Buddhism in Japan and tofu making

Prohibition of killing a living thing is one of a regulation of Buddhism. Based on the Prohibition, Tofu played an important role in East Asia. At the introduction of Buddhism into Japan, a priest from KOKURI(North Korea), DONCHO, brought a large mill stone from his mother country to DAZAIF in Japan,AD 610. The mill is existing now, as a mysterious object in front of a auditorium of the a temple(KANZEONJI) in DAZAIFU,FUKUOKA prefecture.

Now the mill attract attention. The large stone mill is oldest and biggest in Japan. Why? The history of the mill can be found in the oldest document in Japan, NIHONSHOKI:"Suiko emperor 18(610AD) , KOKURI supply two priest HOTEI and DONCHO, he understand five doctrines and made color paints , paper and China-ink. He made a TENGAI(stone mill). This is the beginning of mill making in Japan".

The word TENGAI(mill) can be find in some document of Todaiji Temple in Nara: "We can find a large stone mill in the dining room."

Recentry, a relic of a large stone mill was excavated by a archeologist.

The relic was found in a old well.

The zoom up.

Where is the origin of the tofu? It's under discussion now. One of the reliable information is in Huainan,China,BC.178-122. We visited the spot, November,1998. Here give a making demonstration of tofu.
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