A is a type of

wagashi is traditional Japanese confectionery, typically made using plant-based ingredients and with an emphasis on seasonality. ''Wagashi'' generally makes use of cooking methods that pre-date Western influence in Japan. It is often served with green ...

sweet or snack with an

eponymous An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

reference to Kibi-no-kuni, an old province roughly coincident with today's

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture ...

. It is made by forming gyūhi, a sort of soft

mochi A mochi ( ; Japanese ) is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain Japonica rice, japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The steamed rice is pounded into paste and molded into the ...

, into flat round cakes.Shinmura (1991), ''Kojien'' dictionary

Glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

, starch, syrup and sugar are the basic ingredients. It is manufactured by some fifteen confectioners based in Okayama City. While perhaps originally made from (

proso millet ''Panicum miliaceum'' is a grain crop with many common names, including proso millet, broomcorn millet, common millet, hog millet, Kashfi millet, red millet, and white millet. Archaeobotany, Archaeobotanical evidence suggests millet was first ...

), the modern recipe uses little or no millet, reports that as of its writing "more than fifteen companies in Okayama City have been producing kibi-dango, some of which do not contain millet". Sangetsudō also once advertised that its formula did not use any millet. (See below). and substantively differs from of yore, famous from the Japanese heroic

folk tale Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used va ...

Momotarō is a Folk hero, popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as ''Peach Boy'', but is directly translated as ''Peach + Tarō (given name), Tarō'', a common Japanese given name. ''Momotarō'' is also the title of various books, ...

or "Peach Boy"; nevertheless, "Kibi dango" continues to be represented as being the same as the folk hero Peach Boy's dumpling. The simplistic, and widely disseminated notion regarding its invention is that it was developed in the early

Ansei was a after '' Kaei'' and before ''Man'en''. This period spanned the years from November 1854 through March 1860. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * November 27, 1854 (): The new era name of ''Ansei'' (meaning "tranquil government ...

era () by the confectioner Kōeidō, but a local historian has traced a more elaborate multi-phased history in which the founding of this wagashi shop and the development of the modern recipe is pushed to a number of years later. Some hypotheses trace its pre-history to the dumpling (or some other food item) served at the Kibitsu Shrine in Okayama. The resident deity of this shrine, Kibitsuhiko, is a legendary ogre-slayer, claimed to be the true identity of Momotarō, especially by Okayama locals. The theory originated in the 1930s, and since then there has been concerted effort in the region to promote the folk hero Momotarō as a local of Kibi Province, and his dumplings as "Kibi dango" by default.

Origins

There are irreconcilably differing accounts of the dates and sequences of events regarding the invention. The standard curt explanation is that this specialty dessert was first invented by the confectioner during the early

era (1854–). This purveyor later split into two brands, and , which remain to this day. Takeda is the family name of the original business. The current proprietors give a more complex account of the first origins, but local historians uncovered an even more convoluted history.

Family's own account

The official line version, endorsed by the Kōeidō Honten, is that the family ran a ceramics merchant named "" for 7 generations running, until it switched business to that of a confectioner in 1856, changing the shop name to "Kōeidō". According to this scenario, around 1856,The specified year shifts slightly according to source. Shida () states that according to information given him by Kōeidō, the confection was created around 1853 ( Kaei 6) and dubbed "Kibi dango" around 1855 (

2). Takeda Hanzō (半蔵), the retired predecessor of the family ceramics shop, was one of the three

Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...

townsmen who collectively devised the new recipe that was somehow an improvement over the steamed

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

dumpling "rectangularly shaped like kakimochi, which did not keep well, and was eaten with

red bean paste Red bean paste () or red bean jam, also called adzuki bean paste or ''anko'' (a Japanese word), is a paste made of red beans (also called "adzuki beans"), used in East Asian cuisine. The paste is prepared by boiling the beans, then mashing or ...

or with sauce poured on top," which was a common staple wherever the crop was harvested.

Wagashi references books

Contrary to this, a handful of desk references place "Kōeidō" already in existence at the time of c. 1856 invention, crediting the shop's first proprietor Takeda Asajirō () rather than the elder Hanzō for the recipe. These sources claim that the tea ceremony connoisseur named , who was then senior advisor (

karō were top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to the ''daimyōs'' of feudal Japan. Overview In the Edo period, the policy of ''sankin-kōtai'' (alternate attendance) required each ''daimyō'' to place a ''karō'' in Edo and anothe ...

) to the feudal lord of the local

Okayama Castle is a Japanese castle in the city of Okayama in Okayama Prefecture in Japan. The main tower was completed in 1597, destroyed in 1945 and replicated in concrete in 1966. Two of the watch towers survived the bombing of 1945 and are now listed by ...

