Learning about Life and Nature through Food : The Summer School of Health in Japan, 1939~1941

This paper examines how Sakurazawa Yukikazu (1893‐1966, aka George Ohsawa), the founder of Macrobiotics, developed summer camp programs in wartime Japan. From 1940 onward Sakurazawa vigorously spread what he called musō genri (the Unique Principle) not only for the purpose of improving public health through 'righteous food', but also as a principle to cultivate a robust and spirited Japanese nation in the face of total war. Sakurazawa with his like‐ minded fellows began offering summer food camp programs for children and workshops for adults. By analyzing the reports and commentaries by the participants, this paper explores the ways in which the concept of 'natural food' based on yin-yang theory emerged to intervene in problematic situations and how it was manifested in the education and practice surrounding food.