Shoyu Mame

shoyu mamebroad beansSanukiside dishEdo period

Kagawa · Takamatsu

34.3424°N, 134.0465°E

Shoyu mame is broad beans roasted dry and then dropped, still hot, into a marinade of soy sauce, sugar and chilli, and left overnight. Because the beans are roasted rather than boiled they keep a dry structure and collapse in the mouth rather than going soft, which is what separates them from an ordinary simmered bean.

Broad beans were the standard second crop after rice in Sanuki, so there were always plenty. The origin story local people tell is that beans being roasted to give to pilgrims on the Shikoku circuit rolled into a nearby soy sauce jar, and were found later to be better for it. It has been eaten here since the Edo period, it appears on every set meal in the prefecture, and it is sold vacuum-packed in supermarkets and at the airport.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Varies by establishment

Closed: Varies by establishment

Entrance Fee

¥300–600 as a side dish | Packs from around ¥500

Best Season

Year-round

Visit Duration

Part of a meal

Getting There

Access Information

Served across Kagawa as a side dish in set meals, izakaya and udon shops, and sold vacuum-packed in supermarkets, souvenir shops and at Takamatsu Airport. The beans are dry-roasted for around 30 minutes and then steeped hot in soy sauce, sugar, chilli and water overnight. Individual establishments' hours and prices vary.

Insider Guide

Premium

**Roasted, not boiled.** That is the whole technique. The dry roast is why the bean crumbles rather than softening, and why it is not a nimame. **It comes with everything.** Set meals, izakaya, udon shops. If you eat a proper meal in Kagawa you will be given some without ordering it. **Buy it vacuum-packed.** Supermarkets and the airport sell it, it keeps, and it is the least bulky souvenir the prefecture produces. **The pilgrim story explains the chilli.** Beans roasted as an offering to henro, rolled into a soy jar. Whether or not it happened, the dish came out of pilgrimage hospitality. **There is chilli in it.** Not much, but it is there. The sweetness and heat together are what make it a drinking snack as well as a side dish.

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