[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 homely Japanese sweets shop run by a family
• Our proud mallet rice cakes that we come without missing every day
• Cool summer sweets to enjoy the cool breeze
• The craftsmanship of expressing ghost stories with beautiful sweets
• Various baked goods for snacks and souvenirs
• Cherish your moments with visitors
• basic information

Useful information

Hyogo Amazing Pass

This ticket is recommended for those considering touring around Hyogo Prefecture such as Himeji and Kobe! This is a mobile ticket that allows you to ride unlimited Shinki Bus route buses + Kobe City Loop/Port Loop for 1,000 yen a day. *Limited to foreign visitors tourists visiting Japan

Click here for purchase and details of Hyogo Amazing Pass

Baggage storage service

Would you like to go sightseeing in a convenient and easy way?

A homely Japanese sweets shop run by a family

The building is a little hidden, so if you're driving, drive slowly so you don't miss it.

Eifukudo is located a 5-minute walk from Kyoguchi Station on the Bantan Line. As you pass through the red curtains, which are reminiscent of red beans, you are greeted by the cheerful voices of the Miyamoto family.

A small and bright interior

Inside the store, with a radio playing in the background, you'll find morning sweets, sekihan, baked goods, and more.

An array of morning products such as mochi sweets and dango

We also have baked goods

Eifukudo began in 1967. Akihiro's father, Takashi, who trained at a Japanese confectionery shop in Itami, founded the company with a sales floor in a corner of a shopping center in Himeji City at the time. The shop name comes from Takashi's family's fishing boat, the Eifuku Maru. When Akihiro married Shino at the age of 18, he began training under Takashi and became a Japanese confectionery maker. In 2004, at the age of 30, he took over the second generation, and currently the father and son are involved in making sweets.

Akihiro and Shino have been classmates since junior high school.

It was in 2018 that we moved to our current location. When setting up the store, Shino says, ``We wanted to make it a homely store that could be used on a daily basis, so we thought about a lot of things.''

In order to face customers, we put in low display shelves instead of tall showcases, and we painted the shelves and walls in bright colors so that they can be seen easily from the outside. The two of them happily say that the word "Eifukudo" written in the handwriting on the noren and signboard was written by their daughter.

We would like to introduce you to Eifukudo's recommended sweets that are filled with family love.

Our proud mallet rice cakes that we come without missing every day

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"Anmochi" mugwort (grain bean paste) and white (koshian) 183 yen each

Eifukudo's specialty is ``Anmochi'', which is a mochi made with a pestle and filled with sweet bean paste. There are two types, white and mugwort, each containing smooth strained bean paste and fluffy bean paste made from large red beans from Tokachi, Hokkaido. Mochi made with a variety of glutinous rice called "Hiyokumochi" has a unique chewiness that is not found in Gyuhi rice cakes, which use mochi flour, and the more you bite into it, the more you can feel the sweetness of the mochi. It is popular because ``just one cup is satisfying,'' and some elderly people say ``I used to pound it at home, so it's nostalgic.'' Fill your mouth with it and enjoy the taste of real mochi.

When it becomes hard, turn it into a golden brown mochi.

If the anmochi becomes hard the next day, we recommend baking it in a toaster oven and eating it. The rice cake is baked to a golden brown on the outside, so it spreads well, and the red bean paste inside is melty, making it a unique way to enjoy it.

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"Komochi" 100g from 151 yen

Based on Takashi's policy of ``A mochi shop without mochi is no good,'' he has been making mochi every day since the company's founding. It is rare to find a shop that sells it even in the summer, and some people come from far away just to buy the rice cakes.

Cool summer sweets to enjoy the cool breeze

``Anmitsu'' (white honey served separately) 378 yen per piece, available until mid-September

These days you can feel the signs of summer in the sunlight. I'm starting to miss cool, cold sweets. How about the cool looking ``Anmitsu''? Enjoy smooth and smooth agar, fruit, and gyuhi mochi, and the sweet bean paste that has been cooked to be softer than usual, mixed with refreshing white honey. You can eat it as is in the cup, but it tastes even better when served in a bowl.

Wrapped warabi “Hoju” 140 yen each, on sale until the end of August

At Eifukudo, the chewy and springy warabi mochi made with bracken flour is popular. ``Wrap warabi'', which is made by wrapping strained bean paste in warabi mochi, is a product unique to this time of year. The appearance of this confectionery, which has the name ``Hoju'' (hoju), is mesmerizing.

Akihiro makes jewels in his workshop at the back of the store. Wrap the bean ball with practiced hands.

