You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (June 2014) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,207 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:八ツ橋]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|ja|八ツ橋}} to the talk page.
Yatsuhashi (八ツ橋 or 八橋) is a wagashi (Japanese confection) sold mainly as a souvenir snack (miyagegashi). It is one of the best known meibutsu (famous regional products) of Kyoto. It is made from glutinous rice flour (上新粉, jōshinko), sugar, and cinnamon. Baked, it is similar to senbei. The shape of the hard crackers resembles a Japanese harp or koto, or a bamboo stalk cut lengthways. Yatsuhashi was created in 1689 during the Genroku era (1688-1704) or in 1805 during the Bunka era (1804-1818) in the Edo period (1603-1868). The name Yatsuhashi comes from a scene in the Tale of Ise or from the musician Yatsuhashi Kengyo.[1] Yatsuhashi is a popular souvenir today, and according to a survey conducted by the city of Kyoto in 2022, 89.2% of Japanese tourists visiting Kyoto bought souvenirs, of which 10.7% bought Yatsuhashi.[2]
Raw, unbaked Nama yatsuhashi (生八ツ橋) has a soft, mochi-like texture and is often eaten wrapped around red bean paste (餡, an). The unbaked yatsuhashi (Nama yatsuhashi) is cut into a square shape after being rolled very thin, and folded in half diagonally to make a triangle shape, with the red bean paste inside. Unbaked yatsuhashi may also come in a variety of different flavours.[3] Popular flavours include cinnamon and matcha. Yatsutashi is also rolled into a rectangular shape and steamed. Nama yatsuhashi, created in 1960,[4] is a very popular souvenir of Kyoto. According to a survey conducted by the City of Kyoto in 2022, 89.2% of Japanese tourists who visited Kyoto bought souvenirs, of which 31.6% bought Nama yatsuhashi. This means that 42.3% of Japanese tourists who bought souvenirs in Kyoto in 2022 bought either Nama yatsuhashi or Yatsuhashi.[2]
Assorted Nama yatsuhashi. Flavors, from top to bottom: tofu, cinnamon, sesame.