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Obusedo's Suzaku: How to Beat the Wait for a One-Month-Only Sweet

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Translated from my original Japanese post (2018). 日本語の原文を読む →

It's Yoko. Over the long weekend, I finally did it!

After years of wanting to, I went to Obusedo's main shop and ate "Suzaku"!!

Suzaku is a Japanese sweet made with fresh-harvest chestnuts, sold for just one month a year, and you can only eat it by going all the way to Nagano, so I could never manage it (sob).

But this time I got to eat it. It was delicious and so much fun!

What Is Obusedo?

For those who don't know Obusedo, it's a chestnut confectionery in the town of Obuse, Nagano!

Obusedo has a very long history. It began with Masuichi Ichimura Sake Brewery, which has been in business since the Horeki era of the Edo period.

It has ties to Katsushika Hokusai, who loved Obuse.

Hokusai is of course famous for his Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.

Takai Kozan, the 12th head of the Ichimura family that ran the brewery, recognized Hokusai's talent and became his patron.

He even built an atelier for him, and Hokusai reportedly called him "Danna-san" (master).

They began making chestnut sweets around 1897, so it's a long-established shop with over 100 years of history!

I've forgotten how I first heard of Obusedo, but it comes up on social media every year. Since it's sold for only one month, I never had the chance to go, and before I knew it, years had passed...

These days I have relatively free time, so I decided this was the year, and I started by checking on Twitter how popular it was this season.

To eat Suzaku, you need to get a numbered ticket. What I wanted to know was what time I'd have to reach Obuse to get one.

I absolutely did not want to travel all the way to Nagano and miss out...!

So I scrolled through tweet after tweet about Obusedo.

Leaving at 2 a.m. would kill me. I'd like to avoid leaving in the middle of the night if at all possible (sob).

In the end, based on this tweet, I set the goal of leaving at 4 a.m. and arriving at 7, an hour and a half before opening!

I was determined to get up early that morning... but I couldn't, of course. Ugh.

I was so sleepy.

Between digging out an outdoor chair (for the long wait) and forgetting the ETC card (for highway tolls), we left way later than planned.

We arrived on a Friday morning at 8:40! Sob.

This is the shop. The chestnut-shaped logo is cute.

But look at the lot next to the shop (lol). It's full!

I figured there were a good 120 people in line, but a staff member said we were still fine, so I joined the line.

Numbered tickets had started going out at 8:30, so the line moved quickly and the chair never came out.

My husband was tired from the long drive that morning, so I had him wait in line at the neighboring shop, Entotsu.

Entotsu serves "Mont Blanc Suzaku," a Mont Blanc that is sort of a spin-off of Suzaku, so I launched my "two Mont Blancs in one day" plan.

The line for Entotsu tickets is separate, farther down this road.

Mont Blanc Suzaku is available year-round, so it isn't a limited item, but some people say "Mont Blanc Suzaku is even better than Suzaku," so it's worth checking out if you've come from far away!

After 15 minutes in the Suzaku line, my husband came back with a Mont Blanc Suzaku ticket in hand. Nice!

Apparently only about 20 people were in line for Mont Blanc Suzaku, so it was easy.

Yay! A ticket for a 10:00 seating!

I was worried about getting the Suzaku ticket before our 10:00 entry at Entotsu, but the line moved surprisingly fast and I got it in about an hour!

Ta-da! A ticket for a 14:00 seating!!

Still, I'd never had Mont Blanc at 10 in the morning (lol). Thinking of my blood sugar, I decided to browse the souvenirs first.

Chestnuts Everywhere!

The shop had been open only a few dozen minutes, and some items were already sold out.

I didn't buy the oshiruko (sweet red bean soup), but I want to try it next time!

It's fresh chestnut season, so I bought every fresh chestnut item I could.

The kuri-mushi (steamed chestnut sweet) and chestnut okowa (sticky rice) were freshly made, so I bought them for breakfast.

They were also selling roasted chestnuts outside the shop.

The chestnuts were as big as a child's hand, a size I'd never seen. Chestnut-ly amazing! (I just wanted to say that.)

I munched on the chestnut okowa while watching the chestnuts being roasted in a special machine.

The okowa was wonderfully chewy, and it came with ginger-soy pickles. So good!

Entotsu's "Mont Blanc Suzaku"

Before I knew it, it was 10:00 and we were seated at Entotsu! The interior has a modern feel.

The set came with a choice of drink, and I chose Nagano apple juice!

And here it is... Mont Blanc Suzaku!

It's huge! It's definitely three times the size of a convenience-store Mont Blanc (lol).

It comes with cacao sauce and cassis sauce, plus apple and grapes.

It looks incredibly sweet, but it's mild!!

If a convenience-store Mont Blanc is a 10 in sweetness, this is about a 7!

Inside there's whipped cream, candied chestnuts, caramelized almonds and more, and it was so good it disappeared in an instant.

Mont Blanc Suzaku is definitely in my top three Mont Blancs ever! (lol)

"Suzaku" at the Obusedo Main Shop

After we finished, we sightsaw around Obuse for a while, and then at 14:00 came the long-awaited Suzaku time.

We waited a while for our ticket number to be called...

We were shown to a tatami room.

Unlike Entotsu, it feels like an old traditional house turned into a tea room just as it was.

The chestnut painting was adorable, but the photo came out blurry (sob).

And this is the Suzaku I'd been waiting for!

Piles and piles of 1 mm-wide strands of 100% fresh chestnut paste (with almost no moisture) cover a chestnut filling hidden underneath.

obusedo-1

It crumbles softly when you scoop it with a spoon.

There's no sweetness at all. It truly tastes only of chestnut (lol).

It also soaks up all the moisture in your mouth, so you drink a lot of tea (refills of tea are free).

The chestnut filling in the middle is sweet, so eating them together gave just the right sweetness!

That said, I think I liked the kuri-mushi I bought as a souvenir even better. If I go again, I'd probably just have the Mont Blanc Suzaku (lol).

Either way, I got to fully enjoy the simple flavor of fresh chestnuts, so I'm thrilled!

For anyone planning to go, here's a summary.

  • "Suzaku" is sold for just one month each year, from mid-September to mid-October. In 2018 it ran until October 15!
  • "Mont Blanc Suzaku" is sold year-round, so the line isn't as long.
  • If you arrive on a weekday before tickets are handed out, you may be able to do both "Suzaku" and "Mont Blanc Suzaku" in one trip!
  • No phone reservations. You need to get a numbered ticket with a time on it.
  • When you get a ticket, you're asked the number of people and the number of orders (not everyone has to order).
  • As a rough guide, arriving at 8:40 on a sunny weekday morning got us a 14:00 ticket.
  • Sightseeing in Obuse takes about 2 to 3 hours.

    • Apparently the first person in line that day had been waiting since 9 p.m. the night before...

    It's all just incredible.

    As long as you wake up early, you can nap in the car or go sightseeing while you wait, so if you want to try Suzaku, do your best!

    Some of the chestnut sweets are also sold online, so if you're not a morning person, that's the way to go (lol).

    Yoko Born and raised in Tokyo, eaten my way through 58 countries. About me · Instagram

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