The mountains surrounding Kyoto are rich with game, some of which are a traditional part of the culinary culture. Wild boar nabe is a winter delicacy. Usually people visit a restaurant that specializes in the dish when they want to enjoy this cuisine. It is a rarity and most Japanese have never had it. However it can easily be made at home without a major expenditure and Kaishintei is a shinise butcher in the Demachiyanagi neighborhood sells wild meat from rural Kyoto, including wild boar through out the winter.

The Place to Buy Wild Boar ‘Shishiniku’ Meat in Kyoto: Kaishintei
Kaishintei is shinise butcher in Kyoto that opened about 90 years ago when eating beef started to become popular with commoners in Japan. Kaishintei has sold deer, bear and wild boar in limited quantities for much of it’s history. Currently only wild boar meat, shishiniku 猪肉, is offered.

Shishiniku is available in the winter months from November to March. As it is harvested from the wild, it may not be available sometimes. Kaishintei of course sells wagyu beef and pork as well.

Kyoto’s Famous Wild Boar – Kaishintei Label

Botan Nabe ぼたん鍋
The meat of the wild boar in winter is very fatty, like pork belly. When it is served for nabe thin slices of the meat is arranged on a plate like a flower. The meat is red and the fat is white and does indeed make quite a convincing flower. Botan nabe gets it’s name from this. Botan is the Japanese word for peony.

Botan nabe can easily be made at home. The soup stock is miso based and you just add the usual vegetables that go into nabe. Kaishindo sells small packets of dark ‘red’ miso specially formulated for botan nabe

Wild Boar for Sale – Sign

Shishi Niku: Wild Boar Meat

Shishi Niku: Wild Boar Meat

Shishi Niku: Wild Boar Meat

Kaishintei Storefront: Teramachi Inoshishiya

Links
OpenKyoto Kyoto Support forum: Kyoto Wild Boar Post

京都改進亭総本店 猪肉 猪肉専門店

English and Access
Kaishintei 京都改進亭総本店 猪肉専門店
English service: Probably no English, but the owner is friendly (Tell him KyotoFoodie sent you.)
Hours: 9:30am-7pm, closed Wed
Location and Access:
Address
: Kyoto, Kamigyo-ku, Teramachi-dori Imadegawa-agaru Omote-cho 35 (京都市上京区寺町通今出川上ル表町35)
Telephone: 075-231-1480

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Today, while passing through Demachiyanagi, there wasn’t usual huge line at Demachi Futaba Mochi Store, so I peeked in and noticed that in addition to the usual line-up of mame-mochi (mochi with whole beans) they had kuromame daifuku, mochi made with black beans from Tamba, in rural Kyoto prefecture. The recently harvested kuromame are gigantic and of course tasty.

Beans in Mochi
Demachi Futaba is a very famous shinise mochi shop in the Masugata Shotengai shopping arcade in the Demachiyanagi neighborhood. There are usually very long lines for their famous mame mochi.

Demachi Futaba’s mame-mochi is known for the softness and quality of it’s mochi and the interesting contrast of sweet azuki bean paste filling and the light saltiness of the beans impregnating the outer mochi layer.

Kuromame Daifuku: Served

Azuki and Anko
Anko, or azuki bean paste, I don’t usually like because it usually just too sweet. Cheap mochi invariably contains anko that is too sweet. Demachi Futaba, in addition to selling their name, uses excellent quality mochi and the anko isn’t too sweet. One mame-mochi or daifuku costs about 150-180 yen, which is a bit more than what is available in supermarkets, but a few pieces of the good stuff ought not to break a traveler’s budget. Even with green tea from a vending machine, enjoying on the nearby riverbank, a few pieces of mame-mochi makes for a nice snack.

We reviewed Demachi Futaba in this article early last summer and introduced their mame-mochi. At first glance, they might look the same, but tamba kuromame beans, which are black, are much, much larger than the regular beans, which are dark brown.

How Did it Taste?
Demachi Futaba’s kuromame seemed more sweet than salty. The taste is big, earthy and rich, the sweetness is subtle and complex and had a slight maple-like syrupiness. I don’t recall ever having mame-mochi that tasted like that.

Kuromame Daifuku

Kuromame Daifuku: Served

For Comparison: ‘Regular’ Mame Mochi

This image is from Mame-mochi and Kuzu-manju, our article we did last summer.

Kuromame Daifuku: Cross Section

Demachiyanagi Neighborhood
Demachiyanagi is the jump-off point if you are going up to Kurama, Kibune, Hanase and probably Ohara. If you are heading up that direction, you will probably change trains at Demachiyanagi, so this is a good opportunity to purchase some yummies to take up to the mountains with you. Also, if you are going to the Imperial Palace, Demachi Futaba is less than a 10 minute walk from the north-east side of the palace grounds.

