음식과 신체의 일본주의, 신질서, 그리고 보편주의

“Toward a Universal Theory of Food and Health: Sakurazawa Yukikazu’s Macrobiotics in Prewar Japan.”

This article is a historical inquiry into the so-called macrobiotic diet, which became widely known as an alternative healthy diet in the US and Europe since the late 1960s. Contemporary macrobiotics has its roots in the prewar idea of shokuyō (food and nourishment, literally), which was advocated by Ishizuka Sagen, a military pharmacist who were trained in both modern scientific and traditional Chinese medicines. Ishizuka and his supporters established The Imperial Food Education Society (teikoku shokuiku kai, later changed its name to Shokuyokai) in 1905 for the purpose of promoting a scientific and righteous diet and thereby renovating the bodies of imperial subjects. The Society continued to take a critical stance toward the established modern dietetics and medicine by claiming that they all lacked a holistic perspective on human body and health. This article aims to investigate how Sakurazawa Yukikazu, one of the most central figures of the Society, developed his own diet system and bio-medical ethics based upon the theory of Yin-yō and Chinese medicine as an antithesis of modern Western medicine, in an attempt to implode its inherent Japanism toward a universalistic principle for the ever-expanding Japanese Empire.