is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

-shaped cake, commonly sold as

street food Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumpt ...

. It imitates the shape of , which it is named after. The most common

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 (disambiguati ...

is red bean paste that is made from sweetened adzuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard,

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

, cheese, or sweet potato. Some shops even sell with ,

gyoza ''Jiaozi'' (; ; pinyin: jiǎozi) are Chinese dumplings commonly eaten in China and other parts of East Asia. ''Jiaozi'' are folded to resemble Chinese sycee and have great cultural significance attached to them within China. ''Jiaozi'' ...

filling, or a

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

inside. Smaller, differently shaped versions called are also available and often sold in bags of five, ten, or more. are similar to , which are thick round cakes also filled with sweet adzuki bean paste or custard.

Ingredients

is made using regular pancake or

waffle A waffle is a dish made from leavened batter or dough that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give a characteristic size, shape, and surface impression. There are many variations based on the type of waffle iron and recipe use ...

batter. The batter is poured into a fish-shaped

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi. Not ...

for each side. The filling is then put on one side and the mold is closed. It is then cooked on both sides until golden brown.

History

was first sold in Japan in 1909. It is essentially a reshaped form of , an already popular snack made by wrapping bean paste in flour skin. Seijirō Kobe, founder of the store , was having trouble selling his , so he decided to bake the cakes into fish shapes resembling , or red sea bream. are considered a symbol of luck and fortune in Japan, and were an expensive fish only affordable by the higher classes or on special occasions. Masamori Kobe, the fourth owner of the store, stated that Seijirō wanted to give the ordinary people a taste of the expensive fish at low prices. Since its creation, has evolved into many variations, with different ingredients being used for filling and batter, as well as variations in shapes and sizes. was introduced to

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

during the Japanese colonial period, where it is known as . During the postwar period, spread to other Asian countries, as well as to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Gallery

File:Taiyaki-Plate.JPG, being made File:Taiyaki 001.jpg, Standard File:Taiyaki - cut section.jpg, Cut , showing the adzuki bean filling File:3hiki sot.jpg, with sweet potato filling File:Square taiyaki in Ueno 2015.jpg, Square with uncut edges, being sold in

Ueno is a district in Tokyo's Taitō Ward, best known as the home of Ueno Park. Ueno is also home to some of Tokyo's finest cultural sites, including the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, and the National Museum of Na ...

File:Sakanotaiyaki.jpg, Round in the form of coiled fishes, being sold in

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 ...

File:Small taiyaki by yomi955.jpg, Mini File:Petit custa at shirokiya (2).jpg, Mini with

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

filling, being sold in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

File:Tobu train taiyaki.jpg, Train-shaped , being sold outside

Narimasu Station is a railway station on the Tobu Tojo Line in Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Tobu Railway. Lines The station is served by the Tobu Tojo Line from in Tokyo. Located between and , it is from the Ikebukuro ter ...

File:Food 地瓜泥, 抹茶冰淇淋, 鯛魚燒聖代, Humpty Dumpty, 台北 (15057169750).jpg, used as an ice cream holder, being sold in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

File:Taiyaki (00228).jpg, with red bean and

matcha is finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea leaves, traditionally consumed in East Asia. The green tea plants used for matcha are shade-grown for three to four weeks before harvest; the stems and veins are removed during ...

-swirled ice cream,

mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan, it is traditionally ma ...

, and a wafer cookie File:Ice Cream Taiyaki.jpg, filled with matcha ice cream

References

{{Japanese food and drink Cakes Wagashi