Sweet potatoes are an iconic Japanese treat, but they¡¯re not native to Japan.
Originally from Central America, these tubers came through China in the 17th century to the Satsuma domain in southern Kyushu. Some say a fisherman named Riemon Maeda brought the first sweet potatoes to Satsuma after a trip to the Ryukyu Kingdom (present-day Okinawa), which explains why today¡¯s Kagoshima Prefecture is to this humble act.
Over time, sweet potatoes became a valued crop in the Satsuma domain, where conditions favored them over rice. During nationwide famines, Satsuma¡¯s nutrient-dense sweet potato crop spared its people the worst of the suffering. So helpful was this foreign crop that in 1735, the eighth Tokugawa shogun ordered a court scholar to look into growing the food ¡ª now known as ¡°satsumaimo¡± (literally, ¡°Satsuma potato") ¡ª across Japan.
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