(

Ikeda clan was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) of the Seiwa Genji. Minamoto no Yasumasa, the fourth generation descending from Yorimitsu, and younger brother of Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), was the first to ...

), gave Asajirō crucial advise leading to the recipe innovation, and that the millet dumplings served at Kibitsu Shrine inspired hint. But the time frame seems to be wrong. Asajirō himself wrote that during his watch, the kibi dango changed shape from the rectangular to round shapes, and this happened sometimes after the

Meiji Era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

was ushered in (1868-). The tea ceremony expert in question, referred to in these sources as only called himself by this

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin Chinese), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by artists, poets and writers in the Sinosp ...

in his retirement, from 1869 to his death in 1886.

Detailed account by local historians

More meticulous accounts of what transpired, uncovered by the labors of local historians, suggest that indeed, several years passed between 1856 and the time Asajirō became successor to this business, changing the recipe. A detailed chronology was stitched together by local historian Oka Chōhei based on articles in print and additionally conducted interviews, is as follows:; reprinted as In the year 1855 (Ansei 2) three commoners from the town around

(now

City) collaborated and devised a reddish rectangular confection rather like kakimochi as accompaniment to serving tea. Among the three was , resident of Furugyōchō and Karatsu ware peddling agent fronting for the samurai clan (). This old man Hanryo was the grandfather , and a member of the Takeda family who later founded Kōeidō. This snack was for pastime purposes only and not meant for business, but since leaving it nameless did not seem fitting, they pondered until they struck up the idea of borrowing the province name and calling it , something of a

nonce word In linguistics, a nonce word—also called an occasionalism—is any word (lexeme), or any sequence of sounds or letters, created for a single occasion or utterance but not otherwise understood or recognized as a word in a given languag ...

. This much is given in an article by a Meiji era popular culture researcher, entitled . Although this dessert was initially only distributed among friends and family, it was eventually offered for sale and gained popularity. Takeda Hanzō (died in 1901 at age 81) then outfitted a shop named after his own

, and had his mistress sell the Kibi-dan-go. Although Oka also heard dissenting reports that this Kibi-dan-go was millet dumpling with a "rather long thin thread of

poured over it," he was skeptical, and concluded it was in fact "probably kakimochi". After Hanzō's mistress died, the Sōkandō business was passed over to Hanzō's relative Takeda Asajirō, the founder of Kōeidō. It was not until Takeda Asajirō's takeover that the merchandise became the present-day soft gyūhi product packed in boxes, according to the memory of Nishio Kichitaro, founder of the , for many years the only newspaper of the area. Asajirō's own book too states that it was only after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

(1867-) that his product changed from the rectangular items of the past to the round cakes the size of two go stones, sold in boxed in sets of 30 or 50. In 1885 (Meiji 18) Kōeidō's Kibi dango was presented to

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

who was visiting the area, and he wrote a waka poem praising it, which translated to "Kibi dango such that no two such exists in Japan / Indeed such is the taste and it has earned its name, this". The sellers subsequently began to enclose leaflets with this poem printed inside its boxes.

Pre-history relating to Kibitsu Shrine

There are a number of sources attempting to trace the pre-history of the Kibi dango to some food, or custom, or legend associated with Okayama's Kibitsu Shrine, though each line of inquiry differs from one another. As aforestated, there had been a piece of anecdote or rumor (perhaps collected in the Meiji era), claiming that the Kibi dango recipe was created on suggestion of former feudal advisor Igi San'ensai, and that he used the millet dumplings served at Kibitsu Shrine as hint. The founder of Kōeido (the purveyors of Kibi dango) authored a travel guide in 1895, in which he claimed that Kibitsuhiko rolled with his own hand some kibi dango to give to

Emperor Jimmu was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the and . His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture" This episode is anachronistic and hence faulty,Prince Kibitsuhiko in life was an 8th generation descendant and unborn during the time of Jimmu. but illustrates that the manufacturer was attempting to associate their product with this deity at a relatively early juncture. From modern academia, one theory notes that Japanese shrines have a custom called whereby food offerings to the resident deity would afterwards be consumed. Kibitsu Shrine observed this custom in the early Edo Period, and this was the origin of the Kibi dango, according to

Okayama University is a national university in Japan. The main campus is located in Tsushima-Naka, Okayama, Okayama Prefecture. The school was founded in 1870 and it was established as a university in 1949. In 2014, the university was selected as one of the 37 T ...

professor in his book on the history of the prefecture.; 1984 edition: Appendix, p.46. On the other hand, , also of Okayama University, who had the ancestral line of the shrine's priests (

kannushi , also called , is the common term for a member of the clergy at a responsible for maintaining the shrine and leading worship of the there.* ''Kannushi'' (in Japanese), Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version The chara ...

