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IMAGE: Japanese domestic winemaking, which began in 1627, is thought to have ended in the wake of the Hosokawa clan s transfer to the Higo Domain (modern-day Kumamoto Prefecture). The documents were. view more
Credit: Professor Tsuguharu Inaba
Researchers from Kumamoto University (Japan) have found an Edo period document that clearly indicates the Hosokawa clan, rulers of the Kokura Domain (modern-day Fukuoka Prefecture), completely stopped producing wine in 1632, the year before the shogunate ordered them to move to the Higo Domain (now Kumamoto Prefecture). The researchers believe that the discontinuation of wine production was directly related to this move and because it was considered to be a drink of a religion that was harshly suppressed in Japan at that time, Christianity.