“Towards the Naka of Mitsukuri’s*1
I will incessantly visit like the flow of a stream
If my wife was there”
Interpretation: “Like the spring water flowing into the Naka River where Mitukuri’s*1 grow, I will continue to visit incessantly. It would have been better only if my wife was present.”
*1 Mitsukuri pertains to the three chestnut seeds that grows within one chestnut bur
This is a song composed in the “Manyoshu,” which is the oldest anthology of Japanese poetry.
By around the year 800 AD, today’s Ibaraki Prefecture was already a chestnut-producing region.
The chestnuts of Ibaraki Prefecture, which boast a history of over 1,200 years, hold the title for both highest production and longest history of Japan.
Yokan, originally a confectionery introduced from China, formerly was a soup-like dish called ‘yangrou geng’ with minced meat kneaded. After it was introduced to Japan, the meat was replaced by sweet bean paste made from red beans, giving rise to the current form of yokan.
ManYokan Hitachi
Flagship product of ManYokan
“Iinuma Chestnuts” are the highest quality branded chestnuts in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan’s number one chestnut-producing region.
Iinuma Chestnuts are specially cultivated to be “Ikkyu-ikka (one fruit one burr),” although Japanese chestnuts commonly bears three fruits within one burr.
Iinuma Chestnuts account for only 0.2% of the chestnut harvest across Japan. Only ten farmers in Japan produce this chestnut.
“I never had such a delicious chestnut before!” was how shocked I was when I first met the Iinuma Chestnut, and this immediately triggered my confectionary artisan’s spirit, “I must create a product using this chestnut!” After the encounter, I carefully spent a year to select the right ingredients, maximize the chestnut’s flavor, and balance the taste to perfection, to complete the ManYokan Hitachi.
The large size and sweetness of Iinuma Chestnuts used characterize the ManYokan Hitachi.
Iinuma Chestnuts are cold-aged over two weeks immediately after harvest to maximize the original sweetness and flavor of the chestnut.
The Chestnut’s flavor and taste are also maximized by hand peeling the fruit one by one and leaving traces of the thin and bitter skin so to deepen the Chestnut’s taste.
Eleven Iinuma Chestnuts are lavishly used in one ManYokan Hitachi.
Artisans meticulously handcraft each product using Japan’s highest quality Hokkaido Tokachi-grown red beans for the sweet bean paste, which perfectly matches the robustness of Iinuma chestnuts.
The ManYokan Hitachi undergoes a 5-day aging process after production to delicately blend the sweetness of the chestnuts and texture of the paste. This is due to the large size of Iinuma chestnuts.
This process brings out a supreme taste, embracing a harmony of texture, sweetness, and aroma.
The ManYokan Hitachi has become a product that even chestnut lovers can enjoy and be satisfied with.
Furthermore, the ManYokan Hitachi shone as the Silver Award winner in the Food category at the prestigious global packaging awards, “Pentawards 2022.”
ManYokan Iinuma
ManYokan Iinuma is the ManYokan Hitachi recreated into a more affordable product.
Crushed “Iinuma Chestnuts” are scattered throughout the yokan portion so that the harmony between Japan’s finest chestnut brand and the sweet bean paste can be enjoyed.
This is a perfect product for those who love sweet bean paste and appreciate the balanced harmony between Iinuma chestnuts and sweet bean paste.
ManYokan Kasama
ManYokan Kasama exclusively uses chestnuts produced in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan’s number one chestnut-producing region.
We directly source the chestnuts from farmers, peel each one by one, and season them using a recipe meticulously crafted by artisans to highlight the delicate flavor of Kasama chestnuts.
The subtle sweetness of Hokkaido Tokachi-grown red beans enhances the delicate and light texture that complements the characteristic mildness of Kasama-grown chestnuts.
It’s a deliciousness that blends the thousand-year history flowing since times of the Manyoshu with the sentiments of present-day artisans.
“Chain and Circulation of Smiles”
This is the world that Hitachi Fugetsudo pursues.
We wish to place smiles on our customers. Those smiles in turn, will place smiles on our Japanese confectionery artisans and primary producers.
We want to deliver smiles and connect people worldwide using the products we produce.
ManYokan has been made to bring smiles to people around the world and connect those smiles together.
