Sawayaka Walking in Shimada (2) - Delicious sweets in downtown

Near Shimada City Museum, there is an area that was a base of river-crossing during the Edo period and crowded with travelers and local people. The streetscape at that time is rebuilt and looks like an outdoor museum. Last Sunday, they had an event “Japanese Sweet Bar” where local confectionary stores were selling their sweets in old-style houses. When I got there, some houses were full of people, and popular sweets seemed to have been already sold out.

I was disappointed but continued to walk toward the downtown. On my way there, I visited Oi Shrine with a big stone lantern in front of the gate. It was donated by express messengers working between Edo - Kyoto - Osaka in 1856 to pray for safety during their travel and crossing of Oi River.

The premises were spacious and comfortable.

In the downtown, they had an open-air market with local vegetables,

and some snacks. In a stall, they were grilling dumplings.

Customers could choose their favorite sauce. The person in front of me chose sweet soy sauce.

I chose sesame sauce. Warm soft dumplings with thick savory sauce may be one of the most delicious vegan sweets in Japan.

It was a fine but windy day. Windmills sold on another stand were rotating nearly all the time.

In Shimada, you can find Japanese-style confectionary stores relatively easily. In the course of the walking, there were two big stores. One of them was Ryugetsudo where I bought ko-manju, which literally means a small manju or bun.

In the 18th century, Fumaiko, the feudal lord of Matsue (Shimane Prefecture), who was known as a person with refined taste, stayed in Shimada during his travel on the Tokaido Highway and ate a bun of a confectionary store Shimizuya. Then he advised that they should make their buns bite-sized. After that ko-manju or small bun won popularity and became a specialty of Shimada.

As they looked just ordinary buns, I bought only one to taste. They kindly brought me a newly steamed bun that was still warm. Though it was only 40 yen, it was very delicious with flavor of sake. Then I realized why it has been loved by so long time. It is not just a small bun with adzuki bean paste inside.

On the same street, there was another big confectionary store Nakamura Kashiho.

There I found instant adzuki bean soup.

It was a box filled with powder. The ingredients are adzuki beans, sugar, wasanbon-to sugar, starch, glutinous rice, and salt. I had thought the box was made from wheat flour, but it wasn’t included in the ingredients.

When I poured hot water into the bowl, the soup looked like this.

The box was softened and melted in my mouth. The soup wasn’t too sweet and warmed me up. After eating it up, even my fingertips got a little warmer. It may become a nice gift or souvenir when it is cold.

In front of Shimada Station, there is a statue of Eisai (1141-1215). He was a Buddhist monk who studied in China and was inspired by the tea culture there. After returning to Japan, he promoted cultivation of tea. With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the vassals of the last shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu lost their job and started cultivation of Makinohara Plateau (a part of Shimada, Makinohara, and Kikugawa) to have tea plantation. People who were engaged in carrying travelers across Oi River also joined in it after the river-crossing system was abolished in 1870. Now, Makinohara is the largest tea production area in Japan. I think this is one of the reasons why Shimada has very nice Japanese-style confectionary stores in the downtown even today, because green tea goes well with traditional sweets.