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The Japan Tofu Association is Japan's representative body of all domestic tofu producers.

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In the early Edo period of Japan, farmers could only eat tofu on special occasions.

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Although tofu was well established in Japanese daily cuisine by the mid-Edo period of Japan, in the early Edo period, tofu was reserved for special occasions. For farmers, tofu was a luxury food that could not be eaten on just any day.

“Finest Days (Hare-no-Hi)”

Tofu cuisine was reserved for special days and festivals such as the Obon Festival, New Year’s Day, and other ceremonial occasions in the farming villages of Japan. Such days were called the “Finest Days (Hare-no-Hi)” of which the Japanese tradition of wearing special clothing was inherent to further represent such special “Coming of Age” occasions. As with today’s “Festive red rice” of Japan, tofu was eaten only on ceremonious occasions.

In contrast to these “Finest Days (Hare-no-Hi)”, normal days were called “Every Days (Ke-no-Hi)”. The everyday cuisine of this time was limited to miso soup, pickles, Kinzanji miso (mixed vegetable miso), etc. This frugal diet was the norm for farmers in the early Edo period.

Aside from tofu, the dinner table on the “Finest Days (Hare-no-Hi)” was adorned with other luxuries such as deep-fried tofu, konjak (devil’s tongue), ganmodoki (deep fried tofu with mixed vegetable mince), shiitake mushrooms, burdock root, etc. Furthermore, these “Finest Days” were the only occasions when farmers could eat rice and drink sake.

At the time of Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son Hidetada, the production of udon, soba noodles, and tofu was prohibited in rural villages. At one point an official ban was placed entirely forbidding the consumption of these foods by farmers.

The “Keian Proclamation” issued at the time of the third shogun Iemitsu defined tofu as a luxury item and clearly forbids its production by farmers. Records also show that the typical food menu for the shogun included tofu soup, delicate tofu, fried tofu for breakfast and “mock” tofu (tofu broken down and re-set with other ingredients added) for lunch.

Tofu finally became everyday food for the common folk in the mid Edo period. At this time tofu was still limited to the tables of common folk in big cities such as Edo, Kyoto and Osaka, however.