January 18, 2016

長岡、川西屋本店の酒饅頭/Saka Manju at Kawanishi Ya Honten, Nagaoka

According to this page of the website of Kawanishi Ya Honten, these saka manju (shio azuki or salted azuki) take three hours to hand-make, one by one, in the traditionally way, by fermenting koji.
川西屋本店のサイトのこのページによれば、この酒まんじゅう(塩小豆)は、麹を発酵させ、一つづつ、昔ながらの方法で手作りしているそうです。

This particular brand of saka manju, which is special in that the azuki filling is not sweetened, was a favorite of Yamamoto Isoroku, who was native to this city.

According to this page of the website of Kawanishi Ya Honten, Yamamoto had the saka manju in the following special way:

Pour water in a donburi (large rice bowl) until it's 70% full, float blocks of snow (ice?) to cool the water, float a manju there. Leave it for a while, and the manju, which soaked up the cold water, becomes swollen and large to fill the donburi. Sprinkle sugar, and eat it by scooping with a large spoon.
小豆のあんこが甘くない、この酒まんじゅうは、この市出身の山本五十六の好物でした。

山本はこのまんじゅうを特別な方法で食べるのが好きでした。川西屋本店のサイトのこのページによると、山本はこの酒まんじゅうを次のような特別な方法で食べていました。

どんぶりに水を七分目ぐらいいれ、雪のかたまりを浮かべ水を冷たくし、そこにまんじゅうを浮かべます。しばらく放置すると、冷たい水を吸ったまんじゅうが、どんぶりいっぱいにふやけて大きくなります。彼は、その上から砂糖をかけ、大きなスプーンでザクッとまんじゅうをすくって食べていました。
In this YouTube video, you can see how Yamamoto had the manju. View the video at 0:50 and 1:36. This video is part of the movie produced in 2011.
このYouTubeビデオで、山本がどのようにまんじゅうを食べたか分かります。0:50と1:36を見て下さい。このビデオは2011年に制作された映画の一部です。

Edited to add:
Yamamoto Isoroku called the saka manju eaten in this way "mizu manju" (mizu = water). Usually, mizu manju means manju made from kuzu ko (arrowroot powder) and an (bean jam).
追記:
山本五十六は、このように食べる酒まんじゅうを「水まんじゅう」と呼んでいました。通常、水まんじゅうとは、くず粉と餡で作るまんじゅうのことです。

Despite the fact described above, I had the manju in a usual way.
上記のような事実があるものの、私は、このまんじゅうを普通に食べました。
 






4 comments:

  1. The saka manju looks delicious! Thank you for showing the photo and telling us about it.

    Erin from California

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  2. ErinBear: Well, my wife and daughter said they'd prefer regular saka manju with sweeetened filling. As for me, I was more interested in the dough, because I want to make bread by using koji.

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  3. Looks very fluffy! It would be a shame to make it cold and soggy in water, right? I would love to understand his reasons for liking that particular way of eating it. This reminds me of the Swedish semla bun and how some people eat it in a bowl of milk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semla. By the way, I am not Swedish, but I really like the semla bun because of the combination of whipped cream and almond paste and cardamom spice.

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  4. Anonymous: Thanks for the information about semla. I didn't know anything about it, and it sounds very tasty! I'd like to have it some day.

    Anyone would love to have saka manju nice and hot, and I have no idea why Yamamoto liked to have it in such a special way, except that he had a sweet tooth.

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