Of the mediaeval sports and pastimes within and without of doors, the former were preferred by the weak and effeminate, the latter by the hale and strong. Banquets and carousals in the palace were frequent. The brewing of sake from rice was begun, according to record, in the third century, and the office of chief butler even earlier. The native sauce, “sho-yu,” made the fermented wheat and beans, with salt and vinegar, which the cunning purveyors of Europe use as the basis of their high-priced piquant sauces, was made and used as early as the twelfth century.
The name of this saline oil (“sho,” salt; “yu,” oil) appears as “soy” in our dictionaries, it being one o the three words (soy, bonze, moxa) which we have borrowed from the Japanese. At the feasts, besides the wine and delicacies to please the plate, music, song, and dance made the feast of reason and the flow of soul, while witty and beautiful women lent grace and added pleasure to the festivities.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
