It’s chofu, a waffle wrapper with gooey gyuhi inside — and it has a ‘大’ branded on it. What the heck is this all about?

Daimonji: A festival like non other in the entire world! Daimonji, literally ‘big character’. Massive fires burned on the mountain sides of Kyoto in the form of Chinese characters and pictograms to guide the deceased spirits back to the other world.

Daimonji doesn’t just appear on the mountain sides, various incarnations of it appear on one’s plate!

Chofu and ‘Dai’

Chofu – Cutaway View

This is a generous portion of gyuhi!

Chofu and ‘Dai’

This is chofu from another wagashi store.

Another Chofu and ‘Dai’

The line on the left is the mountainside.

Chofu Bottom

Notice the gyuhi inside.

About Chofu (調布)
Chofu is similar in construction and taste to ayugashi but has a longer history. Chofu, historically was a handwoven linen cloth. People wove them, rolled them up and submitted them to the government as a tax payment. This sweet is said to resemble that rolled up peice of fabric, so it is called chofu. Only the Kyoto version has the daimonji ‘大’ branded on it.

Sentaro‘s kasutera (Castella sponge cake) is a real treat! It’s sophisticated in flavor, caramelly and very mochi-mochi (soft and chewy). Sentaro‘s manju, both soba (buckwheat) and wheat are excellent and unique.

Sentaro is a shinise (an old and long-loved store) in Kyoto that is a purveyor of fine wagashi (Japanese confections). The main store (honten) is located near Shijo-Kawaramachi on Teramachi Street.

About Sentaro
Sentaro, established in 1886 and maintains it’s own farm lands in the agriculturally rich area of Tamba (丹波). The Tamba region, in both current day Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures is well known throughout Japan for it’s black beans (kuro-mame 黒豆), chestnuts (kuri 栗), tamba-gyu (Tamba beef) and the incredibly priced matsutake (pine mushrooms). In the rich soils of Tamba Sentaro grows azuki beans, chestnuts, plums, shiso and so on. Plants that grow naturally on their property, cherry blossoms, yomogi and kinome are collected at various times of the year. The bounty of Tamba is used to make some of Sentaro’s signature wagashi.

Sentaro’s wagashi has a decided natural look to it, nearly everything in the showcase is shades of brown with occasional punctuations of green (yomogi) and pink (salted plum blossoms). Sentaro has a strict policy of not using any preservatives, artificial colors, or even much sugar.

Sentato’s Meibutsu: Manju and Kasutera
Here we review Sentaro’s popular kasutera and two kinds of manju. In Japanese, these are called meibutsu (famous, well-known, noted product or dish). Meibutsu is another important term to know, many of the great restaurants and shops in Kyoto (and Japan) have one or more meibutsu. Discovering the local meibutsu is always a good deal of fun and adventure!

Manju (饅頭)
Manju is an ubiquitous confection in Japan that was originally brought over from China and has been adapted and enjoyed by Japanese for some 700 years now. There are countless renditions, but it is an azuki bean paste filling with a flour (rice, wheat, soba, etc) shell.

Meibutsu: Soba Manju

Whole, roasted soba kernels cover the top of this manju.

Meibutsu: Wheat Manju

This manju is made of wheat flour and has two yaki-in (brand) on the top.

Filling: Soba and Wheat Manju

Notice the difference in filling. The soba manju (left) is filled with red azuki bean paste. The wheat manju (right) has a white azuki bean filling. Often, azuki is extremely sweet — too sweet. Sentaro’s is it not too sweet though, just right. Also, these manju are rather dry and even a little crumbly. Quite nice!

Filling: Soba and Wheat Manju – detail

A beautiful (and tasty) contrast!

Kasutera (カステラ)

Kasutera is another ‘Western’ food in Japan. It is based on the sponge cake that came over with Portuguese merchants and missionaries in the 1500′s. This is another much loved wagashi that has countless renditions and over the centuries has been adapted and refined to Japanese tastes.

Sentaro’s kasutera seems to have a bit of a cult following in Kyoto. Properly, it is known as “kome kara kasutera” (kasutera from rice) as it is made of rice flour.

The sugar quality and content and baking method of Sentaro’s kasutera produces a particularly delicate and caramelly kasutera.

Meibutsu: Rice Flour Kasutera (Castella) – Opening the Packaging
Packaging and wrapping is very important part of Japanese culture and this package is quite wonderful and beautiful! A delight to open and discover. (米からカステラ: kome kara kasutera)

Meibutsu: Rice Flour Kasutera (Castella) – Opening and Unwrapping

The top of the kasutera is gorgeous, moist and soft.

Meibutsu: Rice Flour Kasutera (Castella) – Cutting into Slices
This kasutera is not pre-sliced. As this kasutera is extremely soft and mochi-mochi, the blade of the knife has to be wet well before cutting. It is a little tricky, so it does come with illustrated slicing instructions!

Meibutsu: Rice Flour Kasutera (Castella) – Served

Notice the caramelly top and bottom. The bottom is syrupy and gooey, but this layer is only about 2 millimeters thick. Sublime!

Sentaro Honten (Sentaro Main Store)
Located just down from Shijo-dori (street) in the bustling Shijo-Kawaramachi area in one of the two downtowns of Kyoto, Sentaro Honten is very accessible. (This is not a picturesque area of Kyoto.)

Sentaro Storefront

Sentaro Honten occupies a modern building on Teramachi Street south of Shijo where there are many stores that sell Japanese electronics, some have duty free sections.

Sentaro Storefront – Seasonal Wagashi Postings

Sentaro Store – Wagashi Showcase

Various meibutsu manju

Sentaro Store – Wagashi Showcase

Kasutera in at the back. Other meibutsu center-left.

Sentaro Store – Wagashi Showcase

Fresh, seasonal mochi.

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English:
English menu: none
English website: none | Japanese language website (nice photos)
Service/Staff: So-so
Price: 500 – 1,000 yen. (no sit down area, take-out only)
Location and Access: Sentaro Honten (main store) is located on Teramachi Street about a 2 minute walk south from Shijo Street.
Address: 604-8032 Kyoto-shi Shimogyo-ku Teramachi-dori Bukkou-ji agaru Nakanomachi 576
(京都市下京区寺町通り仏光寺上る中之町576)
Telephone: 075-344-0700
Near Sightseeing Spot: Sentaro Honten is located in the center of Kyoto near Shijo Kawaramachi. This area has several department stores. It is the main shopping area of Kyoto. Shijo Karasuma is about a 10 minute walk.
Map:

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