# Game no ha Manjyu ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Game no ha Manjyu

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
Northern part of Fukuoka Prefecture

## Main Ingredients Used
Top-grade rice flour, red bean paste, game (sankira) leaves (smilax glabra leaves)

## History, Origin, and Related Events
"Kashiwa Mochi" is a traditional Japanese snack made during the Boys’ Day celebration and is especially popular among children. Although it is typically eaten on Boys’ Day, the leaves of the Japanese emperor oak tree required to make it aren't found in Fukuoka Prefecture. As a result, an alternative snack has been created using leaves from the smilax glabra plant, known as sankira. In northern Fukuoka Prefecture, the local word for “turtle” or “soft-shelled turtle” is “game”, and the leaves of the sankira plant resemble the shell of the turtle. This is why the snack is also called “game-no-ha” (turtle leaf) or “sankira manju”. Interestingly, the name “sultry rose” is also used to describe the plant, due to its thorny vines, round leaves, and roots, which monkeys even enjoy.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
Around the lunar calendar's May festival, people pick up smilax glabra leaves and make “Game no Ha Manju”. It is also made during the "Bon Festival" in August and "Hassaku-san", which is held on August 1 (around September 1) of the lunar calendar to pray for the healthy growth of babies. The bun is made using smilax glabra leaves, which are picked during the month of May in the lunar calendar. This bun is also made during the rainy season and tea-harvesting season, when the leaves are hardened until they fall off. The filling is made from red beans and chestnuts. To prepare the chestnuts, they are harvested in the fall, dried, and lightly pounded with a mortar and pestle to remove the shells and astringent skin. Another way to prepare chestnuts is to boil them, break them into small pieces, and dry them for future use.

## How to Eat
First, make the bean paste and set it aside. Take top-grade rice flour and add salt and water to it. Knead the dough by hand until it becomes soft and smooth, like the texture of an earlobe. Steam the dough until it's cooked. While it's still hot, pound the dough into a flat shape like a rice cake. After it cools down a bit, wrap the bean paste in the dough and place it between smilax glabra leaves. Steam the wrapped rice cake until it's cooked. When rolling out the dough, make sure to keep the edges thin to avoid overlapping when it's wrapped around the bean paste.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
(Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches at commercialization)Local Japanese stores and direct sales outlets sell "Game no Ha Manju" for Boys' Day, but many households still make it at home due to its simplicity.

## Ingredients
- Top-grade rice flour: 200g
- lukewarm water: 160ml
- salt: a pinch
- potato starch: 1 tbsp.
- Water: 80g
- strained bean paste: 200g
- smilax glabra leaves (sankira): 20

## Recipe
1. 1. Take high-quality rice flour and put it in a bowl. Slowly add lukewarm water and knead until the mixture has the consistency of an earlobe.
2. 2. Take a puff pastry sheet that has been tightly wrung out and place it in a steamer. Tear off a piece of the skin and lay it flat. Steam the pastry on high heat for 25 minutes.
3. 3. Once there are no white parts remaining, place the pastry in a bowl and pound it into rice cakes while it's still hot.
4. 4. Gradually add salt, potato starch, and water until the dough becomes rice cake-like.
5. 5. Once the dough has reached the desired consistency, soak it in cold water. Remove the dough from heat, and knead it gently again. Tear it into 10 pieces, spread it with the palm of your hand, wrap the dough in bean paste, and steam it over high heat for 7 to 8 minutes between sheets of smilax glabra leaves.

## Provider Information
provider : "Faculty of Nutritional Sciences, Nakamura Gakuen University"

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