Pumpkin Manju, Okashitsukasa Yamazen, Morioka City, Wagashi Sukuchai 186, 2025.12.03
Wagashi Sukuchai186 Iwate Prefecture > Morioka City
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*The bear's height is 7.5cm. Use this as a reference for size.
Pumpkin Manju, Okashitsukasa Yamazen, Morioka City
1. Better than chestnuts, ninety-nine ri?
I ate this "Pumpkin Manju" as a sweet treat after breakfast. It was 150 yen including tax per piece.
It is a limited-time product available around the beginning of December, designed with the custom of eating pumpkin on the winter solstice in mind.
The saying goes that sweet potatoes are better than chestnuts (thirteen ri), so if there were a pumpkin better than that, how many ri would it be? Could it be ninety-nine ri?
Although pumpkin is a side dish, it can sometimes be so delicious that it serves as a substitute for dessert.
This "Pumpkin Manju" was also very delicious, with a filling that could be described as the fluffy pumpkin itself.
There is some information that the skin color is green, but the one I bought was light yellow.
If the skin color were green, I think the contrast in color when broken open would be interesting, as it would truly represent a pumpkin.
2. Yamazen's "Pumpkin Manju"
Yamazen in Morioka is a shop that values seasonal ingredients, and the "Pumpkin Manju" is one of their lineup items overflowing with a sense of the season.
Pumpkin paste filling
The photo is blurry and almost unreadable, but the first ingredient listed is "pumpkin".
Since this indicates the ingredient with the highest weight ratio in the product's composition, it shows that this manju is made primarily of pumpkin.
The filling inside is a "pumpkin paste" made by carefully straining pumpkin.
The natural sweetness and fluffy texture of the pumpkin itself are well preserved.
3. The Tohoku custom of eating pumpkin on the winter solstice
In Iwate (Tohoku), the custom of eating pumpkin on the winter solstice is highly valued.
There is a saying that "if you eat pumpkin on the winter solstice, you won't catch a cold," and although I am from Osaka, I was raised being told this by my mother. Since my mother is from Yamagata, perhaps I was unknowingly following Tohoku customs.
It is said that this "pumpkin manju" is highly prized in Morioka as a gift or tea accompaniment during the winter solstice season.
4. The pleasant mouthfeel of Yamazen's manju
As I felt with the "Rikyu Manju" and "Suama", including this "Pumpkin Manju," Yamazen's manju have an exceptionally pleasant dough texture.
While there are famous manju in the world, such as the three great manju of Japan, for me, Yamazen's series of wagashi in Morioka—the "Rikyu Manju," "Suama," and now this "Pumpkin Manju"—have officially entered my "list of wagashi I want to eat again and again" as fresh sweets I want to keep eating.
Speaking of manju, my personal favorite actually surpasses the three great manju of Japan; it is the high-quality and affordable "Jumangoku Manju" from Saitama, but Yamazen's manju are putting up a good fight.
The reason they were so delicious is surely because I bought them freshly made in the morning and ate them right away.
Since Yamazen has a "made in the morning" motto, the dough of the pumpkin manju was fluffy and soft, harmonizing perfectly with the moistness of the pumpkin paste.
Because pumpkin has a natural sweetness, the amount of sugar is exquisitely adjusted, calculated so that the unique flavor and aroma of the pumpkin spread throughout your mouth.
If the manju has sat for a while, it is said that warming it for a few seconds in the microwave or lightly steaming it will bring out the aroma of the pumpkin paste and restore that freshly made, fluffy texture.
5. Yamazen's fun "Manju" series
Yamazen seems to have many other expressive manju, such as the "Hohoemi Manju" with an okame face and the "Ebisu Manju" limited to department store events.
There is no doubt that all of them are delicious, and the Yamazen manju series, where you can enjoy different flavors and shapes depending on the season, is something to keep an eye on.
If I happen to go to Morioka Station at a different time, I plan to stop by the station building's "Yamazen" and see what kind of products they have then.
(End)