What was Food Like in Ancient Japan?
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- Опубліковано 31 бер 2022
- What kind of food was available in ancient and Medieval Japan? When did agriculture begin? And was rice the main food staple in those times as it is now? With this video, we will begin a whole series dedicated to culture and history from the perspective of the common people. I hope you like it!
The video was inspired by the series on Medieval food from Modern History tv
• What did PEASANTS EAT ...
Also link to the amazon page where you can buy the book I mention on this video
www.amazon.com/Agriculture-Pr...
Link to the review by professor Farris mentioned on this video
www.researchgate.net/profile/...
As I recall, in Seven Samurai it was a plot point that the ronin were paid in rice while the peasants subsisted on millet.
But you can't just eat millet or you lose your night vision.
Also, recall the wild and sloppy samurai character with the oversized sword (who was born a peasant)... when the villages complained they couldn't afford to pay the group of seven samurai and would starve to death if they gave up their rice, his character started ratting out the villagers about all the other crops they typically grow and all the typical sorts of places the would grow these out of sight of their feudal lords.
@@suzannepottsshorts The peasants had brought supplies of rice and millet with them to a city, where they were temporarily staying to seek out the services of samurai. It didn't necessarily represent the diet they had in their own village.
@@suzannepottsshorts So, not very much vitamin A in millet, then.
There are many sources of carbohydrates in Japan and it is not just from rice, millets or wheat. For example, there is Japanese mountain yams (Yamaimo). And all the nuts and seeds mentioned by Metatron can be grounded and the flour used for making buns or porridge-like dish.
I remember reading James Clavell's novel "Shogun" many years ago and realizing how important was rice to the point it was a sort of value and a way to measure the power of a landlord.
Coincidentally, I was just discussing this book with my mother yesterday. She hadn’t read it but my father and I did many years ago. I did not like the Richard Chamberlain tv miniseries version.
@@birgittabirgersdatter8082 No, It missed many of the key points that really made the book stand out. I have been living and traveling around the world since 2005. Shogun is one of 2 books I keep with me that is not in digital form.
That's immediately what came to my mind when watching this video too. I don't know how historically accurate it is, but it's a very good read.
Great, great novel indeed.
Yes, retainers wer paid in rice stipends. Which caused quite a few problems towards the end of the Edo Period.
I've seen a table in a Japanese castle that showed how the rice worth of the Daimyou changed after the Battle of Sekigahara. Let's just say that there were clear winners and losers.
It makes a lot of sense. Even purely logically, as Japan has lots of mountains, and rice is not suitable for very high altitudes, one should imagine that there were other crops in Japan besides rice.
Well you can terrace mountains like they did in china and other Asian countries, which allows you to use alot of their area for rice and also simplifies the flooding of the paddies.
Eating a lot of rice is a more modern thing. Easier to grow grains like millet were staples.
Also of interest is the beriberi issue of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As Japan became more affluent, some people started eating mostly white rice (a prestige food) and ended up developing deficiencies. Hinting at a more varied diet among the poorer classes in the past.
I don't remember the details but I saw a video that the modern Japanese navy had a problem with an all rice diet. This despite their WWII experience.
I was about to bring this up. Troops and sailors didn't even want meat and fish... They just wanted white rice. Got rice and barley and weren't very happy. Really shows you how they changed
@@markhorton3994 This was why, prior to WWII the Japanese were known as a race of very short people. After the war, with extensive foreign trade leading to a better diet, the next generation grew 15 to 24inches taller on the average and were considered giants by their elders.
@@emmitstewart1921 uh the average height of a Japanese male today is like 5 10 Maybe 5 11 if they grey 15 inches that would mean they were on average 4 foot 7 which iirc the the Japan in the 1940s atleast was like 5 5 for a make unless your talking about before that then idk but i highly doubt that
Jason Kingsley's series on medieval food was amazing. I wonder how much it would differ from area to area. Even today, food varies a lot from country to country, and throughout the medieval period, Europe was perceived as much larger than today. Even though people did travel, it was not nearly as easy, and would have been a special event, not a recurring yearly event. Could be a cool video idea, to explore the difference in food from place to place.
I do appreciate the inclusion of multiple translations in the grain segment, as these are pretty uncommon words to learn and it makes it easier to follow along for people who are not the types to look up the unknown on the fly!
