Anpan
|
|
Anpan (あんパン) is a Japanese sweet bun filled with red bean paste. There are many types of Anpan, including goma an, shiro an, uguisu an, and kuri an, etc. But the original is anko made with azuki bean.
Anpan was first made on 1875, during the Meiji era, by a man called Yasubei Kimura who was a samurai that lost his job. Meiji era was the period of time that started to progress towards civilization, and many samurais who lost their jobs were given a work that was totally new to them. It was mostly a job from the western culture, which Japan was trying to adopt at that time, and baker was one of those jobs. One day, Yasubei who lost his job found a young man making breads while wandering around the area which the jobs of the western culture centered. Yasubei knew that it was time for Japanese culture to change into European culture, and so he started a bakery Buneido. But at that time, the only known recipe was for making salty and sour tasting bread and it was ill suited for Japanese cuisines of that time. Yasubei thought for a new idea to make the bread become easier for the Japanese to eat. Finally, he figured out adding bean jam like wagashi and marketing anpan as a snack-like food. Anpan flew off the shelves every day helped by interests in anything new and foreign as well as its taste.
One day a man called Takayuki Yamaoka who loved Anpan, a chamberlain of the Meiji emperor, requested the Tokugawas who was the ruler of Japan before Meiji, to present Anpans to the emperor when visiting him. So the Tokugawas asked Yasubei to make some for the emperor. Yasubei tried making it again and again, and he also cared about the looking of it which led them to decorate with a salt-pickled flower of sakura in the middle of the buns . This Anpan was presented to the Meiji emperor on April 4, 1875. The emperor told Yasubei to present him the Anpan everyday, and because of the rumor that the emperor ate Anpan, breads, especially Anpans began spreading around the country. This was how Anpan began.
After Yoshibei passed away, his disciples started the store called Kimuraya[1] (http://www.kimuraya-sohonten.co.jp/) which is one of the most famous bakeries in Japan.