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| | History of Natto and Its Relatives |
 | | Natto is unique to Japan, where it is usually served for breakfast mixed with shoyu (natural soy sauce), mustard, and sometimes minced leeks, generally on top of or mixed in with hot rice. |
 | | The people of early Japan were virtually surrounded by rice straw: they used it to make the roofs of their houses, floor mats (mushiro, goza, and later tatami), straw bags or bales (tawara), sacred braided ropes (shimenawa; rice straw was considered the sacred mother-body of the rice), sandals, and even their horse fodder. |
 | | One of Japan's foremost natto researchers and historians, Dr. Teruo Ohta, believes that natto probably originated during the Yayoi period in one of these ways, although there are no documents, other evidence, or even legends to prove this. |
| www.thesoydailyclub.com /SFC/Fsoyfoods451.asp (5057 words) |
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