Anpan: a typical Japanese sweet bread roll

Anpan is a type of Japanese sweet bread filled with red bean paste. Many shops, including Kimuraya Sohonte, where it originated, sell it with the hiragana spelling "anpan".

This sweet bun gave rise to the character of Anpanman, a superhero with an anpan head, who must protect the world from an evil germ.

Anpan

Anpanman

The history of anpan

Anpan was invented in 1874 by Kimura Yasubei, a former samurai from Ibaraki Prefecture and founder of Kimuraya (now Kimuraya Sohonten), and his second son, Kimura Eizaburo. At that time, the yeast used to make bread dough in Europe and the United States was rare in Japan, so Kimuraya fermented the dough with sake yeast.
Salted cherry blossoms, often used as decoration along with sesame seeds and mustard seeds, were first used on 4 April 1875. Yamaoka Tesshu presented them to Emperor Meiji, who visited the Shimoyashiki residence of the Mito domain in Mukojima to admire the cherry blossoms. Since then, 4 April has been designated Anpan Day. This supply helped Kimuraya become better known nationally, along with its anpan. Following the distribution of anpan to soldiers scattered throughout Japan during the Sino-Japanese War, anpan became popular nationwide around 1897.
This uniquely Japanese idea of putting bean paste in bread led to the creation of jam bread in 1900 and cream bread in 1904, making anpan the origin of sweet bread in Japan.

How is anpan made?

Instead of brewer's yeast, Kimuraya's anpan uses sake yeast: a sourdough starter, or koji with yeast grown on it, which is similar to the method used to make sake manju. Nowadays, the filling is usually made from tsubuan or smooth azuki bean paste. There are also variations with bean paste such as white bean bread, potato and bean bread, and chestnut and bean bread, as well as seasonal bean bread made with cherry blossom bean paste or berry bean paste. It usually has the shape of a flat disc and is decorated with poppy seeds, salted cherry blossoms, and sesame seeds.
Fried anpan is also called fried anpan or an-donut.

Various types of anpan

Tsukisamu Anpan

In the late Meiji period, tsukisamu anpan, a type of bread produced in the Toyohira district of Sapporo, Hokkaido, was created based on the history of Kimuraya's Anpan. Due to a lack of information about the recipe and the actual product, the size and texture of the bread was closer to that of a moon cake than bread. It was so popular among soldiers of the Japanese Army's 25th Infantry Regiment at the time as a source of energy after hard work that they even called the street where it originated "Anpan Street". It is now produced by Honma and sold outside Hokkaido.

Kawaguchi Anpan

In the town of Itayanagi, Kitatsugaru District, Aomori Prefecture, there is a Japanese sweet called "Kawaguchi Anpan", a Japanese sweet shaped like a sandwich made from a dough similar to that of a castella made from wheat flour and filled with white bean paste. It is said to have been invented in the early Meiji period, but as with Tsukisamu Anpan, there was no detailed information other than the name, so it is thought to have been a baked sweet made using existing confectionery techniques. The manufacturer, Kawaguchi Anpan, closed at the end of April 2020.

Variation of anpan

Since its creation in the Meiji era, anpan has evolved in various ways, with unique variations created by different regions and companies, such as anpan manju. Anpan manju is a Japanese sweet that resembles anpan, and is usually made from a steamed dough made from wheat or rice flour, filled with red bean paste. Unlike the soft texture of bread dough, it has a chewy texture characteristic of manju.