is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

term most often applied to regional specialties (also known as ). can also be applied to specialized areas of interest, such as , where it refers to famous tea utensils, or

Japanese swords A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1,000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794–1185) to the ...

, where it refers to specific named famous blades.

Definition

Hiroshige-53-Stations-Hoeido-41-Narumi-MFA-02

Hiroshige-53-Stations-Hoeido-51-Minakuchi-Met-New-York-01

could be classified into the following five categories:According to a paper by Laura Nenzi cited by Jilly Traganou in ''The Tokaido Road: Traveling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan'' (Routledge, 2004), (72) * , regional Japanese food specialties such as the roasted rice cakes () of Hodogaya, and the yam gruel, '' toro-jiru'' of Mariko; *

Japanese craft Traditional in Japan have a long tradition and history. Included in the category of traditional crafts are handicrafts produced by an individual or a group, as well as work produced by independent studio artists working with traditional craft mat ...

s as souvenirs such as the

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

s of

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

or the shell-decorated screens of

Enoshima is a small offshore island, about in circumference, at the mouth of the Katase River which flows into the Sagami Bay of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Administratively, Enoshima is part of the mainland city of Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Fujisawa, and is ...

; In the past, also included: * Supernatural souvenirs and wonder-working panaceas, such as the bitter powders of Menoke that supposedly cured a large number of illnesses; * Bizarre things that added a touch of the "exotic" to the aura of each location such as the fire-resistant

salamanders Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

Hakone is a List of towns in Japan, town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 10,965, and total area of . Hakone is a notable spa town and a popular tourist destination due to its many onsen, hot springs being within view of ...

; and * Prostitutes, who made localities such as

Shinagawa is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per ...

, Fujisawa, Akasaka, Yoshida and Goyu famous. In some cases these people may have encouraged visits to otherwise impoverished and remote localities, contributing to the local economy and the exchange between people of different backgrounds. Several prints in various versions of the

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

series '' The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō'' depict . These include Arimatsu , various

tie-dye Tie-dye is a term used to describe a number of resist dyeing techniques and the resulting dyed products of these processes. The process of tie-dye typically consists of folding, twisting, pleating, or crumpling fabric or a garment, before binding ...

d fabrics sold at Narumi (station 41), and (sliced gourd), a product of Minakuchi (station 51), as well as a famous

teahouse A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...

at Mariko (station 21) and a famous (rest stop) selling a type of ricecake called at Kusatsu (station 51). Another category are special tea tools that were historic and precious items of

Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or lit. 'Hot water for tea') is a Culture of Japan, Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . The term "Japa ...

Usage

Evelyn Adam gave the following account of in her 1910 book, ''Behind the Shoji'':

Examples

In media

are key to the promotion of tourism within Japan, and have been frequently depicted in media since the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

(1603–1867).

Ukiyo-e

File:Opening shellfish at Fukagawa.jpg, opening shellfish at Fukagawa by

Utagawa Kuniyoshi Utagawa Kuniyoshi (, ; 1 January 1798 – 14 April 1861) was one of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al'' (2005). "Kuniyoshi" in He was a member of the Utaga ...

File:Edo Jiman Meibutsu Kurabe (BM 1906,1220,0.1327).jpg, with pumpkin grown at Sunamura by

File:GojūSanTsugi-MeishoZu'e, Narumi by Hiroshige.jpg, ''Narumi: Shop selling famous Arimatsu tie-dyed fabric'' by

Hiroshige or , born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format landscape series '' The Fifty-three Stations ...

File:Hizenkuni, Imari yaki 肥前伊萬里焼 (All the Famous Products of Land and Sea) (BM 2008,3037.03401).jpg,

Imari ware is a Western term for a brightly-coloured style of Japanese export porcelain made in the area of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. They were exported to Europe in large quantities, especially between the second half ...

kiln in

Hizen Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan in the area of the Saga Prefecture, Saga and Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen Province, Ch ...

