Hiyayakko facts for kids

This is Hiyayakko! It often has green onion, dried tuna flakes, and soy sauce on top.

Hiyayakko (pronounced Hee-yah-yah-koh) is a yummy Japanese dish. It's made with tofu that has been chilled, or made cold. People add different tasty toppings to it.

What Goes on Top?

Hiyayakko often has dried tuna flakes, grated ginger, and chopped green onion on top.

The toppings for Hiyayakko can be different depending on who is making it. Many families and restaurants have their own favorite combinations. A very common way to enjoy it is with chopped green onion, katsuobushi (which are thin flakes of dried skipjack tuna), and soy sauce.

But there are lots of other delicious things you can add! Some popular toppings include:

• Perilla leaves (a type of herb)
• Yuzu rind (from a citrus fruit)
• Daikon radish (a mild, white radish)
• Sliced myoga ginger (a special kind of ginger)
• Grated ginger
• Sliced okra (a green vegetable)
• Plum paste
• Mustard

The Story Behind the Name

This symbol is called the "nail-puller crest" (Kuginuki mon).

Hiyayakko is sometimes called hiyakko or yakko-dōfu. The word hiya means "cold" in Japanese. The word yakko has an interesting history!

During a time in Japan called the Edo period, there were special servants who worked for samurai. These servants were called yakko. They wore vests with a unique symbol on their shoulders. This symbol looked like a "nail-puller" tool.

Because of this, when something was cut into neat cubes, it was called "cutting into yakko." So, Hiyayakko means "cold tofu cut into cubes."

There's another idea about the name too. In the Tokyo area, people used to say "Hiyakkoi" or "hyakkoi" to mean "cold." This is similar to the standard Japanese word "hiyayaka" (cold). So, the name might also come from this old way of saying "cold."

In a famous old book about tofu called Tofu Hyakuchin, Hiyayakko was already so well-known that the book said it didn't need any introduction!

Hiyayakko is also a special "season word" (called a kigo) in haiku poems. It's used to represent summer. This is because people often enjoy cold tofu dishes like Hiyayakko when the weather is warm. In winter, tofu is usually eaten warm in soups.