76 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



49. Z. Mioga^ Roscoe {Amomium Mioga^ Thunb.), Jap. Mioga. 

 Less cultivated than the common ginger. Yields a condiment in 

 its young shoots. 



47. Curcuma longa L., Jap. Ukon, is to a limited extent like- 

 wise cultivated as a condiment, while the well-known yellow dye- 

 stuff is imported from China and India. 



Condiments of the leek order, " Shin," ix. stinking herbs, as the 

 Buddhist priest of East Asia calls them, have hitherto existed 

 among all civilized nations, though they have not acquired the 

 same importance everywhere. While, for example, the Spaniard 

 scarcely eats meat of any kind without its being seasoned with 

 garlic, and the Russian regards an onion together with its green 

 top as a tit-bit, such a decided liking is only occasionally found 

 among the Germanic peoples. The fondness of the Israelites for 

 onions and garlic is well known, and is as old as their history. 

 The onion is with many races not a mere relish only, but a real 

 food. To comprehend this, one must remember that besides our 

 common sorts — sharp and tear-compelling — there are others, like 

 the red Portuguese, which often weigh a kilogramme, especially 

 in warm, light soil, and have an agreeable sweetish taste, so that 

 when cooked they can take the place of other vegetables. 



The Japanese call the cultivated varieties of leek after the onion 

 — Negi-rui, Le. onion group. Five of them, the Go-shin, i.e., five 

 pungent, stinking herbs, seem to have been especially popular 

 within the range of Buddhism. The enjoyment of them was, and 

 is, strictly forbidden to priests, with the exception of one sect. An 

 inscription at the entrance to many of their temples and cloisters, 

 usually carved on an obelisk of stone, reads, translated : " It is 

 forbidden to carry stinking herbs and intoxicating drinks through 

 this holy gate." 



Among the chief accusations brought by Nobunaga, against the 

 monks of the Hiyei-san,^ is, that they ate fish and stinking herbs, 

 therein despising the law. 



The following comprise the Go-shin : 



51. Allium sativum, L., Jap. Nfnniku, garlic, a plant long used 

 by man, well known to the old Egyptians and Greeks, and grown 

 in Japan since the beginning of its history. According to Kegel, 

 garlic is indigenous on the Kirgis steppes and Tsungarei. 



52. Allium cepa, L., Jap. Negi, the onion. It is found wild in 

 the outlying spurs of the Iranian plateau, and also southward from 

 Kuldscha (Kegel). In Japan its planting occurs usually in Feb- 

 ruary or March, its harvest in autumn. 



53. The winter-onion, Jap. Negi {Allium fistulosum, L,), which 

 originated in the Altai Mountains, like the foregoing, is raised in 

 several varieties. The Japanese eat onions either boiled or fresh, 

 cut into pieces, as a condiment. 



* See Rein, "Japan," vol. i. 



