Soybean - Glycine max; soybean; soya bean

Japanese: ダイズ(大豆) - ダイズ（英語表記）Glycine max; soybean; soya bean

An annual plant of the legume family. It is one of the important agricultural crops cultivated all over the world, and is thought to have originated from the climbing bean, which grows wild in East Asia, including Japan. It has been cultivated in China since ancient times, and was introduced to Japan before the 8th century. It was also introduced to Europe in the 18th century and to America in the 19th century. The plant has light brown coarse hairs all over, and the stem is erect and grows to a height of 50-100 cm. The leaves are trifoliate and compound with long petioles, and each leaflet is ovate and 5-10 cm long, but there are large differences depending on the cultivar, and sometimes there are 5 leaflets. In summer, flower stalks emerge from the leaf axils to form racemes, and white, reddish purple, or purple butterfly-shaped flowers are produced. The fruit is a long pod containing 1-4 seeds. The color of the seed coat varies depending on the variety, from black (black bean), green (blue soybean, ryokuzu), to yellow-white, and there are more than 1,000 cultivated varieties. The seeds are called "meat of the field" and contain a lot of protein and fat, and are used in foods such as tofu, miso, soy sauce, edamame, kinako (roasted soybean flour), boiled beans, natto, soy milk, confectionery, and soybean oil. Defatted soybeans, which have been used as fertilizer and animal feed, are now being used more widely as ingredients in processed foods. Soybean oil is also important as an industrial raw material, and is used as a raw material in the oil and fat industry. Hokkaido is the main production area in Japan, but all soybeans used as an industrial raw material are imported, and most of these are from the United States, the largest producer. In Japan, soybeans have been used for divination and magical events since ancient times, and the bean-throwing ceremony on Setsubun is still practiced today.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

マメ科の一年草。世界各地で栽培されている重要な農作物の一つで，日本など東アジアに広く野生するツルマメ (蔓豆)が原種であると考えられている。中国では古くから栽培され，日本へは8世紀以前に伝えられた。またヨーロッパへは 18世紀，アメリカへは 19世紀に伝えられた。植物体全体に淡褐色の粗毛があり，茎は直立して高さ 50～100cmとなる。葉は長い葉柄をもつ3出複葉で，各小葉は長さ5～10cmの卵形であるが，品種によって大きな違いがあり，ときには5小葉の場合もある。夏に，葉腋から花柄を出し総状花序をなして，白，赤紫または紫色の蝶形花をつける。果実は長い莢で，中に1～4個の種子を生じる。種皮の色は品種により黒色 (クロマメ) ，緑色 (アオバタマメ，リョクズ) ，黄白色などさまざまで，栽培品種の数は 1000以上にも達する。種子は「畑の肉」といわれ，蛋白質や脂肪を多量に含み，豆腐，味噌，醤油，枝豆，きな粉，煮豆，納豆，豆乳，菓子，大豆油などとして食用とされる。肥料や飼料に使われてきた脱脂大豆は加工食品原料として用途が広がっている。大豆油は工業原料としても重要で，油脂工業の原料として使用される。日本の主産地は北海道であるが，工業原料の大豆はすべて輸入に依存し，そのほとんどが最大生産国アメリカの大豆である。日本では古来，大豆は占いや呪術的行事に用いられ，節分の豆まきはいまも行われる。

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