Place
Yamanashi
山梨県
33 items
● 31 born here(Akebono Daizu no Edamame, Amanatto no Osekihan, Anbin, and more) / ● 1 raised here(Koshu Gyu) / ● 1 prepared here(Shoyu no Mi)
Born here31
- Akebono Daizu no Edamameあけぼの大豆の枝豆Akebono daizu edamame — a large-grained soybean picked young and salt-boiledThe 'akebono' soybean, said to be 1.6 times the size of an ordinary bean, is picked young and salt-boiled — an edamame from the Akebono area of Minobu town. Grown since the Meiji era but resistant to mechanization, aging growers have made it scarce enough to be called a 'phantom bean'.
- Amanatto no Osekihan甘納豆のお赤飯Amanatto sekihan — sweet red rice colored with food dye, not azukiMade without azuki or cowpea beans, glutinous rice is dyed red with food coloring and mixed with candied sweet beans — a Yamanashi take on celebratory red rice, sweet-salty with a sprinkle of sesame salt. A similarly sweet red rice is said to exist far away in Hokkaido and parts of Tohoku.
- Anbinあんびんa sweet potato flour dumpling filled with bean paste, slapped flatSweet potato and wheat flour are kneaded with hot water, wrapped around bean paste, slapped flat, and steamed — a sweet from the Kyonan region. Its name is said to come from the slapping motion, revived in Ichikawamisato town's Rokugo area after a local school's closure sparked a heritage-food effort.
- Awabi no Nigaiあわびの煮貝abalone simmered soft in soy sauce, an inland delicacyAbalone from Suruga Bay was soy-sauce-marinated and hauled in barrels by horse, the jostling and body heat said to have worked the flavor deep in — a specialty from landlocked Kofu. Sliced thin and paired with its liver, shiso, and cucumber, it endures as a taste of the sea inland.
- Azuki Hoto小豆ほうとうhoto noodles simmered in sweet red bean soup instead of misoHoto noodles, cut thicker than usual, are simmered in sweet azuki bean soup in place of mochi — a festival food in Yamanashi. The summer festival at Miwa Shrine in Hokuto city's Wakamiko area is nicknamed the 'hoto festival', and azuki's red color is said to ward off misfortune.
- Hirauchi Tanmen平打ちタンメンShio — saltKofu's flat-noodle tanmen loaded with vegetablesA salt-based tanmen from Kofu, Yamanashi, built on wide, flat noodles said to feel almost like fettuccine. Bean sprouts, pork, and napa cabbage pile on top for a vegetable-heavy bowl carried on today by several shops around the prefecture.
- HotoほうとうYamanashi's miso-simmered flat noodles, tied to a warlord's legendThe leading theory traces the dish to 'hakutaku,' a Chinese noodle dish said to have reached Japan in the Nara or Heian period, its name later shifting to 'hoto.' Legend holds that the warlord Takeda Shingen favored it as army-camp food, giving it the nickname 'Takeda soup,' though no single account of its origin or exact era is settled. Raw noodles and seasonal vegetables are simmered together in a miso broth.
- Imogara-iri Futomaki Zushiいもがら入り太巻き寿司Imogara futomaki — a thick sushi roll filled with sweet-simmered dried taro stemDried taro stem, called 'imogara', is simmered sweet-savory and rolled into the center of a thick sushi roll like kanpyo gourd strips — prized for its fibrous crunch, made in Yamanashi homes as a treat for weddings, funerals, and any gathering.
- Inobuta Nabeいのぶた鍋Miso-baseda sesame miso hot pot of wild-boar-crossed porkMeat from 'inobuta', a cross between wild boar and domestic sow, is simmered with vegetables and mushrooms in a sesame-miso broth — a hot pot from the Mitomi area, said to lack any gamey edge and carry a sweet richness in its fat, its breeding encouraged after the war on a base of local hunting culture.
- Jagaimo to Hijiki no Nimonoじゃがいもとひじきの煮物potato and hijiki simmered for the mountain's opening dayPotato and rehydrated hijiki seaweed are simmered sweet-savory in soy sauce and mirin — a dish from around Fujiyoshida city, said to have been served by oshi lodging-house keepers to pilgrims on Mount Fuji's July 1st opening day, pairing mountain and sea to mark the season's start.
- Korogaki枯露柿a large dried persimmon sun-cured until its sugars crystalize whitePeeled astringent persimmons are hung under the eaves and turned in the sun until their sugars crystalize into a white bloom — a dried persimmon from the Matsuzato area of Koshu city. It is said to be chopped into a New Year salad or even fried in tempura.
- Koshu Jidori Ramen甲州地どりラーメンBesides shoyu, miso, shio and tonkotsua free-range chicken bowl built on Yamanashi's spring waterA ramen built on broth from Koshu jidori, Yamanashi's branded free-range chicken, finished with a tare made from freshwater fish. Created within the Yamanashi Gensui Ramen framework, it's topped with local dried tomato and jidori sausage.
- Memakiめまきfish wrapped triangular in seaweed and simmered for hoursSmelt or other small fish are wrapped triangular in dried arame seaweed and simmered for over ten hours in a soy sauce broth until soft — a dish from Fujikawaguchiko town said to have been served by the oshi lodging-house keepers to Mount Fuji pilgrims, its triangle shape said to represent the mountain.
- Mogura Uri no Hiyajiru茂倉瓜の冷や汁a cold summer soup of a rare local melon-gourdThe mogura melon-gourd, saved and replanted from seed for some 130 years, is julienned and dropped into cold sardine-stock miso soup with myoga, then poured over rice — a summer dish from the Mogura area of Hayakawa town. Less grassy than cucumber, with a crisp bite, it is said.
