Sweets
Oshaka Kogori
Oshaka kogori — a lumpy soybean dumpling for the Buddha's birthday
Wheat 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.
- Origin: Yamanashi Kofu
- About 110 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Wheat dough sweetened and mixed with roasted soybeans is rolled into rough, lumpy shapes and steamed. The chewy dough studded with the toasty crunch of soybeans is said to be the appeal. The rough, bumpy shape is said to represent the Buddha's head, and eating it is said to grant wisdom just as the Buddha had.
How it's made
Soybeans soaked and drained are roasted over medium heat without burning, then combined with wheat flour, sugar, and salt, with warm milk worked in a little at a time until the dough reaches an earlobe softness. Divided into ten portions in foil cups, it's steamed for about ten minutes, people say. In some areas it's rolled into round dumplings instead, it's said.
Why it took this shape
This festival sweet is said to have been offered alongside sweet hydrangea tea at the rite celebrating the Buddha's birth on April 8th. Its lumpy shape is said to have earned it a name likening it to the Buddha's head, and eating it was believed to grant wisdom, it's said. Ingredients and shape are said to vary by region and household, with some using rice flour, puffed rice, or walnuts, reflecting the ingenuity of working with whatever was close at hand.
Before you go
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
- Osechi and zoni for the New YearA guide to the meaning behind osechi's tiered boxes, the regional differences in zoni (square vs. round mochi, clear vs. miso broth), and the nanakusa-gayu custom.
- Setsubun: ehomaki and lucky beansA guide to ehomaki, the uncut sushi roll said to be eaten facing a lucky direction on Setsubun, and to mamemaki, the bean-throwing custom with roasted lucky beans.
Dishes in the same style
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- Iga ManjuSweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Yamanashi
- Akebono Daizu no EdamameThe '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'.
- AnbinSweet 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 NigaiAbalone 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 HotoHoto 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 TanmenA 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.