How many Japanese words do you know? More than you think. The humble satsuma has made its mark in some of Japan’s most historically epic years and into your fruit bowl. The story begins with it being named after a powerful feudal clan…
Mid-19th century, the Satsuma clan ruled current-day Kagoshima prefecture in Kyushu at the southern end of mainland Japan. They weren’t exactly fond of the Edo (Tokyo) Shogun principle of sakoku (closed country), as they’d developed a profitable trade with China via the island archipelago of the Ryukyu kingdom (Okinawa). A notable import alongside sugar was the Chinese mandarin or Japanese satsuma.
Long story short, the beef between the Satsuma clan and the Shogunate led them to collude with their old rivals the Choshu clan on western Honshu, gain power at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto where the Emperor notionally resided, and launch an offensive on the Shoguns that culminated in the Meiji restoration of the Emperor in 1868.
So next time you peel a satsuma, ponder its remarkable place in the history of Japan….