The different varieties of millet were a surprise to me, but everything else seemed somewhat obvious if you're at all familiar with Japanese cuisine. Barley tea, Soba (buckwheat), Soy Sauce (soybeans and wheat) are all staples.
The real mystery is how the hell the Japanese stumbled upon the preparation for katsuobushi. Boiled, smoked a dozen or more times, then fermented and dried three times. Reminds me of the crazy stuff we do to ham in the US.
Probably by accident, the way you described it it sounds like it was probably put in the smoker, then forgotten about, then it would’ve been smoked a bunch more times as other things would’ve been put in it and then again forgotten about until one resident happened upon it.
I am spending my Saturday afternoon enjoying a video about historical grain consumption in a country I have never been to, by an Italian in a Kabuto. I love it.
Always a lot of knowledge and humor. Very cool channel, greetings! ✌
Hey, Metatron. I remember in The Shogunate's video about samurai loyalty where he says one former of loyalty was to the people (such as eating the same food as the peasants in times of war). I'd be interested in hearing your take.
Isn't this a common problem with terms like "stone age", "bronze age" and "iron age" as well?
Seeing as how different parts of the world entered these ages culturally at different points in time.
I think there is even a problem for terms like medieval. I know videos that talk about technological achievements in medieval period and mentions something from middle east or China.
Those terms especially don't apply to sub-Saharan Africa, as most metallurgy went from stone, copper, and then straight to iron. Most skipped arsenic-copper and bronze ages that Europe experienced.
Historical periods usually are also to be understood in a cultural context.
I'm glad you added a few translations for the cereals. A very interesting and captivating presentation.
History of food is so fascinating, keep up the great content!
Another amazing video Raff. I can see and appreciate all of your hard research.
Thanks Baron!
Thanks to you for all the knowledge you have given me over the years i have resontly started retreving roman armor and equipment thanks to you its been esay plus i have been able to teach people alot of things.
Ohhh this was Brilliant!! Thank you Maestro, I hope that this will be a Long series 🙂
This is something that I have been curious about for some time but didn't really know where to go for good information.
Thank you Metatron 👍
I have to say that of all the youtube history community, I truly appreciate your videos the most :D
I really enjoy seeing your videos on food, even moreso than the weapons and warfare ones. Here's hoping for more of these in the future!
Topics like this are are what enthrall me the most about history. What did the every day person eat/drink/live in/sleep in/etc. Most historical records are about major figures doing something, or battles, etc, but the ordinary people tend to get unmentioned.
A very interesting story that does better than most at showing the 'little people' (or at least their perspective) in Japanese literature is the Towazugatari, generally translated (IMO horribly) in English as The Confessions of Lady Nijo. She is a high court lady who by the time of the writing has become a nun and goes all over Japan as something of a travelogue. It's definitely not 'what were peasants like', but the focus of the story is, IIRC, definitely not high court life like the Genji Monogatari.
I agree. That's what I liked about the inspiration to this video, and several of Lindybeige's older videos. They're about common people and daily stuff, rather than battles and conquests. And I think the everyday stuff tells us more about the people who lived in those times than who ruled them.
Agreed - the majority of people in history weren't super rich (even more so than now!) so it's really interesting to learn more about what the average person's life might have been like? I do wish this was better represented in our popular media too - the focus there generally seems to be on big conflicts and the stories of nobles, rather than how those events would impact the everyday person...?
Very nice video on this underrated topic :))
Aaahhh, yes. That's why I love this channel. Loads of links in the description, the way I like it! Keep up the good work my good sir!
Loved this topic! Keep going!
Excellent research.
Oh this is fantastic! I live for the well researched historical content. Very cool! I'll come back to this year after year to keep it fresh in my brain.
Also liking and commenting on this hoping the algorithm likes it and our angelic host is rewarded for his hard work.
Incredible video as always metatron
Just found your channel today. I've been binging your videos. These are wonderful presentations.
You even added french translation for each, thank you very much for this video. お疲れ様です。
I am remembering a scene in 7 Samurai. The farmers in the village had made a deal with the 7 heroes that they would feed them and in return the heroes would defend the village against a bandit gang. In this scene, one of the samurai points out that the villagers were feeding the samurai rice, while eating millet themselves. One samurai says that he had tried living on millet once and it was awful. The villagers were also shown harvesting barley.