The pleasant scent of kinako wafts through the workshop.

The jewel is covered with dark roasted Kurosu kinako. Akihiro says, ``By using dark-roasted and bitter kinako, we balance out the sweetness of the bean paste.'' The fragrant soybean flour, melting warabi mochi, and elegant strained red bean paste all come together on your tongue, and not only does it look good, but it also has a mesmerizing taste. In addition, Kuzumochi and chilled Zenzai are available during the summer. It looks like these refreshing sweets will help ease the heat.

The craftsmanship of expressing ghost stories with beautiful sweets

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Fresh sweets "Kikusui" 237 yen per piece

A fresh confectionery made of fresh kudzu jelly with Kanoko beans and green maple. These sweets were prepared for 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 was named ``Kikusui'' in honor of Okiku, the heroine of ``Banshu Sarayashiki,'' which will be performed. The Okiku well is represented by kudzu jelly, the well stone is represented by Kanoko beans, and the refreshing ramune flavor is used. When you pick it up, it shakes and shakes, as if the surface of the water is shaking. ``Banshu Sarayashiki'' is a ghost story about the ghost of Mr. Okiku who appears from a well and counts the plates, ``One, two...'', but in Akihiro's hands, it becomes such a refreshing sweet. It's said to be available in stores during the summer, so you'll be lucky if you can find it. Mr. Akihiro has honed his skills in Japanese sweets for 30 years. When I asked him when he gets ideas, he says, ``Ideas are always in my head, but they're like dots.One day, the dots suddenly connect.''

Various baked goods for snacks and souvenirs

“Amansho (banana) cake” 194 yen per piece

Baked sweets that last for a long time are perfect for everyday snacks and souvenirs. When you open the package, the sweet scent of bananas wafts through the air. It is a financier-style sweet made with banana puree mixed with yolk paste and sprinkled with cane beans. Squeezing fresh bananas into a puree like a Mont Blanc with a tool called an Odamaki is a pain. However, he spares no effort, saying, ``The more time and effort you put into it, the more delicious it will be.''

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"Pumpkin" 194 yen per piece

The name "Kabo-chan" is also cute. A pumpkin pie bun with sweet pumpkin filling wrapped in crispy pie dough. Originally it was only available in autumn, but due to its popularity with women, it is now available year-round. However, Akihiro doesn't like pumpkins. Mr. Shino laughs and says, ``I tear myself up as I make it because I want the customers to be happy.I make sure to taste it.'' The two of them walking in tandem with such behind-the-scenes stories naturally brought a smile to my face.

“Kastera Rusk” 500 yen per bag

Castella cake made with eggs from Sailor in Kakogawa City, known as ``Japan's best eggs,'' is a Food Professional Award winning product. ``Kastera Rusk'' was born from the scraps produced during the manufacturing process. ``The taste is just as good as the official product, so I wanted to commercialize it somehow,'' says Shino. When you pop it into your mouth, the flavor of the egg spreads out and the texture is light and crunchy. It's popular with children, who come to buy it with their pocket money in hand. The sweets are neatly lined up on the shelf, but when you listen to each story one by one, you start to feel that each one of them is dear to you. Please try out various flavors and find your favorite.

Cherish your moments with visitors

The fun interaction between the two of them made everyone smile.

``We often hear from customers, like ``I like Anmitsu Gyuhi,'' or ``It's delicious when you eat kuzumochi with shaved ice.'' It's nice to hear their thoughts,'' says Shino. On the day of our interview, customers from a wide range of age groups were shopping for their favorite sweets, including fathers with small children, elderly people, and high school students returning from school. Watching Mr. and Mrs. Miyamoto smile, exchange words, and treasure their time with visitors, you can understand why Eifukudo is so loved.

An eye-catching radio corner

It's not just about sweets, it's about connections like this. Akihiro is a big fan of ABC Radio. Program stickers and timetables are lined up in one corner of the store. It makes sense that the background music in the store is a radio. There are many connections between listeners, and some people even send radio goods to display in their stores.

``It's small, but we're enjoying what we can do,'' the two say. Eifukudo, which was created by a family, will continue to create fun times through people and sweets. On the third Wednesday of every month, we also open a store at the Wednesday market in Kobe Motomachi Shopping District. If you live in the Kobe area, why not stop by? Please enjoy not only the sweets but also chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Miyamoto.

(as a writer)

*This article is information as of June 2023. Prices include tax. Product contents and prices may 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 Shinki Bus “Shimicho” bus stop

Parking: Available (2 spaces)

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