[Ads-l] Jidori - 2009 TM, 2011 use

[Benjamin Barrett]

Eating at a restaurant near Green Lake in Seattle the other day, I saw two or three menu items with “jidori” in the description (not capitalized). Not on the Oxford Dictionary site, “jidori” will get you a redirect on Wikipedia to “free range” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_range <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_range>), though the article doesn’t use the word “jidori.” The word appears to commonly be understood as “free range,” but it appears that is not the correct meaning in English or Japanese.

On 22 October 2012, the Huffington Post ran an article titled “What Is Jidori Chicken?” (http://huff.to/1g6gPC7 <http://huff.to/1g6gPC7>). Kimberly Komatsu writes that she (or perhaps he) first saw the word in 2011. She indicates that the word got its start in English in the early 1990s when Dennis Mao (http://jidorichicken.com) began selling it. She also says that Jidori is never frozen, is a type of bird derived from the Rhode Island red and the hinaidori, and that Mao has trademarked the term (Komatsu capitalizes the word throughout). The two earliest registrations on the USPTO are on 6 February 2009, one for JIDORI CHICKEN (77665200) and one for JIDORI (serial number 77665205).

The earliest cite I see on Google with this sort of meaning is 23 May 2011 also on the Huffington Post:
http://huff.to/1Rc7Q0r <http://huff.to/1Rc7Q0r>
The Misfit Fits Well Into Santa Monica Dining Scene
Jay Weston

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But Bruce wisely picked up the recipe of the legendary Southern chef, Atlanta’s Edna Lewis, and the famous Dixie Fried Chicken ($19) is so crunchy, juicy, and damn good I was dreaming about it last night... it’s Jidori chicken from my friend Dennis Mao’s place downtown, organic and fresh, cooked and served in an iron skillet. 
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According to the Japanese Wikipedia on 地鶏 (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/地鶏), there are more than 40 types of jidori and that chickens produced in Japan with at least 50 percent blood from domestic chicken types qualify, a JAS standard.

The earliest I see this word is 1986 (Google-dated) in a side-by-side translation:
http://bit.ly/22hH6na <http://bit.ly/22hH6na>
日本の味「ヨコメシガイド」: 和英対照
by 三井物産広報室

… a _jidori_ is “a free range chicken” and a broiler is…

Then is 1996 (Google-dated), though the word is for specific bird types:
http://bit.ly/1U3oile <http://bit.ly/1U3oile>
Journal of the Faculty of Applied Biological Science, Hiroshima University: volumes 35, 36
Hiroshima Daigaku. Seibutsu Seisangakubu

Six Japanese native breeds (Iwate-Jidori, Aizu-Jidori, Sadohige-Jidori, Siba-Tori, Onaga-Dori and Echigonankin-Shamo) and one imported breed (White Leghorn) were studied.

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA
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