Camellia Tea Ceremony
@camelliakyoto@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

To provide fresh fish for shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康 1543-1616), bamboo pens were constructed in Edo Bay to hold live catches.
It was discovered that seaweed thrived on the bamboo fences, and soon fishing communities were actively farming the algae on sunken wooden frames.

#seaweed#Edo #江戸 #徳川家康
Camellia Tea Ceremony
@camelliakyoto@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

Until the early Edo period villagers had harvested naturally growing algae by hand (in the 8thC it is recorded that some fishermen paid their taxes to the emperor in kelp), but farming allowed for cheaper and more readily available seaweed (a valuable food source in winter).

#seaweed #wakame #nori