Japan produced opium, wine 200 years earlier than thought

A 17th-century Japanese lord produced wine and opium for medical purposes 200 years earlier than thought, a study of ancient documents has found.

It was believed that large-scale Japanese wine brewing began in the 1870's.

However, researchers found that the wine produced by Tadatoshi Hosokawa, a 17th century lord of Kyusyu, Japan, in the Kokura Region began more than 200 years earlier in 1627.

The researchers also showed that Lord Hosokawa ordered his liegeman, Taroemon Ueda, to make wine from wild grapes and send it to Edo, the former name of Japan's capital city Tokyo.

A detailed study by the researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan shows that wine was only produced from 1627 to 1630, and that Lord Hosokawa ordered the wine be sent to Edo for each of those four years.

During that time, winemaker Taroemon was promoted to vassal for his successful wine and medicinal sake making techniques.

Researchers found that black soybeans were used in addition to wild grapes in the wine making process.

Black soybeans promote fermentation and it is believed that the addition of black soybean yeast helped ferment the wild grapes, which have a relatively low sugar content.

In essence, Lord Hosokawa's wine was made by fermenting wild grapes, rather than by simply soaking wild grapes in alcohol.

The researchers also found that the Hosokawa family was producing opium in 1629. It is thought that opium imported from Nagasaki was used for medicinal purposes, such as sedation, analgesia, cough suppression, and hypnosis.

The winemaker Taroemon became responsible for opium production, which started in the spring and produced about 1.27 kg of opium by autumn.

A description of opium imports was found in the historical record from the previous year (1628), as was a note from Lord Hosokawa which read, "I am dissatisfied with the opium ordered (from Nagasaki) so it shall be returned."
Lord Hosokawa replied, "I have contacted Nagasaki, but since wine is known to be used when converting to Christianity, merchants have stopped trading it to avoid suspicion that they may be Christians."