If you are looking for a place to live in Kyoto, the Demachiyanagi neighborhood is a great place. This is north Kyoto and is considered the nicest part of the city, the mountains are always in sight and historic shines and temples abound, including a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Demachiyanagi is right next to the Kamo River and not too far from Higashiyma (the East Mountains) and the Imperial Palace grounds, so there is plenty of green space nearby. There are several universities in neighborhood so there are plenty of reasonably priced apartments and restaurants. The Demachuyanagi shopping arcade has about 35 shops and two grocery stores that are among the cheapest in Kyoto. Demachiyanagi is just a 10 minute bicycle ride from the center of the city.

English and Access

English menu: No and N/A, just point to what you want in the showcase
Service/Staff: so-so (typical Kyoto shinise service)
Hours: 8:30am-5:30pm, closed Tuesdays and 4th Wednesday of every month

Location and Access: Demachi Futaba is located on the west side of the Kamo River about a 3 minute walk from Keihan Demachiyanagi Station and Eizan Demachiyanagi Station. The store is facing Kawaramachi Street, just north of the Kawaramachi-Imadegawa intersection. Demachi Futaba is just south of the entrance to the shopping arcade.
Address
: Kyoto-shi, Kamigyo-ku, Kawaramachi-dori, Imadegawa-agaru, Seiryu-cho 236 (京都市上京区河原町通今出川上る青龍町236)
Telephone:  075-231-1658

Near sightseeing Spot: Demachi Futaba is near the Kamo River, Shimogamo Shrine, Kyoto Gosho Imperial Palace and Shokokuji Temple. The Masugata Shotengai shopping arcade, just around the corner is also quite interesting.

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Demachi Futaba is one of Kyoto’s most popular shinise mochi shops, famous for tasty confections and long lines! It is common to see taxis waiting while tourists make a last minute purchase of Kyoto yummies before jumping on a bullet train and going back home. Backpacker tourists can often be seen down at the nearby Kamo River bank munching away on some seasonal mochi too.

Mame-mochi is Demachi Futaba’s undisputed favorite. It is a favorite of Kyoto residents and well known throughout Japan. It has big, black beans in soft, chewy mochi. Demachi Futaba’s mame-mochi is nadai (名代), or ‘famous’.

We picked up some mame-mochi and a summery kuzu-manju.

Kuzu
Kuzu-manju is a lightly sweetened gelatin made from the starch of the kuzu root and is filled with azuki paste, this all wrapped in a fresh tree leaf. (We think it is sakura, but are not positive.) Kuzu is well-loved by Japanese and the most sought after kuzu comes from Yoshino in Nara Prefecture, just next door to Kyoto.

Kuzu is appealing to Japanese sensibilities as a cool and refreshing summer treat because chilled, it looks ice-like and contains a lot of water. Things that not only are cool, but look cool, water or ice-like do the trick for Japanese, it seems.

Demachi Futaba is located in the Demachiyanagi neighborhood up on the north-east side of the Imperial Palace, next to the Kamo River. It is near Keihan Demachiyanagi Station. If you are heading up to Kurama and Kibune or Ohara and Yase, in the north mountains, this is a great place to pick up some shinise snacks to take a long. We have also reviewed several restaurants in the neighborhood that serve fine dinners.

Throughout the year, Demachi Futaba has a wide assortment of seasonal mochi treats, be sure to sample some of them in addition to the ‘nadai‘ mame-mochi. (And come back to KyotoFoodie and tell us what you thought!)

Demachi Futaba Package

Your order is nicely packaged and the blue sticker reads; “Nadai (famous product) mame-mochi Demachi Futaba”. And on the upper right; “Please eat today”.

Mame-mochi

Kuzu-manju

Cooling, light, summery and fresh.

Demachi Futaba Showcase

The showcase contains a variety yummies that changes throughout the year.

Demachi Futaba Shop

Production is done just behind the counter, in plain view and it is a beehive of activity. Demachi Futaba is far and away the busiest mochi shop I have seen in Kyoto.

Demachi Futaba Shop

It is not uncommon for their to be 30 or 40 customers waiting in line, especially in the late afternoon. (This photo was taken first thing in the morning.)

Demachi Futaba

This detailed Japanese language map is printed on the wrapping paper.

English and Access

English menu: No and N/A, just point to what you want in the showcase
Service/Staff: so-so (typical Kyoto shinise service)
Hours: 8:30am-5:30pm, closed Tuesdays and 4th Wednesday of every month

Location and Access: Demachi Futaba is located on the west side of the Kamo River about a 3 minute walk from Keihan Demachiyanagi Station and Eizan Demachiyanagi Station. The store is facing Kawaramachi Street, just north of the Kawaramachi-Imadegawa intersection. Demachi Futaba is just south of the entrance to the shopping arcade.
Address
: Kyoto-shi, Kamigyo-ku, Kawaramachi-dori, Imadegawa-agaru, Seiryu-cho 236 (京都市上京区河原町通今出川上る青龍町236)
Telephone: 075-231-1658

Near sightseeing Spot: Demachi Futaba is near the Kamo River, Shimogamo Shrine, Kyoto Gosho Imperial Palace and Shokokuji Temple. The Masugata Shotengai shopping arcade, just around the corner is also quite interesting.

Map

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