Yakage Town, Oda District, Okayama Prefecture, is a post town on the Sanyo Road that prospered during the Edo period as a stop for daimyo processions.
Yakage Shopping Street in Yakage Town is home to historic buildings that have been preserved as they were, including the Former Yakage Honjin Ishii Residence and the Former Yakage Wakihonjin Takakusa Residence, both designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan.
Bokkodo is a long-established rice cracker shop founded 60 years ago on Yakage Shopping Street.
Made with sugar, flour, and eggs as a base, the crackers come in flavors such as peanuts, ginger, yuzu, and miso. Each one is carefully baked by hand, with a nostalgic, old-fashioned taste.
The people who have carried on the flavor and methods devised by founder Hori Tsuyoshi and continue to make the same-tasting crackers are second-generation owner Hori Shinji, third-generation owner Hori Shobu, and their family.
While running a rice cracker shop on Yakage Shopping Street, second-generation owner Hori Shinji is also involved in various tourism initiatives in Yakage Town.
Here we introduce Bokkodo and its second-generation owner, Hori Shinji.
The information presented was current when this article was published in January 2024. Please note that it may differ from current information.
About Bokkodo
Bokkodo is a rice cracker shop at the western end of Yakage Shopping Street, housed in a renovated traditional home that is more than 100 years old.
It is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and there are two parking spaces to the east of the shop.
The shop closes on irregular days.
If you’re lucky, you can watch the crackers being baked through the glass, while the sweet aroma of freshly baked rice crackers fills the shop.
You are greeted by a logo of Tenshoin Atsuhime smiling warmly, and the colorfully wrapped rice crackers in a variety of flavors all look delicious.
Records show that Tenshoin Atsuhime stayed at the Former Yakage Honjin Ishii Residence while traveling from Satsuma to marry Iesada, the 13th Tokugawa shogun.
What Makes Bokkodo Special
The flavors and methods for more than a dozen varieties of handmade rice crackers, including broad beans, yuzu, ginger, miso, and peanuts, devised by founder Hori Tsuyoshi, have been passed down unchanged to this day.
The flavors and methods have not changed, for the customers who come seeking Bokkodo’s taste.
The hand-baking machine visible through the shop window has been in use for more than 50 years.
The crackers being made during our visit were “small peanut rice crackers.”
Third-generation owner Hori Shobu pours in the dough, then, as the machine completes one rotation, removes the baked crackers from the hotplate, trims off the excess, and shapes them into squares.
The work flows smoothly, but the hotplate is extremely hot, and baking the crackers with bare hands looked like hard work.
Shobu’s mother takes the square crackers handed to her, cuts them into strips, and packs them into bags.
It is difficult to judge the timing: if they are too hot, they stick to the other dough, and if they cool too much, they break when cut into strips.
The precision of the arched salt crackers, the folded ginger crackers coated in pure white ginger syrup, and the small peanut crackers cut into strips is remarkable—you would never guess they were baked using the same machine, and the high level of skill is clear.
Salt-Flavored Rice Crackers
These rice crackers have a simple, gentle flavor of salt, sugar, and flour.
Before the baked crackers have fully cooled, they are cut and placed in a mold to give them an arched shape.
Ginger Rice Crackers
These crackers are folded and coated in pure white ginger syrup.
Once baked, they are folded by hand while still hot and coated with ginger syrup.
Peanut Rice Crackers
A beautiful pine pattern stands out on these crackers.
The fragrant peanut and wheat dough makes them irresistibly delicious.
Egg Rice Crackers
These rice crackers are made with eggs, sugar, and flour, pressed into molds and baked.
They are stamped with designs such as the “Yakkō” from the Daimyo-Gyoretsu and Yakage tourism ambassador “Yakappy.”
Bokkodo’s Second-Generation Owner, Hori Shinji
In addition to running Bokkodo, its second-generation owner, Hori Shinji, works to promote tourism in Yakage Town as chairman of the Yakage DMO General Incorporated Foundation for the Promotion of Tourism and Exchange in Yakage Town and representative director for the Yakage district of the Bitchu Nishi Chamber of Commerce.
Some of the main activities of the Yakage DMO General Incorporated Foundation for the Promotion of Tourism and Exchange in Yakage Town and the Bitchu Nishi Chamber of Commerce are as follows.
- Events: Cream Soda IN Yakage and Oimo ga Eemon (Yakage DMO General Incorporated Foundation for the Promotion of Tourism and Exchange in Yakage Town)
- Achieved undergrounding of utility poles along part of Yakage Town’s historic streetscape area (Bitchu Nishi Chamber of Commerce)
- Daimyo-Gyoretsu (Bitchu Nishi Chamber of Commerce)
“Cream Soda IN Yakage” was a summer event in 2023. Fourteen shops in Yakage Town took part, delighting visitors with cream sodas that reflected each shop’s unique character.
In winter, 20 shops in Yakage Town help bring the town to life with “Oimo ga Eemon,” an event featuring sweets and dishes made with sweet potatoes.
Oimo ga Eemon was held from Sunday, November 19, 2023, to Wednesday, January 31, 2024.
The “undergrounding of utility poles in Yakage Town’s historic streetscape area” was selected in 2018 for the Public-Private Partnership Support Program for Utility Pole Undergrounding under the Social Infrastructure Development Grant, and utility poles were removed along part of Yakage Shopping Street.
East of the Former Yakage Honjin Ishii Residence, the streetscape stretches out without utility poles or wires.
The “Daimyo-Gyoretsu” began in November 1976, when the Chamber of Commerce Youth Division held a daimyo procession as a festival to cheer up Yakage Shopping Street after it suffered flood damage from torrential rain.
Since then, the Daimyo-Gyoretsu has been held every year on the second Sunday in November as a recovery event, and has become a popular festival representative of Yakage Town.
We spoke with Hori Shinji, who is active in promoting Yakage as the owner of Bokkodo, chairman of the Yakage DMO General Incorporated Foundation for the Promotion of Tourism and Exchange in Yakage Town, and representative director for the Yakage district of the Bitchu Nishi Chamber of Commerce, about Bokkodo and what makes Yakage special.
Bokkodo Information
| Name | Bokkodo |
|---|---|
| Address | 3198 Yakage, Yakage Town, Oda District, Okayama Prefecture 714-1201 |
| Contact | 0866-82-0369 |
| Parking | Available Two spaces to the east of the shop |
| Hours | 8 a.m.–6 p.m. |
| Closed | Irregular holidays |
| Payment methods |
|
| Reservations | Not accepted |
| Restroom | No restroom |
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