[Himeji City] “Eifukudo” is a Japanese sweets shop loved by the local community where you can enjoy chatting with the owner and his wife.

• Table of Contents
• Useful Information
• A family-run, homey Japanese sweets shop
• The proud rice cakes that are pounded with a mallet every day
• Cool summer snacks to enjoy the coolness
• The art of expressing ghost stories through beautiful sweets
• A variety of baked goods for snacks and gifts
• Cherish the moments you spend with your visitors
• basic information

Useful Information

Hyogo Amazing Pass

If you are considering traveling around Hyogo Prefecture, including Himeji and Kobe, we recommend this ticket! This mobile ticket allows unlimited rides on Shinki Bus local buses and Kobe's City Loop/Port Loop for 2,500 yen per day.

Click here for details and to purchase the Hyogo Amazing Pass

Luggage storage service

Finally, why not take a leisurely and convenient tour?

A family-run, homey Japanese sweets shop

The building is a little set back, so if you are driving, please drive slowly so you don't miss it.

Eifukudo is a five-minute walk from Kyoguchi Station on the Bantan Line. As you pass through the crimson-colored shop curtain reminiscent of red beans, you'll be greeted by the lively voices of the Miyamoto family.

A small, bright store

With radio playing in the background, the store is lined with fresh morning sweets, red rice, baked goods, and more.

A wide selection of morning snacks such as mochi sweets and dango

Baked goods are also available

Eifukudo was founded in 1967. Akihiro's father, Takashi, who had trained at a Japanese confectionery shop in Itami, founded the shop by setting up a sales counter in a corner of a shopping center in Himeji at the time. The shop name comes from Takashi's family fishing boat, Eifukumaru. Akihiro married Shino at the age of 18 and began training under Takashi to become a Japanese confectioner. In 2004, at the age of 30, he took over as the second generation owner, and now father and son make sweets together.

Akihiro and Shino have been classmates since junior high school.

The shop moved to its current location in 2018. When setting up the shop, Shino-san said, "We wanted to create a shop that would be casual and homey, so we thought about it a lot."

They put low display shelves instead of tall showcases so that they can face customers, and painted the shelves and walls in light colors so that it is easy to see from the outside and enter the shop, creating a space with a lot of ingenuity. The beautifully written "Eifukudo" characters on the shop curtain and signboard were written by the couple, who said happily, "My daughter wrote them."

We would like to introduce you to Eifukudo's recommended sweets, which are filled with the thoughts of families.

The proud rice cakes that are pounded with a mallet every day

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"Anmochi" Yomogi (grained bean paste) and Shiro (smooth bean paste) - 183 yen each

Eifukudo's specialty is "Anmochi," rice cakes pounded with a mallet and stuffed with plenty of bean paste. There are two types, white and mugwort, each filled with smooth, smooth bean paste and tsubuan bean paste made from plumply cooked large red beans from Tokachi, Hokkaido. The rice cakes, pounded from a variety of glutinous rice called "Hiyokumochi," have a unique firmness not found in gyuhi, which uses glutinous rice flour, and the more you chew them, the more you can taste the natural sweetness of the mochi. They are popular because "just one is satisfying," and older people say they are nostalgic for the old days when they used to pound them at home. Fill your mouth with them and enjoy the taste of real mochi.

When it becomes hard, grill it until golden brown.

If the anmochi has hardened the next day, we recommend baking it in a toaster oven. The surface of the mochi is toasted until it stretches and the red bean paste inside becomes soft and gooey, allowing you to enjoy it in a different way.

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"Small Mochi" from 151 yen for 100g

Based on Takashi's policy that "a mochi shop without mochi is no good," he has been making mochi every day since the shop first opened. It is rare to find a shop that sells them even in summer, and some people come from far away just to buy the small mochi.

Cool summer snacks to enjoy the coolness

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"Anmitsu" (white syrup served separately) 378 yen each, on sale until mid-September

The sunlight is giving us a taste of summer these days. It makes us crave cool, refreshing sweets. How about some refreshing looking "Anmitsu"? It's made with smooth, easy-to-swallow agar, fruit, and gyuhi mochi, and the bean paste is cooked softer than usual to go with it, and then drizzled in refreshing white syrup. It can be eaten straight from the cup, but it tastes even better when served on a plate.

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Wrapped Warabi "Hoju" 140 yen each, on sale until the end of August

Eifukudo is famous for its chewy and springy warabimochi, made with real warabi flour. The "Wrapped Warabi," which is made by wrapping bean paste in warabimochi, is a product that can only be found in this season. The name of this confectionery, "Hoju," is captivating.

Akihiro makes the jewels in the workshop at the back of the store. He wraps the bean paste balls with practiced hands.

The delicious aroma of soybean flour fills the air in the workshop.

