The Illustrated Tale of the Rat (Nezumi no sōshi emaki) is a scroll of anonymous images created in Japan between 1550 and 1650. The drawing represents the wedding banquet of some rats, inspired by the festivities of late Japanese warlords. of the Middle Ages (1400-1600).
The rat lord's wedding party includes rodent equivalents of the great artists and influential figures in the cultural environments of the time. But the illustration also reveals the sexual division of labor and the machismo prevailing in the kitchens of the Japanese elites.
This period in Japanese history is especially lacking in visual references, especially behind the stove. Hence, Eric Rath, a history professor at the University of Kansas, decided to study the document to understand the type of personnel and procedures used for food preparation in the homes of Japanese warriors.
"There were quite a few stories written in medieval and early modern Japan about rats, and many of them became picture scrolls that combined illustrations with text," Rath explains. "But what sets this case apart are the detailed cooking scenes. There is only one other film showing cooking scenes from this period, so as a food historian, I wanted to see what I could learn," he adds.
He quickly saw that in the upper class (rodent) homes of the late Middle Ages, there was a certain status in food preparation tasks, with male chefs at the top of the hierarchy, in charge of seasoning and carving, and female servants. performing manual work at the bottom of the drawing.
As the researcher explains in an article published in the magazine Gastronomica, banquets played a powerful role in the representation of authority. The story tells the story of a rat lord who wants to marry a human being. That's why he needs an elegant shogun-style wedding reception.
"The way artists depicted rats preparing for a feast offers valuable information. We learn, for example, that specially trained men (rat chefs) performed prestigious tasks such as carving meat while women performed manual labor such as grinding rice outside. of the kitchen," says Eric Rath.
The University of Kansas professor learned by chance that there was a copy of the Nezumi no sōshi emaki scroll in the New York Public Library. He then obtained a grant from the Culinary Historians of New York that allowed him to study the article in person.
"No one likes to see a rat in the kitchen these days, and the same was true in medieval Japan. Rats are food consumers, and many of the stories about them deal with their appetites. In this scroll of images instead , some of the rodents are characters that had names like Tobei the bean lover, Bad Taro the glutton or Kuranojo the rice chewer," he points out.
In this medieval Japanese equivalent of the famous movie Ratatouille, the scroll talks about food customs in late medieval Japan, showing that food played a powerful role in representing authority.
"One of the most culturally influential figures of the late 16th century was the tea master Sen no Rikyu, who many claimed invented the Japanese traditions of the tea ceremony. He makes a cameo appearance as a rat in the picture scroll. Also "It seems like the rats were big fans of sake. They drink as much as humans," says Rath, who teaches a course on the history of sushi.
The creators of "The Illustrated Rat Tale" show the rodents taking on human roles, so the story can also be read as a representation of Japanese society. "The wedding required a huge and complex feast with specialized chefs," he assumes.
