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{{Short description|Japanese filled sweet bun}}
{{Italic title}}{{Infobox food
| name             = Anpan
| image            = Anpan 001.jpg
| image_size       = 300px
| caption          = 
| alternate_name   = 
| country          = [[Japan]]
| region           =[[Ginza]], [[Tokyo]] 
| creator          = Yasubei Kimura
| course           = [[Dessert]]
| type             = [[Sweet roll]]
| served           = 
| main_ingredient  = [[Red bean paste]]
| variations       = 
| calories         = 
| other            = 
}}
[[Image:Ginza kimuraya Bread.jpg|thumb|Kimuraya in [[Ginza]]]]

{{Nihongo|'''''Anpan'''''|あんパン|extra={{ruby-ja|{{wikt-lang|ja|餡}}|あん}}パン}} is a Japanese [[sweet roll]], most commonly filled with [[red bean paste]]. Anpan can also be prepared with other fillings, including white beans (''shiro-an''), green beans (''uguisu-an''), [[sesame]] (''goma-an''), and [[chestnut|chestnuts]] (''kuri-an'').

==History==

Anpan was first made in 1875, during the [[Meiji period]], by {{ill|Yasubei Kimura|ja|木村安兵衛}} (木村安兵衛 ''Kimura Yasubei''), a [[samurai]] who lost his job with the rise of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] and the [[Abolition of the han system|dissolution of the samurai as a social class]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Nakayama |first=Keiko |date=2006 |title=Encyclopedia: World of Wagashi| isbn=978-4000803076}}</ref> The Meiji era was a period in which Japan was becoming increasingly modernized, and many samurai who lost their jobs were given work that was totally new to them. The role of a [[baker]] was one such job.

One day, while wandering around the area where many employed in new jobs worked, Kimura found a young man making bread, and decided to start his own [[bakery]], named Bun'eidō (文英堂). In 1874, he moved to [[Ginza]] and renamed the bakery [[Kimuraya]] (木村屋), now Kimuraya Sohonten ([[:ja:木村屋總本店]]). At that time, however, the only recipe for bread known in Japan was for making a salty and sour-tasting bread, ill-suited to Japanese tastes at the time. Kimura thus figured out how to make bread akin to ''[[manjū]]'', raising the dough with traditional ''sakadane'' liquid [[yeast]]. He then filled the bread with a bean paste ''[[wagashi]]'' and sold the resulting rolls as snacks. Anpan became popular not only because of its taste, but also because the Japanese were interested in anything new and foreign at that time.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

[[Emperor Meiji]] and [[Empress Shōken]] later acquired a fondness for anpan after Kimura, via chamberlain [[Yamaoka Tesshū]], prepared it for them to eat during ''[[hanami]]''. Concerned with their appearance, he decorated them with a salt-pickled [[Cherry blossom|sakura]] in the middle of each bun. These anpan were presented to the emperor and empress on April 4, 1875, after which the emperor requested anpan from Kimura on a regular basis. Because of its newfound association with royalty, the popularity of anpan, and bread as a whole, increased throughout Japan.{{citation needed|date=February 2013}}

==In popular culture==
"Anpan" is often used as slang for [[Inhalant|recreational inhalation]] of [[paint thinner]].<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=x6CXShcyrDAC&q=anpan+drug+slang&pg=PA176 |title = Japanese Slang: Uncensored | first = Peter | last = Constantine |date= 1994-06-15 |isbn = 9784900737037 | access-date= 2011-10-31}}</ref>

The picture book and [[anime]] series ''[[Anpanman]]'' is about a [[superhero]] whose head is made of anpan.

The anime and picture book character [[Kogepan]] is an anthropomorphized burned anpan.<ref>{{cite web |title=焦げて、やさぐれて、後向き……人気キャラクター「こげぱん」約15年ぶり新刊発売 |url=https://realsound.jp/book/2021/04/post-740353.html |website=Real Sound｜リアルサウンド ブック |access-date=26 August 2025 |language=ja |date=12 April 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{Commons category|Anpan}}
{{reflist}}
* {{Citation | url = http://www.kimuraya-sohonten.co.jp/ | title = Kimuraya Sohonten | language = ja | access-date = 21 March 2006}}.
* {{Citation | url = http://www.shejapan.com/jtyeholder/jtye/living/anpan/anpan1.html | title = The Birth of Anpan | publisher = She Japan | access-date = 21 March 2006}}.

{{Bread}}
{{Japanese bread}}
{{Japanese food and drink}}

[[Category:Japanese breads]]
[[Category:Japanese desserts and sweets]]
[[Category:Sweet breads]]
[[Category:Legume desserts]]