Kyoto's cinnamon-and-rice sweet, sold both baked-crisp and raw as soft nama-yatsuhashi filled with red-bean paste. The city's most-photographed souvenir.
Yatsuhashi takes its name from a 17th-century Kyoto composer of the koto, Yatsuhashi Kengyo. The original baked-crisp form dates to the 1680s in Higashiyama. The soft, cinnamon-dusted nama-yatsuhashi filled with sweet azuki paste is the 20th-century evolution, codified by Honke Nishio and Otabe in the 1960s. Today every souvenir tier of Kyoto Station Porta basement is stacked with yatsuhashi boxes in cinnamon, matcha, sakura and yuzu variants.
3 editor picks for Yatsuhashi in Kyoto, ranked by editorial score. All Kyoto signature dishes · Yatsuhashi across every city.
JR Kyoto Isetan Depachika ★ 4.4
kyoto-station · Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8555, Japan
The depachika basement of JR Kyoto Isetan, two underground floors of bento, wagashi, sashimi and sweets at Kyoto Station; the city's pre-shinkansen pantry.
Daimaru Kyoto Depachika ★ 4.3
karasuma-kawaramachi · Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8511, Japan
Daimaru Kyoto's depachika basement on Shijo-dori, 70-plus counters of wagashi, bento, sashimi and sake. The downtown alternative to JR Kyoto Isetan.
Porta Underground Shopping ★ 4.0
kyoto-station · Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8216, Japan
The underground passage below Kyoto Station, 120 food and shop counters running from JR to Karasuma Subway. Ramen counters, ekibens and the chain quick lunch.