The path from China

Gyōza traces its roots to China’s jiaozi dumplings, which are thought to have originated during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), according to Hideaki Otsuka, a Tsukuba University researcher and expert on Chinese culture.

“Dried jiaozi (mummified jiaozi, so to speak) had been excavated from the ruins of Dunhuang. Scholars were surprised to learn that a food so similar to today’s jiaozi, with the typical features of the folded dumpling with pleats, a semicircular shape and pointed edges, was eaten in the Tang Dynasty (618-907),” he said in a lecture he delivered at a food culture seminar hosted by soy sauce manufacturer Kikkoman Corp.’s Tokyo headquarters.

Otsuka says an Edo Period (1603-1868) cookbook introduced three cooking methods for gyōza — deep-frying, pan-frying and steaming — but at the time it was still seen as a Chinese dish and was not a common food.

Chinese cuisine, including jiaozi, began to be served in the Chinatowns of Yokohama, Kobe and other cities during the Meiji Era (1868-1912), but gyōza’s status wasn’t elevated to that of “fast food of choice” until after World War II, when the repatriation of many Japanese from mainland China who were used to eating jiaozi sparked a gyōza boom. But whereas boiled jiaozi is common in China, its birthplace, pan-fried gyōza became the norm in Japan.

The first gyōza restaurant in Utsunomiya is believed to have opened near Utsunomiya Station in 1952, followed by the predecessor to famed gyōza chain Minmin. Other legendary gyōza houses that still serve to this day followed, including Masashi and Koran.

It’s unclear why gyōza shops concentrated in Utsunomiya, although it may have to do with how the city produces many of the dish’s essential ingredients of gyōza, including pork, flour, cabbage and chives. In any case, Utsunomiya residents embraced the dumplings — since 1987, when the then-Management and Coordination Agency began including foodstuff in its annual survey of consumer habits, the city has been repeatedly ranked as the nation’s top gyōza consumer despite the fact that the results excluded gyōza eaten in restaurants. The survey is based on average annual expenditure per household on ready-made gyōza bought and taken home from supermarkets and gyōza restaurants. That means if the figure included gyōza consumed at the numerous gyōza restaurants dotting the city, the number will likely be substantially higher.

“An Utsunomiya city official saw the stats and came up with a plan to promote gyōza as a tourist attraction,” says Hoshimi Kawazu, a spokeswoman for the Utsunomiya Gyoza Association, an organization formed in 1993 with 38 gyōza restaurants. The group became a cooperative association in 2001, and now boasts more than 90 gyōza eateries and manufacturers as members.

Until gyōza became Utsunomiya’s buzzword, the primary tourist draw was the Oya stone mine, Kawazu says, but the quarry that once supplied the Oya stone used for numerous structures in Japan collapsed in 1989, and the city needed an alternative attraction.

In 1993, a TV Tokyo variety show ran a series of programs on Utsunomiya’s love affair with gyōza. Coupled with the launch of an annual gyōza festival and the erection of the Venus of Gyōza statue in 1994, Utsunomiya and its culinary pride were soon pushed into the national spotlight.

Utsunomiya’s decades-long battle with rival Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, over the title of No. 1 gyōza-consuming city has also become an annual media event. Hamamatsu beat Utsunomiya in 2018, with households spending an average ¥3,501 annually on gyōza, compared to ¥3,241 in Utsunomiya.

“Until I moved to Utsunomiya 10 years ago, I wasn’t aware how much gyōza is a part of people’s lives,” Kawazu says. “I also think what distinguishes us from other regional revitalization projects is how we work hand in hand with the city office.”