Manju is a small steamed (sometimes baked) confection in which a thin dough of wheat or rice flour encloses a core of sweet red bean paste (anko). It is one of the oldest and most widespread wagashi, made in many regional and seasonal forms. The dough is the dividing line between types: saka-manju is leavened with a fermented rice starter (sakadane), joyo-manju is bound and lightened with grated yam (nagaimo), and a plain wheat dough makes the everyday mushi-manju. The bun is usually thumb-sized, pale and faintly glossy, and is eaten with green tea. Anko is the standard filling, though chestnut, white-bean paste and others are common.
Manju descends from the Chinese steamed filled bun (mantou), brought to Japan in connection with Zen Buddhism in the medieval period; the precise line of introduction is uncertain and two traditional accounts compete. One credits the Zen priest Enni (Shoichi Kokushi), who returned from Song China in 1241 and is said to have passed a steaming method to a Hakata teahouse, giving rise to the sake-leavened saka-manju lineage. The other credits a Chinese emigre, Rin Join (Lin Jingyin), who came to Japan in 1341 in the service of the monk Ryuzan Tokuken and founded the Shiose family's bean-paste manju, sold first in Nara and later Kyoto. Because Zen monks abstained from meat, the Chinese bun's meat filling was replaced with sweetened azuki paste. The craft spread through the Muromachi period and, by the Edo period, manju was a sweet eaten across all classes.
A good manju is soft but not gummy: the steamed skin gives way cleanly to a dense, smooth wall of bean paste that is sweet, faintly earthy and just a little salty at the edge. Saka-manju carries a whisper of yeasty, fermented aroma from the rice starter; joyo-manju is springier and more delicate from the yam. It is meant to be eaten warm or at room temperature in one or two bites, the plain skin and the concentrated anko balancing each other. A skin that is tough or rubbery means the dough was overworked or steamed too hard.
The dough is what separates the types, and each rises by a different means. Saka-manju uses sakadane, a starter of steamed rice and koji fermented until lively, so wild yeasts leaven the dough and leave a faint sake-like aroma. Joyo-manju has no yeast at all: finely grated mountain yam (nagaimo or yamatoimo) is beaten with sugar and rice flour, and the yam's mucilage traps air, giving a light, fine crumb that is steamed quickly to set it. Plain mushi-manju leans on the steam itself. In every case the bun is steamed, not boiled, so the surface stays matte and intact and the filling heats through without the skin going slack.
Variations
Regional and seasonal forms abound. Onsen-manju, associated with hot-spring towns such as Ikaho in Gunma, wraps anko in a brown-sugar dough tinted to evoke the iron-brown spring water. Momiji-manju, a maple-leaf-shaped bun of castella-like batter, was created on Miyajima island (Hiroshima) by the confectioner Takatsu Tsunesuke around 1906 and is now Hiroshima's signature souvenir. Mizu-manju, set with kuzu starch into a translucent skin, is a cooling summer sweet. Other common types include chestnut-filled kuri-manju (often baked) and the small green-tea rikyu-manju.
On the Palate
Where Manju sits in the Japanese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
7 steps · 40 min
- 110 min
For a yam-based joyo-manju, peel and finely grate mountain yam (nagaimo) into a smooth puree.
- 210 min
Beat sugar into the grated yam a little at a time until glossy, then sift in rice flour and fold to a soft dough.
Watch outBeat the sugar into the grated yam until glossy — the yam's mucilage traps air here, and that's the only lift a joyo-manju gets.
- 38 min
Divide the bean paste into equal balls and roll each smooth between the palms.
- 412 min
Dust hands with flour, flatten a piece of dough, and wrap it fully around a ball of anko, sealing the seam.
- 55 min
Set each bun seam-down on a square of parchment, leaving space between them.
- 615 min
Steam over high heat in a preheated steamer until the skin is set, glossy and cooked through.
Watch outSteam, don't boil, until the skin is set and glossy — moist steam keeps the surface matte and intact instead of pocked and wet.
- 75 min
Lift the lid briefly to release steam so droplets do not mar the surface, then cool slightly before serving.
Archive tool suggestions — not reviewed
These legacy suggestions have not been evidence-reviewed and are not presented as required tools.
