is a term most often applied to regional specialties (also known as ). can also be applied to specialized areas of interest, such as , where it refers to famous tea utensils, or

Japanese swords A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to t ...

, where it refers to specific named famous blades.

Definition

Hiroshige-53-Stations-Hoeido-41-Narumi-MFA-02

Hiroshige-53-Stations-Hoeido-51-Minakuchi-Met-New-York-01

could be classified into the following five categories:According to a paper by Laura Nenzi cited by Jilly Traganou in ''The Tokaido Road: Traveling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan'' (Routledge, 2004), (72) * , regional Japanese food specialties such as the roasted rice cakes () of Hodogaya, and the yam gruel of Mariko; *

Japanese craft Traditional in Japan have a long tradition and history. Included in the category of traditional crafts are handicrafts produced by an individual or a group, as well as work produced by independent studio artists working with traditional craft m ...

s as souvenirs such as the

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

s of

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

or the shell-decorated screens of

Enoshima is a small offshore island, about in circumference, at the mouth of the Katase River which flows into the Sagami Bay of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Administratively, Enoshima is part of the mainland city of Fujisawa, and is linked to ...

; In the past, also included: * Supernatural souvenirs and wonder-working panaceas, such as the bitter powders of Menoke that supposedly cured a large number of illnesses; * Bizarre things that added a touch of the "exotic" to the aura of each location such as the fire-resistant

salamanders Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...

Hakone is a town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 11,293 and a population density of 122 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many hot springs and views of ...

; and * Prostitutes, who made localities such as

Shinagawa is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per km2. The total are ...

, Fujisawa, Akasaka, Yoshida and Goyu famous. In some cases these people may have encouraged visits to otherwise impoverished and remote localities, contributing to the local economy and the exchange between people of different backgrounds. Several prints in various versions of the

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

series ''

The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō , in the Hōeidō edition (1833–1834), is a series of ukiyo-e woodcut prints created by Utagawa Hiroshige after his first travel along the Tōkaidō in 1832. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tōkaidō Gojūsan tsugi''" in ''Japan Encyclope ...

'' depict . These include Arimatsu , various

tie-dye Tie-dye is a term used to describe a number of resist dyeing techniques and the resulting dyed products of these processes. The process of tie-dye typically consists of folding, twisting, pleating, or crumpling fabric or a garment, before binding ...

d fabrics sold at

Narumi is a Japanese word for "''the roaring of the sea''". is also a feminine Japanese given name which can also be used as a surname. Possible writings Narumi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *鳴海, "the roaring of th ...

(station 41), and (sliced gourd), a product of Minakuchi (station 51), as well as a famous

teahouse A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...

at Mariko (station 21) and a famous (rest stop) selling a type of ricecake called at Kusatsu (station 51). Another category are special tea tools that were historic and precious items of

Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...

Usage

Evelyn Adam gave the following account of in her 1910 book, ''Behind the Shoji'':

Examples

In media

are key to the promotion of tourism within Japan, and have been frequently depicted in media since the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

(1603–1867).

Ukiyo-e

File:Opening shellfish at Fukagawa.jpg, opening shellfish at Fukagawa by

Utagawa Kuniyoshi Utagawa Kuniyoshi ( ja, 歌川国芳, ; January 1, 1798 – April 14, 1861) was one of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al'' (2005). "Kuniyoshi" in He was a ...

File:Edo Jiman Meibutsu Kurabe (BM 1906,1220,0.1327).jpg, with pumpkin grown at Sunamura by

File:GojūSanTsugi-MeishoZu'e, Narumi by Hiroshige.jpg, ''Narumi: Shop selling famous Arimatsu tie-dyed fabric'' by

Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...

File:Hizenkuni, Imari yaki 肥前伊萬里焼 (All the Famous Products of Land and Sea) (BM 2008,3037.03401).jpg,

Imari ware is a Western term for a brightly-coloured style of Japanese export porcelain made in the area of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. They were exported to Europe in large quantities, especially between the second half o ...

kiln in

Hizen Province was an old province of Japan in the area of the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō. It did not inclu ...

File:Fukuroi Reisho Tokaido.jpg, : famous kites of

Tōtōmi Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today western Shizuoka Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tōtōmi''" in . Tōtōmi bordered on Mikawa, Suruga and Shinano Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . The or ...

File:Een pop en ander speelgoed.jpeg, Famous products of

Yamashiro Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai. It overlaps the southern part of modern Kyoto Prefecture on Honshū. Aliases include , the rare , and . It is classified as an upper province in the ''Engishiki''. Yamashiro Province included Kyoto its ...

