Hearing the name janbo mochi, you might imagine a large rice cake, but it's actually a bite-sized mochi skewered with two sticks.
The two sticks are said to resemble the two swords worn by samurai. Kagoshima was known for having an unusually large samurai population during the Edo Period, and this history may be reflected here.
So why is it called janbo?
Written in kanji, it combines the character for “both” with the character for “stick.” In other words, the name directly describes how it looks.
The reading "janbo" is believed to originate from the Chinese pronunciation of the first character, which gradually changed through local dialects into its current form.
This small local sweet carries Kagoshima’s overseas connections and distinctive language. Be sure to give it a try.