Kabocha or Bobora Pumpkin, at Uncle Ken's Corner Table

Greetings!

9/10/08 - The "pumpkin" which we know locally as Kabocha, and assume is of Japanese origin, actually started out in Central America. From the Americas, Portuguese sailors and explorers carried the Kabocha on board their trading vessels around the Pacific. The Kabocha which is actually a winter squash, lasts for months at room temperature, and was ideal as food and merchandize for long sea voyages. The seeds are plentiful within the cavity of the Kabocha and easy to grow, so the Kabocha became established in Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia, flourishing in the tropical climate.

Kabocha pumpkins awaiting shipment.

Because most of the Japanese immigrants to Hawaii came from the southern prefectures or provinces of Japan, they brought with them both the Japanese pumpkin and the name which they used back home, Bobora. The prefectures which sent the most Japanese immigrants to Hawaii were Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kumamoto and Fukuoka on Kyushu and southern Honshu. Those of us who are seniors, could probably recall the old days when our parents and grandparents called the pumpkin, bobora.

Portuguese sailors who landed to the north in Yokohama, a port on the Eastern Coast of central Honshu, Japan, also introduced the Cambodian pumpkin or squash to the Japanese there. However, in that area the name given to the pumpkin was the name for Cambodia, from where the supply of pumpkins came on the trading vessels. The name for Cambodia is Kampuchia. When the Portuguese pronounced Kampuchia for the local Japanese, what the Japanese ear "heard" was "Kapucha" which they pronounced, "Kabocha". And thus in central and northern Japan, what was known as bobora in the south, became known as Kabocha (a variation on the country name from where pumpkin came, Kampuchia). Bobora was the term we used in Hawaii until about 50 years ago, after the War.

As trade between the U.S. and Japan flourished after the War in the Pacific, the Japanese pumpkin or squash became popular, not only in Hawaii, but also on the West Coast of the U.S. and inland as far as the East Coast. And because most of the trading vessels between Japan and the U.S. came out of Yokohama and Tokyo (Edo) in central Japan, the term Kabocha which was the term used in those port cities, became the accepted name for the Japanese pumpkin or squash, supplanting the local usage of the term, bobora. So today, in super markets and farmers' markets the Japanese pumpkin or squash is called Kabocha. So both terms, "Bobora" and "Kabocha" are not Japanese words, but are Japanese "loan words" adapted from foreign languages (Portuguese and Cambodian) by the Japanese.

Other places in the world where the Portuguese introduced the pumpkin or squash include Brazil, where the national language is Portuguese. There, the vegetable is still called "Abobora" (although some now call it "Kabutia"). In the U.S. most markets call it kabocha, except in markets which cater to Brazilian or Portuguese customers, where the pumpkin is called Abobora. In Hawaii, Kabocha is now the most common name for the pumpkin or squash which was formerly known locally as Bobora.

Kabocha is grown commercially mostly in California and Mexico, and also in New Zealand and Australia, and several Pacific Islands, and is mostly shipped to Japan where it is a big part of the Japanese diet. Much of the commercial Kabocha found in Hawaii markets is imported from California and New Zealand, with a small percentage grown locally.

And, finally, on a tangent, the word Bobora was also a pidgin term used by locals to refer to a Japanese immigrant, fresh off the boat. It had a bit of a derogatory connotation because the bobora pumpkin or squash was very hard, but hollow inside, the way the locals used to think of the newly arrived immigrants. But just as the usage of the term bobora for the Japanese pumpkin has virtually disappeared, so has the use of the term, bobora to refer to a recently arrived Japanese immigrant. With the waves of Japanese tourists and the contributions of Japanese nationals to our economy, "bobora" no longer has any useful distinction in the conversations of local residents.

And that's my thoughts from the Corner Table,

Uncle Ken