Tassajara Stories 1 - Notes

People invariably thought Suzuki had never eaten brown rice but he did at times. One of his closest friends, Kozo Kato, promoted eating brown rice. from page 85 in The War chapter of Crooked Cucumber:

p.85 - Kozo felt he could best contribute to Japan by helping to feed the population. There were almost unlimited possibilities in Manchuria for farming. He and his wife were heavily involved in the local Brown Rice Movement. They argued that eating white rice was a waste of nutrition and national resources. If veryone ate unhulled brown rice the nation could be better fed with much less. The Katos were influenced by Food to Win the War With, a book that advocated, among other things, eating more alkaline than acidic foods. Shunryu was familiar with such ideas from his master So’on.

p.86--KUSUMI SHUNGO was an important administrator in Manchuria whom Shunryu had
come to know through Kozo. Shungo leaned more toward an imperial form of
government than Kozo, who was mainly concerned about the Japanese people. But
neither Kozo nor Shunryu was anti-imperial—they were just not fond of the
Emperor's recent ridiculous role as demigod. The three of them agreed on many
things. They talked about the Brown Rice Movement and how to end the war, and
they shared a dislike for fanaticism and the demonization of foreigners.

p.88 - On May 14, 1945, Shunryu and Taro stood on the platform at the Shizuoka station.
They were taking the train to Shimonoseki, where they would board a ferry to Pusan,
Korea. Taro's mother was there to see them off, giving each a box lunch with brown
rice balls -

these memories are from Taro Kato --his interview on cuke.com

For sure eating brown rice was hard for Suzuki at Tassajara because he had false teeth, having lost his from his sugar habit I assume. But he respected and wanted to support our desire to eat whole grains. What he saw in us, as I see it, was what he'd experienced with sincere people in Japan trying to live right and eat right.

There was some amount of brown rice eaten in monasteries and temples too.