- Nama Yuba生湯葉the fresh skin skimmed from simmering soy milkThe skin that forms on the surface of simmering soy milk is skimmed off fresh — a specialty of Minobu town, said to have begun when the priest Nichiren's disciples made it as an easily digested source of nutrition after he entered Mount Minobu. It is cut bite-sized and eaten with wasabi soy sauce.
- Obakuおばくhulled barley porridge with root vegetables, topped with miso and scallionHulled barley soaked overnight is simmered soft in plenty of water with potato, daikon, and taro — a Yamanashi staple said to have been the everyday food of mountain areas where rice was precious. Left unseasoned itself, it is eaten with a scallion miso or a spoon of shoyu-no-mi.
- Oshaka Kogoriおしゃかこごりa lumpy soybean dumpling for the Buddha's birthdayWheat dough mixed with roasted soybeans is steamed into knobby lumps — a festival sweet from around Kofu city, offered with sweet hydrangea tea on April 8th's Buddha's-birthday festival. Shaped to resemble the Buddha's head, it is said to grant wisdom to those who eat it.
- Ozaraおざらhoto's cold summer cousin, thin noodles dipped in warm brothNoodles cut thinner than hoto are boiled, rinsed cold, then dipped into a warm soy-based broth — Yamanashi's answer to its basin summers. Even hoto specialty shops are said to swap it in during the hottest months.
- Sanma Meshiさんまめしnew-harvest rice cooked together with whole saurySaury is cooked right in with the rice, then flaked and mixed back in with shredded ginger — an autumn dish from landlocked Yamanashi, where fresh saury is said to have reached market each fall and been made as a celebratory meal once the rice harvest was in.
- Seida no Tamajiせいだのたまじsmall skin-on potatoes simmered in sweet misoSmall unpeeled potatoes are fried, then simmered down in sweetened miso — a dish from the Yuzurihara area of Uenohara city, said to trace back to a late-Edo-era official who brought seed potatoes from Kyushu and saved the village from famine.
- Tori Motsuni鳥もつ煮chicken giblets flash-glazed in a thick soy-sugar sauceChicken liver, gizzard, and heart are flash-glazed over high heat in a thick soy-sugar sauce until they shine — a Kofu dish said to have begun just after the war, when a soba shop owner found a use for giblets that would otherwise have been thrown away.
- Tsukino Shizuku月の雫a Koshu grape coated whole in hardened sugar glazeThick-skinned Koshu grapes are dipped one by one in molten sugar glaze and left to harden — a confection from Kofu, said by legend to have begun when a grape fell into boiling sugar syrup at a Kofu sweet shop, and already noted in Edo-period guidebooks.
- Urajiro Manjuうらじろまんじゅうa mochi-like bun kneaded with the white-backed leaf of oyamabokuchiYoung leaves of the thistle-like oyamabokuchi plant are kneaded into the dough around a sweet bean filling — a confection from the Yamato area of Koshu city, said to have begun when fiber from the same leaf, once used as a binder for hoto noodles, was worked into a bun instead.
- Usuyakiうすやきa thin griddled flatbread of wheat flour, savory or sweetWheat flour thinned with water and mixed with dried baby sardines and shiso is griddled on both sides — a Yamanashi snack said to be one product of a flour-based food culture that grew where rice farming did not suit the land. Sweet versions with bean paste also exist.
- Yakomeやこめsteamed sticky rice with roasted soybeans and sesame, offered to the fieldsGlutinous and non-glutinous rice are steamed together with roasted soybeans and sesame — a ritual food said to originate as an offering laid at the inlet of a rice paddy during the 'mizuguchi' spring planting rite, its name traced to roasted unhulled rice, 'yakigome'.
- Basashi馬刺しYamanashi basashi — raw horse meat sliced thin and dipped in soy sauceRaw horse meat, sliced thin, is dipped in soy sauce with grated ginger, garlic, and scallion — a Yamanashi dish said to have taken root because horses long served the province, from tribute animals to load-bearers for Mount Fuji pilgrims, making the meat cheap and familiar. It is also simmered sweet and piled onto Yoshida udon.
- Yamanashi Gensui Ramenやまなし源水ラーメンBesides shoyu, miso, shio and tonkotsua ramen project built entirely around the prefecture's spring waterA framework said to have launched in 2023 among Yamanashi ramen shops, using the basin's soft water in both broth and noodles. A dual broth of freshwater fish and local chicken, plus at least one prefectural ingredient, ties together bowls that otherwise differ shop to shop.
- Katsudonかつ丼Yamanashi katsudon — sauce-topped cutlet on cabbage and rice, no eggShredded cabbage sits under a freshly fried pork cutlet doused in sauce, no egg in sight — Yamanashi's version of katsudon. The egg-topped style found elsewhere is locally called 'ni-katsudon' and considered a different dish, this one said to have originated at an old Kofu soba shop.
- Mimiみみtriangle-folded dough dumplings simmered in miso with vegetablesSquares of wheat dough are pinched at two corners into a triangle and simmered in miso with vegetables — a dish from the Totani area of Fujikawa town. Its shape, likened to a winnowing basket, is said to symbolize scooping up good fortune, and it is offered to the New Year's deity.
- Yoshida no Udon吉田のうどんExtra-firm noodles from the foot of Mt. Fuji, topped with horse meatA markedly firm, chewy udon from Fujiyoshida at the foot of Mt. Fuji. One account ties it to the town's textile industry, with men preparing quick meals so the women weaving cloth could keep working.
- Yugao no Miso Shiru夕顔のみそ汁bottle-gourd miso soup, a Fuji foothill summer stapleThe long, gourd-shaped 'naga-yugao', a bottle gourd variety distinct from the one used for kanpyo strips, is thinly sliced into a sardine-stock miso soup — a summer dish from the Fuji foothills, its mild flavor and silky texture said to be well liked.