Tobacco and the Devil Ryunosuke Akutagawa Tobacco is a plant that did not originally exist in Japan. When was it imported to Japan? The records do not agree on the date. Some say it was during the Keicho era, others the Tenbun era. However, it seems that by around the 10th year of the Keicho era, it was already being cultivated in various places. Then, by the Bunroku era, smoking had become so popular that a rakushu was written: "Those who do not smoke tobacco should be punished, and money should be punished, and doctors should be punished." -- So, when asked who imported this tobacco, any historian would answer that it was the Portuguese or the Spanish. However, that