The ancient Japanese were vegetarians and never ate meat. Not only do the poor not eat meat, but even the rich do not eat meat. Why?
The reason is that the Japanese believe in Buddhism, which opposes killing and believes that eating meat affects practice. Vegetarianism is not only an unwritten rule in the homes of the common people, but also an official edict. In 675, Emperor Tenmu issued an edict prohibiting the people from eating meat. The original text is as follows:
"From now on, the kingdoms know that from now on, the fishermen and hunters, the mo-made sills, and the machine guns, etc., and after the April Shuo, before the 30th day of September, do not set up the Bimi Sha Li Liang, and do not eat the flesh of cattle, horses, dogs, apes, and eagles, and there is no prohibition, if any offender is guilty."
Emperor Shengmu of the Nara era issued several edicts in 737, 743, 745, and 752, prohibiting killing and eating meat. In 743, the people were required to ban killing and eating meat for 77 days, starting from the 14th day of the first month. In 745 A.D., it was required that no killing or eating meat should be allowed for three years, and in 752 A.D., it was not allowed to kill or eat meat for one year.
Later, even if the government no longer forbade the people to eat meat, the people did not want to eat meat. Ancient Japanese people already believed that meat was the carcass of an animal, very filthy, and eating it was not good for health.
In the beginning, the Japanese just didn't eat animal meat, and later they rarely ate even fish. Therefore, tofu has become a home-cooked dish for Japanese people, and it is almost a must for meals.
The Japanese changed their vegetarian habits from Emperor Meiji, who was born in 1852 and was the second son of Emperor Takamei, the 122nd emperor of Japan. During the 45-year reign of Emperor Meiji, he reformed modern Japan, enabling japan to achieve social and economic development and establishing the first capitalist country in Asia.
Emperor Meiji studied Western civilization and technology, as well as the Western way of life. He found that people in Western countries eat meat, and Japanese people will eat vegetarian, which is not OK, we must learn Westerners to eat meat, in order to connect with the West, close to Westerners, so that the Japanese physique can improve. So he also ordered the people to eat meat, and sent beef to the people.
The Japanese people have become accustomed to eating vegetarian food, not only do not want to eat meat, but also when they eat meat, they are disgusted and want to vomit, and the people secretly throw the beef sent by the emperor into the sea. However, Emperor Meiji insisted on promoting the use of meat, explained to the people the benefits of eating meat, took the lead in eating meat himself, and finally the Japanese people gradually began to eat meat and liked to eat meat.
In ancient times, the Japanese were only about one meter and four meters tall, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was only one meter four, and Oda Nobunaga was only one meter seven meters tall and was called a "giant". Some people say that this is because of the credit for eating meat, some people say that it is the credit of drinking milk, and some people say that this is the credit of the Japanese and caucasian marriage.
Either way it worked, the Japanese were no longer low-stating anyway. Japanese people only began to eat meat during the Meiji Emperor era, and in ancient times, Japanese people were vegetarian and did not eat meat at all.