Dig Japan vol.31 “Okoshi (おこし)”

Dig Japan is a series in which I research and introduce in English topics related to traditional Japanese culture that interest me. In this article, I will introduce okoshi.

Okoshi is wagashi made by solidifying processed grains with starch syrup. It belongs to higashi (dried confectionery) category and is also called okoshimai. There are various types of okoshi throughout Japan, and its origins date back to Tang confectionery that was introduced to Japan during the Heian period, and it spread throughout the country as a snack during the Edo period.

A wagashi confectioner based in Osaka, Daikoku's Iwa-okoshi (Photography via Daikoku)

A type of higashi, okoshi has simple ingredients including rice called okoshidane, sugar, and starch syrup. The basic method of making okoshi is to dry steamed rice, mix it with starch syrup and sugar, and then put it into a mold and compress it. The shape is generally plate-like or square, but there are also round shapes with rugged surfaces. In Kyoto, okoshi is often triangular in shape.

There are many types of okoshi in Japan, such as “Awa-okoshi” and “Iwa-okoshi” in Osaka, “Kaminari-okoshi” in Tokyo, “Yutaka-okoshi” in Aichi,“ Awaya-okoshi” in Fukuoka, and “Kuro-okoshi” in Nagasaki. Okoshi comes in a wide variety of flavors, such as azuki bean, chestnut, matcha, and kinako, and comes in a variety of hardness, from very hard ones like Kaminari-okoshi and Iwa-okoshi, to soft ones like rakugan, such as Yutaka-okoshi.

A wagashi confectioner based in Asakusa, Tokiwado's Kaminari-okoshi (Photography via Tokiwado)

Okoshi is said to have originated from Chinese sweets brought by Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty during the Heian period, and its recipe is recorded in the dictionary Wamyo Ruijush, compiled in the mid-Heian period. The Engishiki, a legal code compiled in the mid-Heian period that summarized the implementation rules of the Ritsuryo Code, also records that it was offered to shrines.

The name “okoshimai” is also recorded in the elementary school textbook Teikinorai, which was used as a calligraphy and reading book in temple schools from the end of the Northern and Southern Courts period to the early Muromachi period. In “Neko no zoshi,” which is said to have been compiled from the Muromachi period to the early modern period, okoshimai appears as a favorite food of mice.

Furthermore, a recipe for okoshimai is introduced in the sweets section of the early Edo period cookbook “Ryori Monogatari.” As even common people could make it with just grains and starch syrup, it spread throughout the country as a snack during the Edo period.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Emperor Meiji distributed 350,000 boxes of “Onshi no okoshi” to the battlefield, and it was so well received by the soldiers that there was even a trend of them requesting okoshi upon their return home. In the Taisho period, the invention of mechanization began, making mass production possible.

This article was written by 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐨, working as a freelance translator and PR for overseas apparel brands in Japan, with the aim of broadening her own knowledge of traditional Japanese culture and spreading it to the world.