Keisai Eisen Keisai Eisen (渓斎英泉, 1790–1848) was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist who specialised in ''bijin-ga'' (pictures of beautiful women). His best works, including his ''ōkubi-e'' ("large head pictures"), are considered to be masterpieces of th ...

File:MET DP139064.jpg, Famous product of

Fukagawa, Tokyo is an area in Kōtō, Tokyo. It is one of the representative of Tokyo. Formerly, it was a ward of the historical Tokyo City. In 1947, Fukagawa was incorporated into the ward of Kōtō, together with Suginami. History The Fukagawa neighbourhoo ...

, yokan by Hokucho Joren

Manga and Anime

Ekiben Hitoritabi is a seinen manga series by Jun Hayase, serialized in ''Manga Action''. It focuses on the main character, Nakahara Daisuke, as he eats ''ekiben'', bento meals sold at train stations, as he travels around Japan by rail. A 12-episode live-ac ...

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

and travel

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

about

ekiben are a specific type of ''bento'' boxed meals, sold on trains and at train stations in Japan. They come with disposable chopsticks (when necessary) or spoons. ''Ekiben'' containers can be made from plastic, wood, or ceramic. Many train stations ...

containing

tokusanhin is a Japanese term for specialty food products associated with particular Japanese regions.''Japan's Socio-Economic Evolution: Continuity and Change'' (Japan Library, 1996), eds. Sarah Metzger-Court & Werner Pascha, p. 157. ''Tokusanhin'' are oft ...

Golden Kamuy is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Satoru Noda (artist), Satoru Noda. It was serialized in Shueisha's Seinen manga, manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from August 2014 to April 2022, with its chapters collected in thirt ...

, a

Seinen manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like ''Weekly Ma ...

and anime that includes many Ainu meibutsu from

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

including

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

and

Ainu cuisine Ainu cuisine is the cuisine of the ethnic Ainu in Japan and Russia. The cuisine differs markedly from that of the majority Yamato people of Japan. Raw meat like sashimi, for example, is rarely served in Ainu cuisine, which instead uses metho ...

Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles is a Japanese manga series by Naru Narumi. It began serialization in Takeshobo's ''Manga Life Storia'' magazine in September 2013. A live-action drama series adaptation aired from June 2015 to December 2016. A 12-episode anime television seri ...

, a food manga and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

devoted to regional

ramen is a Japanese dish, Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese ...

* Oishii Kamishama (Delicious Venus), a food manga devoted to presenting

Oishinbo is a long-running Japanese cooking manga series written by and drawn by . The manga's title is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for delicious, ''oishii'', and the word for someone who loves to eat, ''kuishinbo''. The series depicts the ...

, a

and anime that helped launch the gourmet anime genre occasionally featured meibutsu like

hōtō is a noodle soup and popular regional dish originating from Yamanashi, Japan made by stewing flat udon noodles and vegetables in miso soup. Though ''hōtō'' is commonly recognized as a variant of ''udon'', locals do not consider it to be a ...

or Fukugawa nabe and generally championed the idea of eating fresh, organic, and local *

Omae wa Mada Gunma o Shiranai is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroto Ida. It began serialization online via Shinchosha's Kurage Bunch website in October 2013 and has since been collected into eight ''tankōbon'' volumes. A 4-episode live-action tel ...

, comedy manga and anime that presents some meibutsu of

Gunma is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima P ...

including himokawa

udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called ...

, yakimanju, hoshi-imo (wind dried sweet potato), and miso pan * Yakunara Mug Cup Mo, a manga and anime promoting

Mino ware refers to Japanese pottery that was produced in Mino Province around the towns of Toki and Minokamo in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. History The history of Japanese pottery in the Toki area appears to have started more than 1,300 years ag ...

and other meibutsu of

Tajimi is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 110,070 in 46,580 households, and a population density of 1200 people per km2. The total area of the city was . The city is famous for its production of Mino ware ceramic ...

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Masaki Andō. It was serialized in Ichijinsha's '' Monthly Comic Rex'' magazine from May 2016 to September 2022. An anime television series adaptation by Saetta aired from Apr ...

, comedy manga and anime that presents some meibutsu of

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

Television

* Japanese Style Originator - variety show that presents meibutsu and traditional craftsman as regular segments

References

{{Reflist Japanese words and phrases Japanese popular culture Memorabilia Tourism in Japan