Under the Guise of Medicine: How Buddhist Meat Taboos Gave Birth to Edo-Period "Kusuri-gui" and Miso-Marinated Beef

Today, Japan is universally recognized as a paradise for beef lovers. The words "Kobe," "Matsusaka," and "Wagyu" evoke images of unparalleled culinary luxury.

Yet, if you were to travel back in time to Tokyo (then called Edo) just 170 years ago, you would find a society where eating beef was not only highly illegal but considered a deep, spiritually corrupting sin.

For nearly 1,200 years, Japan operated under strict, imperial-decreed bans on the consumption of four-legged animals.

However, human desire is difficult to suppress by law.

Under the cover of secrecy, and wrapped in the protective terminology of traditional medicine, the Japanese people developed a fascinating counterculture of beef consumption known as Kusuri-gui ("medicinal eating").

This historical loophole not only kept the genetics of Japanese cattle alive but laid the foundation for the birth of modern Wagyu culture.

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Chapter 1: The 1,200-Year Ban on Meat

The history of Japan's meat prohibition began in the year 675 AD, when Emperor Tenmu issued the first official imperial decree banning the consumption of cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys, and chickens, heavily influenced by the spread of Buddhism and its core tenets of reincarnation and respect for all living things.

As the centuries progressed, this religious ban merged with native Shinto concepts of Kegare (spiritual impurity or defilement).

Eating the flesh of a four-legged animal was believed to physically and spiritually pollute the body, preventing a person from worshiping at Shinto shrines for weeks.

Japanese Meat Eating Historical Timeline:
┌─────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┐
│ 675 AD: The First Ban   │ 1603 - 1868: Edo Period │ 1872: The Great Unban   │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│ Emperor Tenmu bans four-│ Meat is outlawed but    │ Emperor Meiji publicly  │
│ legged meat consumption.│ eaten as "medicine."    │ eats beef; era of beef. │
└─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┘

Consequently, cattle in Japan were reared strictly as working draft animals. They plowed the rice fields and pulled heavy wooden carts in the mountains.

Because they were treated as vital, respected members of the farming family, the idea of slaughtering and eating a loyal farm ox was viewed with genuine horror by the average peasant.

Yet, as the peaceful Edo Period (1603–1868) took hold, the growing merchant class and elite samurai began to seek out ways to bypass these spiritual restrictions.

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Chapter 2: "Kusuri-Gui" (Medicinal Eating) and Code Names

The primary loophole used to bypass the meat ban was the concept of medicine.

Traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine operated on the principle that the human body required warming, energy-dense foods during the freezing winter months to combat illness, weakness, and joint pain.

If you ate beef for pleasure, you were a sinner. But if you ate beef as a prescribed medicine to cure an ailment, the spiritual taboo was lifted. This act was known as Kusuri-gui (薬喰い).

To further distance themselves from the sin of meat-eating, Edo-period citizens developed poetic code names for various animals based on flowers or sea creatures, ensuring they never had to speak the name of the beast:

• Sakura (Cherry Blossom) referred to Horse meat, due to its deep red color.
• Botan (Peony) referred to Wild Boar, sliced and arranged on a plate to resemble a pink flower.
• Momiji (Autumn Maple Leaf) referred to Venison (deer).
• Yama-Kujira (Mountain Whale) was the universal code name for wild boar or beef, allowing buyers to pretend they were purchasing seafood.

Specialist shops in Edo, operating under the sign of "獸肉仕込所" (Beast Meat Preparation Outlets), sold these "medicinal" meats. Customers would bring their own cooking pots and eat the meat in secluded backrooms, far away from public view.

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Chapter 3: The Hikone Loophole and Miso-Preserved Beef

While wild game was eaten secretly in Edo, the consumption of actual domestic beef was almost entirely restricted, with one massive, legendary exception: the Hikone Domain (modern-day Shiga Prefecture).

The Hikone Domain, ruled by the highly influential Ii Clan, held a unique, imperial monopoly. They were the only domain in Japan officially authorized by the Shogun to produce leather for military drums and samurai armor.

Because leather production required the slaughter of cattle, Hikone became a central hub for beef processing.

The crafty lords of Hikone quickly realized the culinary value of the old Tajima oxen (the direct ancestors of today's Kobe and Omi beef).

To share this luxury with their allies without causing a religious scandal, they developed Henpaku-gyu (味噌漬牛肉)—premium beef cured in thick, fermented miso paste.

Miso-Marinated Beef "The Loophole":
1. Ox slaughtered under official military leather-production permit.
2. Beef sliced and fully submerged in dark, fermented miso paste.
3. Packed in sealed wooden casks labeled as "Medicinal Tonic."
4. Shipped to Edo to be gifted directly to the Tokugawa Shogun.

The dark miso paste served two vital functions:

1. Preservation: It preserved the raw beef during the long, hot journey from Shiga to Tokyo.
2. Disguise: It completely obscured the red color and texture of the raw meat, transforming it into a dark, paste-like "tonic."

This miso-cured beef was gifted annually to the Tokugawa Shogun and the three branches of the Tokugawa family (the Gosanke) as a medicinal tonic to restore youth and vitality.

Records show that the Shoguns became highly addicted to this luxurious "medicine," eagerly awaiting their winter shipments from Hikone.

When Emperor Meiji finally lifted the meat ban in 1872 by publicly consuming a beef steak, the transition was instantaneous—because for centuries, Japan’s elite had already been indulging in the secret, medicinal luxury of Wagyu.