This movie was made in the 20th century, looking back on then end of the 16th, but it shows that while rice was a preferred food, millet and barley were also available and would be eaten in hard times.
I eat millet and like it. It's healthier and has a nutty flavor. It does seem to be harder to cook as it is easier to burn and dry out since the grains are much smaller.
@@XCodes The nutritional values between different types of grain products vary pretty wildly. Also I'm not sure what your comment about starch has anything to do with nutrition.
@@XCodes So I'm not really knowledgeable about this nor do I particularly care all too much but honestly IMO your argument seems pretty fueled and opinionated, considering your making assumptions about my lifestyle based off of no information. I'm pretty sure the size of the grain is also irrelevant, also kind of a silly way to measure food in general, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure everything is measured to the same value so what does it matter if millet is physically larger or smaller. I also do not pertain to know what is healthier or not, millet or grain, but following your own statements having a better overall diet, is getting more out of food for the amount you consume not improving your overall diet? Like if I had two water pumps clearly the one that gets more water for the same amount of effort is the better pump.
I myself eat rice and bread, because that's what I grew up on, but from my understanding millet should be cheaper than rice as well so I am also confused about that as well.
@@XCodes Many grains such as wheat and rice have their bran removed during processing into white rice and white wheat flour, so they lose the oily fiberous part on the outside. Millet grains are often too small to have their bran removed economically, so the bran is generally kept on and it remains a whole grain. As for nutritional value, while the Calorie content is roughly similar for most grains, different grains do have some not-insignificant differences in other nutrients. For example, 100 grams of dry millet has around1.4x-1.5x the protein content of 100 grams of whole grain brown rice. There are some differences in minerals (eg. potassium, zinc, etc) as well. Whole winter wheat has something like 50%+ more zinc per 100g than 100g of millet or rice. Wet rice agriculture also absorbs different types and levels of minerals compared to dry rice agriculture.
@@Intranetusa well you are not gonna digest those proteins so
A whole food series? Awesome!
We were literally just researching and talking about this very topic in our Azuchi-Momoyama living history group. We have also been researching and trying to apply our research in our historical reenactment in all culinary areas, including grains, meet, vegetables, and beverages. When I saw your video I very rarely click on a video that fast XD so great you have made this video!
We hear about rice being eaten by the military on numerous occasions, including the ashigaru. Logistical documents refer to rice being rationed, and one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's orders he gives to his men in order to soften rice when they are unable to cook due to damp wood (soak the 'RICE' in water for multiple hours before consumption). However, there is still evidence that shows other grains being eaten as well (as you posit here). This led us to further our research on this to try and figure out the use of different grains and the reasons behind it.
Two of articles we have been looking at explain the results of their research below:
Verschuer and Cobcroft (2016) actually have this area as one of their research specialities (history of grains and cereals in Japan).
They specifically challenge the notion that rice was the only grain eaten in Japan for millennia. However, they do this simply by stating there were other grains as well as rice. In addition,
Tomasaburo (2016) adds:
"In the past, Japanese barnyard millet was important in Japan as the staple food crop in districts where soil, weather conditions and irrigation systems were not suitable for paddy rice cultivation. When the rice crop suffered serious cool weather damage, the millet relieved people from starvation, especially in northeastern Japan. "
All in all, the academic articles we have read so far seem to agree on the following:
1) Almost everyone thinks rice was the sole staple for everyone but this is not actually true, particularly for before the 17th century.
2) Other grains were eaten as well as rice.
3) Rice and other grains were used to supplement each other depending on the climate and what was easiest to grow. Specifically, if rice is not viable, then food is mostly to be found in other grains like millet, buckwheat, barely, etc.
However, none of them have said so far that because rice was used in taxes that it was not commonly eaten. Would love to hear your thoughts on these, and many thanks for the info and sources, mate :) (Video has been liked, as always)
That was Awesome. Thanks Metatron
Nice job
Thanks!
Literally wondering this yesterday evening.
Nothing like an informative and relaxing video exploring Japanese culture from the Metatron before bed👌🏻
Love it and would like to see more! 🤗
Keep up the good work
I very much enjoy your videos. Great information 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻.
You mentioned various grains. A Japanese restaurant I used to frequent had four kinds of noodles. A few dishes used rice noodles. Most noodle dishes had a choice of Ramen, Udan (thick and pasry white) and Soba (buckwheat). Anyone who didn't specify got ramen. I got a kick out of ordering "Soba Yakisoba".
