Yamanashi · FuefukiNo.1052★★★Open in map →

Kikyo Shingen Mochi

— Yamanashi's best-known sweet, made at a factory you can tour

foodThe classic — done right

Yamanashi's default souvenir: gyuhi and roasted soybean flour with black syrup, bundled in film printed like a furoshiki. Its factory in Fuefuki opens the wrapping line to anyone who walks in, free of charge.

FromShinjuku Station
~2 hrLimited express, then a taxi
Get off atIsawa-Onsen Station (JR Chuo Main Line)
From there
Kikyo Shingen Mochi

Directions ↗

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Fill-your-own-bag counterCheng-en Cheng / CC BY-SA 2.0

Factory viewing corridora free, self-guided walkway above the line, looking down on the hands that tie each knot
Fill-your-own-bag countertrays of confectionery packed into a bag you knot shut yourself, under the counter's own rules
Green outletvegetables grown by the company, sold alongside irregular batches of confectionery
Theme park cafesoft serve finished with the same roasted soybean flour and black syrup

How to actually get there

Shinjuku Station → Isawa-Onsen Station (JR Chuo Line, Limited Express Kaiji, about 1 hour 30 minutes).
Isawa-Onsen Station → the factory gate by taxi (the prefecture's guide says about 20 minutes).
Go up to the free viewing corridor and follow the line to the point where the film is knotted.
Finish at the outlet and the produce shop, and call the taxi before you join the queue.

Limited express from Shinjuku, then a taxi: Shinjuku Station →(JR Chuo Line, Limited Express Kaiji, about 1 hour 30 minutes)→ Isawa-Onsen Station, then a taxi to the gate. Every Kaiji service calls at Isawa-Onsen, and some Azusa services stop there as well. The prefecture's tourism site puts the taxi leg at about 20 minutes.
Return from Isawa-Onsen Station: Take a taxi back to Isawa-Onsen and pick up a Kaiji for Shinjuku; limited expresses run through the afternoon and into the evening. No scheduled bus reaches the factory gate, so order the return taxi before you start shopping rather than after. Local Chuo Line trains also run, but they take considerably longer.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

A packet of Kikyo Shingen Mochi holds three pieces of gyuhi under a heap of roasted soybean flour, plus a small pot of black syrup to tip over them. The whole thing is wrapped in a film printed to look like a furoshiki and gathered into a knot at the top. That knot is the part people miss: it is not machine work. Nearly all of the sweet is made at this one plant on the eastern edge of Fuefuki, and rather than hide the line the company built a walkway over it, so anyone can look down on the wrapping. An outlet, a produce shop and several restaurants share the same grounds.

How to enjoy it

The factory's own guide gives the viewing route as 9:00 to 16:00, self-guided, with a short break each hour and a longer one over the middle of the day; the prefecture's tourism site puts the last entry to the tour at 15:00. Watch one packet all the way through rather than the whole line at once — the knot takes seconds and is easy to miss. If the bag counter is the draw, come for it in the morning.

Background & history

Kikyoya opened as a wagashi shop in Kofu in 1889. The sweet that made its name arrived in 1968, drawn from abekawa mochi — rice cake dusted with soybean flour and drizzled with black syrup, set out at Obon in Yamanashi households — reworked into a small packet that could sell all year. The name borrows Takeda Shingen, the province's warlord. In 1972 a rival maker, Kinseiken, registered Shingen mochi as a trademark, which is why this one carries the extra word in front. The company moved its head office and plant to Ichinomiya and started letting visitors in from 1990.

Before you go

Cash: The factory tour and the viewing corridor cost nothing. The outlet, the bag counter and the cafes are each paid separately, and the car park is free with room for 100 cars. Prices on the outlet trays move from day to day, so read the board rather than a guidebook.
Good to know: The prefecture's tourism site lists the site as open to 18:00 and closed on no day of the year. The viewing corridor shuts earlier than the shops, so a late arrival becomes a shopping trip only. Make the bag counter your first stop rather than your last.
Another way: By car it is minutes from the Ichinomiya-Misaka interchange on the Chuo Expressway, which is how most visitors arrive. Coach parties have to reserve a space by the day before, as the car park is finite.
After you get off: There is no scheduled bus from Isawa-Onsen Station to the gate, so use the taxi rank outside the station. Ask for the Kikyo Shingen Mochi factory theme park in Ichinomiya-cho Tsuboi.