jidori chicken

[badthings]

I get the impression from this page that jidori chicken ( or at least Hinai-jidori) is both a breed and a (delimited origin-type) local product. Presumably "jidori chicken" is that breed raised elsewhere? What does it mean in the US (googling it will show its appearance on quite a few menus here). Are there production methods associated with it aside from the free-range mentioned?

All explanations much appreciated.

[helenjp]

"Jidori" means free-range chicken (literally, "ground chicken"). Sometimes the term "jiyoudori" (ground-reared chicken) is used instead.

Hinai is the region where they are bred.

Hope that helps...

[badthings]

Helen, thanks.

I found this article:

H Takahashi, et. al., "Genetic relationships among Japanese native breeds of chicken based on microsatellite DNA polymorphisms," Journal of Herededity 1998 89: 543-546

Most of today's Japanese chicken breeds were established from three original breeds, Jidori, Shokoku, and Shamo. Jidori means indigenous chicken and retains primitive chicken characteristics. Jidori is thought to have been introduced into Japan from China about 2,000 years ago.... Hinai is a meat type breed established in Akita prefecture.... This breed was thought to be established by crossing Jidori with Shamo ["thought to be derived from a Malay-type chicken introduced into Japan from Thailand in the 16th or 17th centruy for cockfighting"]. Our results do not contradict the presumed histories of the three breeds.

(There are other varieties of Jidori; however, the authors say that Iwate-Jidori and Aizu-Jidori are closer to Shokoku than Jidori.)

So it sounds like in Japan now, Jidori is used to describe free-range chickens of one of these breeds. I wonder what it is supposed to mean in the US. And what those "primitive chicken characteristics" are.

[torakris]

"Jidori" means free-range chicken (literally, "ground chicken"). Sometimes the term "jiyoudori" (ground-reared chicken) is used instead.

Hinai is the region where they are bred.

Hope that helps...

I just want to help clarify one thing in case anyone gets confused.

When Helen is referring to ground chicken she is not meaning the minced up type ( it took me a couple minutes to understand and thought I had had it wrong all these years! )

the characters for jidori ’nŒ{@are made up from the characters for niwatori (chicken) Œ{ and the character ji ’n@which is used to describe earth, ground, soil, land and even place or region.

I have no idea of the history of the name, but nowadays the name jidori seems to be used to to make a chicken stand out above their neighbors. Giving it a name, sort of like a brand, makes it seem more special.

Most of the jidori I have seen use the place name of their origin, similar to the examples given like Iwate-jidori.

[helenjp]

Actually, "free range" chicken is usually written "jiyou" (=ground-raised) chicken. So jidori = native chicken could well be correct. I only took a quick glance at the link, and assumed it was a variant of "jiyou-dori" without checking properly, so sorry if I put anybody wrong.

Ji=local, native can be found in other food terms like "ji-zake" for local sake.

[badthings]

I just (randomly) discovered an 18th-century chicken from the Zen Temple in Kyoto:

The english page for the whole exhibit (with more poultry) is here; I'm sure there is a Japanese one for Kanji readers.