In the same restaurant someone there asked an elderly Korean woman, also a customer, for a recommendation. Instead of thinking that someone just wanted advice from a regular customer she was offended at being mistaken for Japanese and screamed at him for about five minutes. That is how much hate the Japanese occupation of Korea generated.
Why is she angry for being mistaken for Japanese when she’s in Japan (im assuming)?
@@axelNodvon2047 She was old enough to have survived the Japanese occupation of Korea. ALL Koreans who survived that had very bad opinions of the Japanese. Almost every woman was raped at least once and everyone lost someone they cared about.
The restaurant was in California. It had quite affordable prices. The Korean restaurant a few blocks away was expensive. I have no real idea why a woman with her feelings was eating in a Japanese restaurant.
@@markhorton3994 Yea its weird she would be in a Japanese restaurant and be offended
@@axelNodvon2047 I have never figured it out either. I don't even think the customer asking assumed anything more than that the lady had eaten there before and knew something about what was good.
@@markhorton3994 Kind of, at least to me, seems like she was waiting for that to happen just so she can be mad about it-
As someone who is a huge fan of Asian history videos like these are crazily interesting to me. Never miss a video from you Metatron. Keep up the education of the masses.
so beautiful graphics.. You are really good.
Thanks!
Fascinating
I actually like this stuff when we get to know more about everyday stuff like food, clothing, construction and craftsmanship. Shadiversity video about barrels enjoyed very much.
Plenty of fantastic info here! One bit that really got me, though, was when you showed vinyl records as you talked about tax records ;)
Very good MT
It would be interested to see you making a content about japan’s history with onsen ♨️. I think watching this video was interesting and well crafted.
He could relate it with Roman bath house.
3 minuets in an you are making me imagine a Samuria Caveman walking into a swamp and plucking some grains from the wild grass and eating the first dish of rice.
Just the term Samurai Caveman has me thinking of John Belushi. I know I'm showing my age.
You're very knowledgeable. Thank you for sharing it with all of us! :^)
Yes! New vid by Metratron!
Thanks.
Love your content Metatron. found you originally through your reaction to the woman saying Rome didnt exist. I originally commented asking about a video on Yasuke, but realized you had done one and i just hadnt looked hard enough. Viewing that video currently and enjoying the information and your view on it. Deleted my original comment for the sake of not having you possibly repeat yourself by saying you did one. again love your content man.
1:05 Thank you for not being ignorant, unlike many historians
i could watch a thousand videos on ancient japan, especially with regard to the lifestyle, food, clothing, culture, and sociaty of all classes within japan. this is a period of history which is difficult to get a holistic understanding of from main stream media sources. most people who think about japan dont even realize hokkaido wasent even part of the japanese empire.
good stuff, would love to see more.
Really interesting, do you have any books about the history of japan to reccomend?
Right right at the end I was struggling to figure out how big all of this actually is until you said miles thanks for the help Metatron
Now this is that real good shit I subbed for. I know how commoners lived in so many different ancient cultures from their daily habits down to the foundations of their buildings but next to nothing about anything like this on Japan
Most of the commoners and even most of the low rank samurai until the Edo period ate brown rice. Brown rice was so associated with low status and poverty that the Japanese got rid of it during the 20th century almost entirely and all started eating white rice, even though it's just carbs with no minerals and vitamins. When I lived in Japan I couldn't find any brown rice at the supermarkets.
It's pretty much the same in Europe for grains, although not quite to the same extent. Commoners ate whole grains while the nobles ate more processed grains. Whole grains only really became more popular with the modern health awareness. Although that might just be my perception of it.
Brown rice just has extra bran, which is trace elements bound to insoluble fiber. White rice is better as a staple food since the body can extract more calories from it, even if it can cause diabetes when eaten too much. White rice also requires less fuel to cook which was scarce in Japan up until the late 20th century.
In East Asia nowadays, brown rice is usually eaten by old people to treat constipation.
Also thank the rice lobby for it, the agricultural lobbies would rather plant white rice vs brown rice because of the sheer prestige of the rice industry
The dramatic boom with “rice” kills me every time
quality content that made me much more grateful with corn and flour stocks in my home
~Le siren game in the background. My favorite was the first one for ps2. I loved getting all archieve itens. The worldbuilding was so freaking good.
