Oiwake Dango

The Shinjuku district of Tokyo is famed for its metropolitan bustle and neon-lit nightlife, but that doesn’t mean it lacks historical charms. Not only is it home to quaint imperial gardens, but also a teahouse that dates back centuries.

The story goes that, in 1455, samurai lord Ota Dokan stopped by in the town of Takaido on the outskirts of present-day Tokyo and was served dango dumplings at a local teahouse called Yanagi Chaya. He liked the dango so much that he would return there afterwards.

Years later, the town became the starting point of the Koshu-kaido road, bringing more and more people to the teahouse. Following the expansion of the road, the teahouse relocated to the oiwake of Shinjuku in 1698; oiwake means “fork in the road” while Shinjuku literally means “new post station.”

Oiwake Dango was nearly lost at some point in time, but, in 1947, a new teahouse called Yanagi-ya opened at Shinjuku-oiwake and set out to bring it back into limelight, inheriting the historic name and taste. Today, Oiwake Dango has again become a highly-esteemed, if a little obscure, specialty of Tokyo.