Why are some types of Japanese rice written in completely different ways?

Japan, clearly, eats a whole lot of rice, however the nation additionally eats a whole lot of rices. Head to the rice aisle in a Japanese grocery retailer and also you’ll discover a big number of home rice breeds on the market, like “Koshihikari” or “Akitakomachi.”

Every sort has its personal refined variations in taste and texture which collectively make an enormous distinction to connoisseurs, so for normal rice consumers checking the label to see what sort of rice is within the bag is a matter after all. However when you’re checking the packaging, you would possibly discover that various kinds of Japanese rice have their names written in fully totally different writing techniques.

Utilizing the 2 breeds talked about above as instance, Koshihikari, Japan’s best-selling rice selection which instructions a roughly one-third market share, is often written in katakana, the blockier of Japan’s two sorts of phonetic script.

▼ Koshihikari, written in katakana

Katakana isn’t used for Akitakomachi, although. As an alternative, it’s often written in hiragana, the extra rounded set of Japanese phonetic characters.

▼ Akitakomachi, written in hiragana

It turns on the market’s a purpose why sure sorts of rice are historically written with katakana and others with hiragana, and the “Akita” a part of Akitakomachi is definitely a touch.

When Japan ended its centuries of enforced isolation at the beginning of the Meiji interval, a flood of latest scientific data grew to become accessible to Japanese botanists and agriculturalists. The nationwide authorities started administering analysis applications to breed higher-yield styles of rice to raised feed the nation’s individuals, and initially the brand new varieties have been referred to as “Norin” (Division of Agriculture and Forestry) adopted by the variety of their particular analysis program. So, for instance, first got here Norin 1, adopted by Norin 2, then Norin 3, and so forth.

With the significance of rice within the Japanese food plan, although, the Norin numbers rose at a fast fee, and after Norin 52, the nationwide authorities enacted a brand new coverage. As an alternative of their Norin quantity, nationally directed new rice varieties would have precise names, however they needed to be written in katakana, with the title being six characters or much less. Why the title needed to be katakana isn’t precisely clear, however it might have had one thing to do with katakana having a contemporary, scientific really feel to it (which is itself one aspect impact of katakana being primarily used for overseas loanwords, thus imparting a world feeling). So as an alternative of changing into “Norin 100,” the one centesimal new rice selection from nationally directed analysis applications grew to become Koshihikari, written all in katakana, upon its creation in 1956. In the identical approach, in 1963 what would have been “Norin 150” grew to become Sasanishiki.

▼ Sasanishiki, written in katakana as ササニシキ

Within the latter half of the twentieth century, although, rice analysis started getting elevated efforts on a extra localized degree. Prefectural agricultural organizations started creating their very own rice breeds. Since katakana names have been already getting used to precise {that a} sort of rice had been developed below supervision from the nationwide authorities, it was determined that rice breeds developed on the prefectural or smaller degree ought to as an alternative use names written in hiragana. So within the early ‘80s, when Akita Prefecture developed its personal sort of rice and introduced it to market, it was dubbed Akitakomachi and written in hiragana, as was Hokkaido Prefecture’s Yukihikari rice.

▼ Yukihikari (ゆきひかり in hiragana) means “snow mild,” referencing the snowy winters Hokkaido has as Japan’s northernmost prefecture.

Including one other wrinkle of complexity to the state of affairs, nevertheless, is that in 1991, the Japanese authorities stated “Go nuts — You possibly can write your rice’s title with no matter set of characters you need.” In consequence, sorts of rice developed after 1991 don’t essentially comply with the katakana-national/hiragana-prefectural naming conference. Even the sorts of rice that have been developed below the previous system are now not legally required to stick to it. These days you’ll typically see Koshihikari, initially a katakana-name rice, marketed by some growers/sellers with its title written in hiragana, particularly in the event that they’re making an attempt to attraction to a way of home-country satisfaction, since hiragana has a extra classically Japanese really feel to it.

▼ A sack of written-in-hiragana Koshihikari (こしひかり)

However after many years of being written solely in katakana or hiragana, the visuals have caught within the minds of individuals in Japan, and the types usually proceed immediately as a type of linguistic and gastronomic custom.

Sources: Japaaan, Okome no Kuni no Monogatari, J-Wave Information

Insert photos: SoraNews24, Amazon/お米のたかさかのストア

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