is a type of Japanese confection. It consists of two small

pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan, often frying w ...

-like patties made from castella wrapped around a

filling Filling may refer to: * a food mixture used for stuffing * Frosting used between layers of a cake * Dental restoration * Symplectic filling, a kind of cobordism in mathematics * Part of the leather crusting process See also * Fill (disambiguat ...

of sweet azuki bean paste. The original dorayaki consisted of only one layer. Its current shape was invented in 1914 by ''Usagiya'' in the Ueno district of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

. In Japanese, ''dora'' means "

gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

", and because of the similarity of the shapes, this is probably the origin of the name of the sweet. Legend has it that the first dorayaki were made when a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They ...

named

Benkei , popularly known as simply Benkei, was a Japanese warrior monk ('' sōhei'') who lived in the latter years of the Heian Period (794–1185) .html" ;"title="/sup>">/sup>. Benkei led a varied life, first becoming a monk, then a mountain ascetic ...

forgot his gong (''dora'') upon leaving a farmer's home where he was hiding, and the farmer subsequently used the gong to fry the pancakes.

Regional variation

In the

Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

area, this sweet is often called ''mikasa'' (). The word originally means triple straw hat, but is also an alternative name of

Mount Wakakusa , also known as Mount Mikasa (三笠山 ''Mikasa-yama''), is a hill located to the east of Nara Park in the city of Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The mountain's name literally means "young grass". On the fourth Saturday of each January, the de ...

, a low hill with gentle slopes located in

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

. In Nara, a larger mikasa of about 30 cm in diameter is made.

In popular culture

The Japanese

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 ...

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 ...

character

Doraemon ''Doraemon'' ( ja, ドラえもん ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. The manga was first serialized in December 1969, with its 1,345 individual chapters compiled into 45 ''tankōbon'' volumes and ...

loves dorayaki and so it is depicted as his favourite food (in the English dub,

Nobita is a fictional character in the ''Doraemon'' anime and manga series created by Fujiko Fujio, the pen name of writing team Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko. He is also the main character in The Doraemons (special version). Known as Sidney, Spec ...

(Noby) calls it "yummy buns" as an alternative), and it has been a

plot device A plot device or plot mechanism is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelie ...

several times throughout the series. Doraemon is addicted to dorayaki and falls for any trap involving them. Since 2000, the company Bunmeido has been selling a limited version of dorayaki called ''Doraemon Dorayaki'' every year around March and September. Since 2015,

JFC International JFC International is a major wholesaler and distributor of Asian food products in the United States. In addition to its own products, JFC International also imports branded products from other international companies. The company's official establi ...

has produced Doraemon Dorayaki for the North American market. In 2015 filmmaker

Naomi Kawase is a Japanese film director. She was also known as , with her former husband's surname. Many of her works have been documentaries, including ''Embracing'', about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and ''Katatsumori'', about ...

released the film "An" ("

Sweet Bean is a 2015 Japanese drama film directed by Naomi Kawase. It is the second film, after I Wish (film), I Wish, to star real-life grandmother and granddaughter Kirin Kiki and Kyara Uchida. The film was selected to open the Un Certain Regard sectio ...

"), based on a novel by Durian Sukegawa, about an elderly woman who has a secret recipe for truly transcendent dorayaki anko.

References

External links

About.com's dorayaki recipeHow to make Dorayaki
{{Japanese food and drink Wagashi Japanese confectionery