Toro "Mochi no Ie" (Abekawa Mochi) | Japan Highlights Travel, for sightseeing around Tokaido

Freshly made mochi (rice cake) dusted with kinako (soybean flour) would be served in tea houses in Abekawa, which flourished thanks to its gold mines. When Lord Ieyasu visited the area after retiring from his position of shogun, he was presented this mochi and told it was "Abekawa no kinako mochi", or "mochi dusted with Abekawa gold". Ieyasu was much taken with it, and one story has it that he called it "Abekawa Mochi". It also makes an appearance in the Edo-period best seller, Tokaidochu Hizakurige. The confectionery became a Tokaido specialty, thanks in no small part to the fact that it used white sugar, which was very valuable at that time in Japan. You can enjoy ones dusted with kinako and others wrapped in bean curd together in a set.