Besides, I learned so much in this one video...
Funny that rice is the only one depicted, yet samurai dueling in a wheat/grain field is a popular trope.
A little story about rice in japan:
As you mentioned the common people eat brown rice and white rice was for the upper class. But white rice without the outer brown layer lacks B1 vitamin and caused a sickness called kakke or beriberi among the rich people but not amongst the commoners who could only eat brown ones. They did not know what was causing this. Some guessed the problem was Edo since when they left they got better (white rice was less available outside Edo) When later they could industrialize the whitening of rice and make it available to more people the sickness spread really fast and was a big problem in the navy since they brought white rice to their voyages since it was going bad slower. Later a doctor named Takaki Kanehiro who was learing western medicine found out it it must be the food that causes this, since westerners did not had this problem so he managed to do an experiment to follow the exact route of a previous ship that had horrible beriberi result but instead of white rice he took bread and meat (since he thought the problem was protein deficiency). The experiment was success. Only those who did not follow the diet got the sickness. But meat was expensive so he replaced them with barley which is rich in protein (and also with the real reason B1 vitamin). This eliminated beriberi from the navy. Altough int the army doctors opposed him and stayed with the white rice for a while, but in the end they also gave in.
As a Japanese person I am happy you done a video on this!
Really interesting start to the series! 👍 It would be fascinating to see a comparison of the relative efficiency of various cereal crops the Japanese were using? Both in terms of yield per square metre, and in terms of relative protein & carb yield per cupful?
I find it really curious how the current image of "rice in Japan" is very much centered around white (hulled) rice, although you mentioned briefly that in the past brown (unhulled) rice was used to feed the workers? I wonder if the transition between the two was technology-based as in the West, where white flour started out as a luxury food and (thanks to industrialisation) rapidly became the norm for some time, until increased nutritional knowledge led to a move back towards wholegrains...
Towards the end of the video, when you were talking about the different measures, I found most interesting. Are these measures still used or have they fallen into disuse? I'd guess, in the UK, much like the rod and chain measures are little used now. If my memory serves, an acre is a furlong by a chain; so not a "square" measurement. 640 acres to the square mile.
Japan uses the metric system almost all the time. There are some crafts that still use the old ones, mainly carpenters as far as I know.
The most common things that still use old units are sake (usually sold in 720ml bottles, ≈ 4 gō) and room sizes in tatami mats which is a whole can of worms on its own.
Hey, Metatron... something we share in common is apparently a degree in Japanese Language and Culture. Awesome. :) I can say in my studies we were taught that rice was not a _staple_ of Japanese diet until after the Meiji Restoration (maybe the Edo period), and it was, at least to the common folk, more used ceremonially than as a daily food item. I think a number I vaguely recall is something like 40% or something like that was the rice consumption. So definitely in the same general area you describe.
This Video is perfect for my New larp group^^
Yay, finally about food!
Just walking around my place, eating rice in fully functional and historically accurate Samurai armor.
Anybody else hear a duck at 10:38? Sneaky, sneaky, sir. 😉✌️🤘🖖
Interesting, I enjoyed🎉🍚🍚🍚🍚🍚🎉
Hope you can collab with Max Miller of Tasting History for a sample of ancient Japanese cusine.
Sushi, Shashimi, Teriyaki, Ramen, Wasabi, And Ginger yeah
I looked but didn't see the next video on meat in Ancient Japan. Is it somewhere that I'm missing or has it not come out?
Mmmmmh....
Citadel paints and miniatures on the background....are those.....TAU?
Metatron plays for The Greater Good?
Shocking!
But somehow...expected....
Cool stuff mate.
= )
Neolithic area just means for me when people started to settle down, this may vary hugely across the globe. So it is less about a time and more about a cultural event in given society.
Oh man the next video never came. Cuz i really want to find a nice video as an example to show to a friend that for a large period of time Japanese society had a ban on meat. But apparently this knowledge is so trivial that no one had done a video about it.
Thank you; this channel has been informative; I was wondering if you know anything about the sokaku policy; I was wondering if after sokaku ban did Japanese traveled from one domain to another without a permission
I am more interested in those citadel paints on the back. What type of minies are you painting? Are you collecting some armies?