File:Fukuroi Reisho Tokaido.jpg, : famous kites of

Tōtōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today western Shizuoka Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tōtōmi''" in . Tōtōmi bordered on Mikawa Province, Mikawa, Suruga Province, S ...

File:Een pop en ander speelgoed.jpeg, Famous products of

Yamashiro Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai. It overlaps the southern part of modern Kyoto Prefecture on Honshū. Aliases include , the rare , and . It is classified as an upper province in the '' Engishiki''. Yamashiro Province included Kyoto it ...

by Keisai Eisen File:MET DP139064.jpg, Famous product of

Fukagawa, Tokyo is a district in Kōtō, Tokyo. It is traditionally part of the area of Tokyo. Formerly, it was a ward of the historical Tokyo City. In 1947, Fukagawa was incorporated into the ward of Kōtō, together with Suginami. Fukagawa has a large South ...

, yokan by Hokucho Joren

Manga and Anime

* Ekiben Hitoritabi,

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

and travel

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

about

ekiben are a specific type of ''bento'' boxed meals, sold on trains and at train stations in Japan. They come with disposable chopsticks (when necessary) or spoons. ''Ekiben'' containers can be made from plastic, wood, or ceramic. Many train stations ...

containing

tokusanhin is a Japanese term for specialty food products associated with particular Japanese regions.''Japan's Socio-Economic Evolution: Continuity and Change'' (Japan Library, 1996), eds. Sarah Metzger-Court & Werner Pascha, p. 157. ''Tokusanhin'' are oft ...

Golden Kamuy is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Satoru Noda. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from August 2014 to April 2022, with its chapters collected in 31 volumes. The story follows Saich ...

, a

Seinen manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word means "youth", but the term " manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Manga Times'' and '' Weekly Man ...

and anime that includes many Ainu meibutsu from

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

including

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and

Ainu cuisine Ainu cuisine is the cuisine of the ethnic Ainu people, Ainu in Japan and Russia. The cuisine differs markedly from that of the majority Yamato people of Japan. Raw meat like sashimi, for example, is rarely served in Ainu cuisine, which instead u ...

* Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles, a food manga and

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

devoted to regional

ramen is a Chinese noodle dish popularized in Japan. It includes served in several flavors of broth. Common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen h ...

* Oishii Kamishama (Delicious Venus), a food manga devoted to presenting

Oishinbo is a long-running Japanese cooking manga series written by Tetsu Kariya and drawn by . The manga's title is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for "delicious", , and the word for someone who loves to eat, . The series depicts the adventur ...

, a

and anime that helped launch the gourmet anime genre occasionally featured meibutsu like

hōtō is a noodle soup and popular regional dish originating from Yamanashi, Japan made by stewing flat udon noodles and vegetables in miso soup. Though ''hōtō'' is commonly recognized as a variant of ''udon'', locals do not consider it to be an ...

or Fukugawa nabe and generally championed the idea of eating fresh, organic, and local * Omae wa Mada Gunma o Shiranai, comedy manga and anime that presents some meibutsu of

Gunma is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture to t ...

including himokawa

udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a soup as with a mild broth called made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. It is usual ...

, yakimanju, hoshi-imo (wind dried sweet potato), and miso pan * Yakunara Mug Cup Mo, a manga and anime promoting

Mino ware Mino may refer to: Places in Japan * Mino, Gifu, a city in Gifu Prefecture * Mino, Kagawa, a former town in Kagawa Prefecture * Mino, Tokushima, a town in Tokushima Prefecture * Mino, an alternate spelling of Minoh, a city in Osaka Prefecture * ...

and other meibutsu of

Tajimi is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 110,070 in 46,580 households, and a population density of 1200 people per km2. The total area of the city was . The city is famous for its production of Mino ware ceramic ...

Gifu Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,910,511 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture ...

* Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki, comedy manga and anime that presents some meibutsu of

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

Television

* Japanese Style Originator – variety show that presents meibutsu and traditional craftsman as regular segments

References

{{Reflist Japanese words and phrases Japanese popular culture Memorabilia Tourism in Japan