) in his family background, conjectured that the sweet was an adaptation of the , a specialty of the Miyauchi and Itakura hamlets in the (i.e., the community served by Bitchū-Takamatsu Station) which is in the environs of the shrine.Fujii cites two sources that refer to the Miauchi ame: (1753), and (1860), , a guidebook, meant to be used as a reader for

terakoya were private educational institutions that taught reading and writing to the children of Japanese commoners during the Edo period. History The first ''terakoya'' made their appearance at the beginning of the 17th century, as a development from ...

schools.

Sino- and Russo-Japanese Wars

Kōeidō's Kibi dango's national fame came after the private

San'yō Railway The was established in 1887 and served as a major railroad company during the Meiji period in Japan. The railroad was headquartered in Kobe, and Nakamigawa Hikojirō served as head of the railroad. Rail lines The first rail line opened in 1888 ...

came into operation through its city. This new line connected the

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

(which was the

terminus Terminus may refer to: Ancient Rome *Terminus (god), a Roman deity who protected boundary markers Transport *Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination *Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end des ...

of the state-run line) to Okayama in 1891, and extended the line to

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

just before the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1894. Since the Daihonei (

Imperial General Headquarters The was part of the Supreme War Council (Japan), Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equi ...

) was located in Hiroshima, all the troops were amassed here and shipped in and out of (Hiroshima Harbor). Those residing farther east and serving the war by necessity rode the San'yō line, and passed the Okayama station in transit. Kōeidō, which been peddling their goods in

Okayama Station is a major railway station in Kita-ku, Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The station is operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Lines Okayama Station is one of the major intersections of railways in the Chūgoku region. All trai ...

now expanded business to the Hiroshima Station, and capitalized on the soldiers and send-off parties buying the Kibi dango as souvenirs. It was at this time that Kōeidō began its marketing strategy connecting its product to "Peach Boy". Reputedly, proprietor Takeda Asajirō himself dressed up as Momotarō and held up the "Nippon-ichi (number one in Japan)" banner to pitch sales, and persons dressed up as

oni An ( ) is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains or in hell. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like th ...

ogre handed out leaflets. The peddling at the station was so successful, that a lady from Yamawaki (Sangetsudō), who also had Takeda Hanzō connections, was recruited to help. By April 1897 (Meiji 30), there were 12 establishments that billed themselves as the "original" (, , ) Kibi dango sellers. A 1901 article by folk historian stated that while "Kōeidō used millet,

, and sugar as ingredients, Sangetsudō used mochi and sugar," and that Sangetsudō stressed the fact they did not use millet and was different item than "Japan's number one kibi dango."

Modern age

As already described, during the Meiji Era, the Kibi dango business had already appropriated the "number one" slogan from the Peach Boy folktale, and was using the hero's costume to promote sales. But eventually, the entire Okayama prefecture began to promote the Kibi dango and Momotarō as inextricably connected part of their prefectural heritage. This was mostly a post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

phenomenon, Okayama had not been the foremost contender as the home of the Peach Boy (

Inuyama, Aichi is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 73,420 in 31,276 households, and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . The name of the city literally translates to "Dog Moun ...

and Kinashi in

Takamatsu file:Takamatsu City Hall.jpg, 270px, Takamatsu City Hall file:Takamatsu city center area Aerial photograph.2007.jpg, 270px, Aerial view of Takamatsu city center file:Takamatsu200910cut.JPG, 270px, View from Yashima to Takashima port is a capital ...

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

previously laying strong claims). However, that changed with the advent of amateur ethnographer (1897–1973), ("The True History of Momotarō," 1930), which claimed that the Momotarō folktale was an adaption of legend , which recounts Kibitsuhiko's suppression of a local

(ogre) named . This ogre-slayer Kibitsuhiko, as his name suggests, is the deified being venerated in Kibitsu Shrine, Okayama. Nowadays, the Momotarō theme is used in train station advertisement, as well as being found in packaging of the kibi dango products. Since 1993, the Kōeidō Honten has sold the "Ganso Kibidango", featuring Momotarō character design by children's book illustrator Tarō Gomi. An assortment of varieties has been developed, such as ( Muscat grape syrup filling), (white peach syrup filling), (sprinkled with

kinako ''Kinako'' ( or "yellow flour") is roasted Soy flour, soybean flour, used in Japanese cuisine. In English, it is usually called "roasted soy flour". ''Kinako'' is mostly used as a topping to flavor rice cakes like mochi. History Usage of th ...

Origins

Family's own account

Wagashi references books

Detailed account by local historians

Pre-history relating to Kibitsu Shrine

Sino- and Russo-Japanese Wars

Modern age

See also

Footnotes

Explanatory notes

Citations

References

External links