I’m painting the two teams found in the second season box of blood bowl! I also have 7 Warhammer fantasy armies.
It would be cool if you cook ancient dishes such as Roman and feudal Japanese in a video.
Bravo
Is there a 2nd part? I cant find it..
Lotus roots are actually pretty good. Although I've only had them in Chinese cuisine, it never occurred me the Japanese also used them. Indeed, in the US, Japanese cuisine is pretty much presented as sushi and kobe beef and not much else. Which is odd, given the number of American soldiers who took Japanese brides during the occupation of Japan following WW2, so you'd think they would have brought back to the States more than just two dishes...
American soldiers were/are America/European. That explains it.
Probably because Sushi/kobe beef are the best Japanese food to American tastes.
No the real reason is asain culture. Until recently when a woman married a man she became a part of his family. Part of that was letting go of her former culture- all of it.
Most of what we see was bought over with imagrents.
As an American who lived in Japan with his American family who was the only one that wanted to eat the most exotic or typical foods that Japanese would eat that Americans would run from I would say it's a confront issue. The US is an extremely diverse society with little to no normality. Even the most white dominant parts of the US are still diverse from various European groups and the strong sense of state loyalty. We tend to find things that give us a sense of home or familiarity when overwhelmed in a society vastly different than our home town. Which is why Mexican food has different quality in different states, it's adjusted according to the citizens are more comfortable with than true to its name. Which is sad because I loved octopus in Japan and wish we offered it more in the US
@@theamericankaiser4549 It's not sad. Like the Japanese my fellow Arkansans love our State and our culture. We want experience our culture, pass it to the next generation, and share it with the world. It is actually very beautiful. Im a home grown hillbilly of the Ouachitas mountains and proud of it.
Did he ever make that Part 2?
Do some videos on Aboriginal Australia please...
ok, but how does this unit of length relate to how much surface we are talking about? Is there a standard stripe width for farming land? Are we simply talking about however much land people maged to irrigate along the side of a water source? I am slightly confused.
3:34 Hot rice being spread on nori with a spatula, my poor eyes can't unsee that.
Official records. That was a good one.
Your land measurements at the end were confusing, since we need area, and you seem to be using distance measurements. Do you end up with square km or miles at the end, or are you assuming some other width? Converting to Acres and Hectare would be useful.
Please Metatron,
Can you clarify your calculations. Are we talking about linear measures or square km.
14:02 and how do you measure farming area in units of LENGTH??
And apart of the differences about neolithic term "baggage" we need discuss the ethnic composition of populace and thus culturally dependent preferences. And yes i am refering to Ainu.
A bow of brown rice(mixed with multi-grains and mushrooms or sweet potatoes), pickled radish, dried sardine, ground yam, and miso soup.
Is that Dogen sensei's ヒラガナ t-shirt merch?
If a cho is a measurement of length, what does it say about the area? Does one have to add 'square' mentally?
Is the "cho" a unit of length or area?
M'lord, when will you make a video about the Netflix series, The Last Kingdom, i heard its based on historical events, and i would like to hear your opinion.
Hey Metatron, I'm not sure if you're interested in stories and myths but think you can do a video on legendary swords from Europe and Japan? Mostly because I enjoy stories and your channel, and I think you might be interested.
It *would* be cool to see someone with a decently big viewership tell people about Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, *especially* since it could lead into a video on the Tsurugi, the double-edged straight sword that's the most *significant* sword type in Japan that's ironically very *obscure outside* Japan, overshadowed by the much *less* significant in Japanese culture that's pretty much *worshipped outside* Japan; I'd *love* to see the Tsurugi get the attention outside Japan that it *deserves* .
I highly suggest you read these books made by Matthew Meyers, the first book called the night parade of a hundred demons is the first one you should start with. It’s an encyclopedia of Japanese mythology but even its still good.
Might be an odd question, but prolly one of the best spots to get a decent response either from Metatron or someone else knowledgeable lurking around...
But I was curious , keep seeing it often these days in comment sections people for example praising a Japanese musician going like "omg soandso-sensei makes amazing music". It was in my understanding that "sensei" was used to refer to the teacher in a student/teacher sense, am I mistaken?
Not an expert, but from what I've heard, the word is sometimes used to refer to people of a certain expertise in some fields, like art or medicine, e.g. composers or doctors.