Hello!

This is plat hostel keikyu haneda home.

There's only one month left in 2021!

It's getting colder and colder, so let's be careful not to catch a cold and get through to the end.

This time, we went to Kawasaki Daishi, which is located 30 minutes away from our hostel by train and 30 minutes by bicycle!

Kawasaki Daishi is famous for warding off evil spirits, and there were many interesting stores along the elegant approach.

This time, we' re going to introduce you to one of them, the famous Kuzumochi (rice cakes) store!

Kawasaki Daishi Station is only three stops away from Keikyu Kawasaki Station, and we can see the entrance to the approach on the right hand side of the station, so it' s already starting to get exciting!

As expected, it was famous for being one of Japan's leading shrines for warding off evil spirits, and it was impressive that the torii gate had the words "Yakuyoke Gate ("warding off evil spirits gate") written on it.

As we walked straight down the main road, we could see the back of the magnificent main hall on our left!

There is a kuzumochi store that we will introduce this time, "the Original Sumiyoshiya Honten", located on the other side of this street.

Here is the exterior of the store!

This shop sells Japanese sweets, mainly kuzumochi (rice cakes), and also has a sweet cafe.

By the way, there is a factory of Sumiyoshitani Honten before this store, and fresh-made kuzumochi is sent from there every day.

Now, let's go to the inside of the store!

The interior of the store had the atmosphere of an old-fashioned Japanese coffee shop.

In the back, there is a Japanese-style garden where you can take a rest after visiting the shrine.

Now, here's the menu you should be interested in!

You can enjoy their famous kuzumochi at a reasonable price of 400 yen.

In addition to the standard kuzumochi, there are many other types of kuzumochi, such as with ice cream or cold kuzumochi.

This time, we ordered the standard kuzumochi and warm green tea.

It was served with a generous amount of Okinawan black honey and soybean flour.

The kuzumochis were chewy and elastic, but not too heavy, and very easy to eat!

Incidentally, kuzumochi is usually described as "葛餅," but the kuzumochi here is made from wheat starch, not kuzu powder（葛粉）, so it seems that 葛 is not used in the kanji.

It is said that the name "久寿餅" to be used here comes from the combination of the character for "久", which refers to the person named 久兵衛Kyubei who invented kuzumochi here in the Edo period, and the character for "寿", which commemorates the longevity of a person without illness.

The name also suggests the long history and the special feeling of being eaten only here!

Well, on the way back, we bought another specialty of this place, "fu manju", and went back to the hostel!

These fu-manjuu are much firmer than regular fu-manjuu, and the smell of bamboo grass is really delicious!

It' s also recommended to buy one for 200 yen!

This time, we introduced the Kuzumochi from the original Sumiyoshiya Honten in Kawasaki Daishi!

If you are staying at our hostel, why don't you visit Kawasaki Daishi?

There were many more sweets that would make great souvenirs!

Now then, please look forward to my next blog!

Thank you again for reading to the end.

"The original Sumiyoshiya Honten"

Address: 8-16 Daishihonmachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0817

Business hours: (Coffee shop) 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Factory and sales) 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Phone number: 044-266-4668

Closed: No regular holidays