is “atsukushitai”.

Now, what does this mean and what is the connection to the radishes in Higo province?

The British Museum and the Boston Museum may provide more clarifications, both hold a copy of the woodblock print.

• The British Museum elegantly avoids the translation of “atsukushitai” by just describing the print that depicts a “women wearing a blue robe with a red obi holding an inverted cup (inset: men planting radishes in a field)”.

• The Boston Museum, on the other side, tries to clarify the theme by translating the catchphrase into “wanting to warm it” (https://ja.ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc133372).
• There is further an online project devoted to Utagawa Kuniyoshi that lists all his prints. Here, the phrase is rendered into “wishing to get warm” (http://www.kuniyoshiproject.com/Celebrated%20Products%20III.htm).

An interesting point is that both translations stick to the adjective “warm”.

In order to give you some additional information, the phrase “atsukushitai” derives from the adjective “atsui” meaning hot; in Japanese, “warm” is a different adjective, namely atatakai. And it might be further helpful to know that Kuniyoshi’s prints often revolve around geisha and the pleasure quarters, which means: they are brimming with sexual allusions.

As those who are into translation know, every translation is also a kind of interpretation, and this is also very true for this topic.

Having said all these, I tend to render the catchphrase “atsukushitai” into the very ordinary phrase “I wanna have it hot”.

Maybe the museums will give it a thought?

After all, the radishes probably weren’t that famous but just an ideal object for interpretation….