The jewel is covered in deep-roasted Kurosu kinako. Akihiro says, "By using deep-roasted, bitter kinako, we balance the sweetness of the bean paste." The fragrant kinako, melting warabi mochi, and refined smooth bean paste come together on the tongue, making for a delicious treat that is not only beautiful to look at, but also has a mesmerizing texture. Other treats on offer during the summer include kuzu mochi and chilled zenzai. These refreshing sweets are sure to help you beat the heat.

The art of expressing ghost stories through beautiful sweets

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Premium fresh confectionery "Kikusui" 237 yen each

This is a fresh confectionery made of fresh kudzu jelly with kanoko beans and green maple leaves. It was prepared for the grand ticket of the "Heisei Nakamuraza Himeji Castle Performance" held in May to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Himeji Castle being registered as a World Heritage Site. The name of the confectionery is "Kikusui" (Kikusui) after Okiku, the heroine of the play "Banshu Sarayashiki". The Okiku well is represented by kudzu jelly, the well stones by kanoko beans, and the Ramune flavor gives it a refreshing finish. When you pick it up, it wobbles and trembles, as if the surface of the water is rippling. "Banshu Sarayashiki" is a ghost story in which the ghost of Okiku emerges from a well and counts plates, "One, two...", but in Akihiro's hands, it becomes such a refreshing confectionery. It will be on sale in stores during the summer, so if you happen to come across it, you're lucky. Akihiro has been honing his skills in Japanese sweets for 30 years. When asked when his ideas come to him, he replied, "Ideas are always in my head, but they're like dots. Then one day, all of a sudden, the dots connect."

A variety of baked goods for snacks and gifts

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"Banana Cake" 194 yen each

These long-lasting baked goods are perfect for everyday snacks and gifts. When you open the package, the sweet aroma of bananas fills the air. This financier-style cake is made with a dough mixed with banana puree, filled with egg yolk paste and sprinkled with red beans. It is quite a pain to squeeze fresh bananas into a puree like Mont Blanc using a tool called an Odamaki. However, the shop is not afraid to put in the effort, as they say, "The more time and effort you put in, the tastier it becomes."

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"Kabotchan" 194 yen each

The name is cute, "Kabotchan." It is a pumpkin pie bun with a sweet and fluffy pumpkin paste wrapped in a crispy pie crust. It was originally a product only available in the fall, but it became popular with women and is now available all year round. However, Akihiro doesn't like pumpkins. Shino laughs and says, "I make it with tears in my eyes because I want the customers to be happy. I'm the one who tastes it." It's natural to smile as the two of them walk together while sharing such behind-the-scenes stories.

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"Castella rusk" 1 bag 500 yen

The castella cake, made with eggs from Kakogawa City's "Sailor," known as "Japan's most carefully selected eggs," is a Food Professional Award-winning product. "Castella Rusk" was created from scraps left over from the manufacturing process. "It tastes just as good as the regular product, so I wanted to somehow commercialize it," says Shino. When you pop it into your mouth, the flavor of the eggs spreads softly and it has a light, crispy texture. It's popular with children, who come to buy it with their pocket money in hand. The sweets are neatly lined up on the shelves, but when you hear the story behind each one, you start to feel fond of them all. Try a variety and find your favorite.

Cherish the moments you spend with your visitors

The fun exchange between the two of them brought a smile to my face

"We often get advice from our customers. For example, 'I like the gyuhi used in anmitsu' or 'kuzu mochi is delicious when eaten on shaved ice.' It's nice to hear their feedback," says Shino. On the day of our interview, customers of all ages, including fathers with small children, elderly people, and high school students on their way home from school, were buying their favorite sweets. Watching the Miyamoto couple, who exchange words with smiles and cherish the time they spend with their customers, it's easy to see why Eifukudo is so beloved.

An eye-catching radio section

It's not just sweets, there are other connections as well. Akihiro is a huge fan of ABC Radio. In one corner of the store, there are stickers and timetables of the show lined up everywhere. It makes sense that the background music in the store is radio. There are many connections between listeners, and some even send radio goods to be displayed in the store.

"We do small things, but we enjoy doing what we can," said the couple. Eifukudo has been built by a family, and will continue to weave happy times together through people and sweets. They also set up a stall at the Wednesday Market in Kobe Motomachi Shopping Arcade on the third Wednesday of every month. If you live in the Kobe area, why not stop by? In addition to the sweets, you can also enjoy a chat with the Miyamoto couple.

(While working as a writer)

*This article is current as of June 2023. Prices include tax. Product contents and prices may be subject to change.

basic information

Himeji Confectionery Shop Eifukudo

Address: 146 Kanwacho, Himeji City

Phone number: 079-282-0424

Business hours: 9:00~18:30

Closed: Wednesday

Access: 1 minute walk from the Shinki Bus "Shiromimachi" bus stop

Parking: Available (2 spaces)

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