Benkyo-do Company 1747 Buchanan Street Type: Confectionery Established: 1906 www.benkyodocompany.com/

Benkyo-do Company is one of Japantown's original businesses, which has existed in two known locations within Japantown since 1906. Founded by Suyeichi Okamura (born in Kagoshima, Japan, in 1886), the business was originally located on Geary Street and remained there through 1940. During World War II, the Okamura family was detained at Amache internment camp in Colorado. When the Okamuras returned to San Francisco’s Japantown after interment, they reestablished Benkyo-do Co. near the corner of Geary and Buchanan streets. A few years later, in 1959, the business moved to its current location during a time of major neighborhood reorganization that occurred as a result of federally funded urban renewal. Shortly after moving into the current building, the business was passed to Hirofumi Okamura, son of the founder. Hirofumi, also known as “Hippo,” operated the business for 30 years before passing it to his sons, Bobby and Ricky Okamura, who have run the business since 1990.



Initially known as the Benkyodo Candy Factory, the business has always specialized in the manufacturing of the Japanese confections, mochi, and manju. Today, it is the last remaining manufacturer of these traditional Japanese foods in San Francisco and the oldest of two such manufacturers in the Bay Area. The company produces several hundred pieces of mochi and manju a day in 15 different varieties, using a traditional handmade method that was brought to the U.S. in 1906. The shop at the front of the building features a bakery counter where the mochi and manju are sold, as well as a lunch counter that serves Japanese American fare. The shop has been a local gathering place throughout its history and has also become an attraction to Japanese tourists, who come to enjoy traditional handmade Japanese desserts that are becoming less common in Japan as tastes turn toward Western cuisine. Benkyo-do Co. is one of the last remaining Issei (first generation) founded businesses in Japantown; the only others to remain active are believed to be Soko Hardware and Toraya Restaurant.



The building that houses Benkyo-do Co. was constructed in 1958 and contained both a shop and residence to house the business and its owners. The International-style building was designed by Kazuo Goto, a Japanese American architect based in Berkeley, and was constructed by S. Handa Sons, a building and carpentry business active in the Japantown neighborhood. Original architectural plans show that the building was specifically designed for the business it houses. The first floor contains senbei and mochi rooms as well as a shop space. (Senbei are a type of Japanese cracker, while mochi are rice cakes, often filled with ice cream, bean paste, or other sweets. Manju is a derivation of mochi filled with red bean paste.) The senbei and mochi rooms are called out specifically in the architectural drawings for the building, along with the equipment and stations necessary to the manufacturing processes. The senbei room includes space for the machine that bakes the crackers. The mochi room features a space for the usu, the wood or stone mortar used to pound rice into a paste; areas for sei-ros, the large rectangular metal or bamboo steamers where mochi and manju are cooked; and a kama space for the large cast-iron pots used to cook bean paste or heat water for tea. The mochi room also has a grinding space, press space, oven, work table, and floors sloped for drainage. The second floor of the building was designed as the Okamura family residence and featured a sitting room, three bedrooms, a family room, a dining room, a laundry room, a kitchen, and a small deck. The Benkyo-do Co. building was constructed during an important time in the history of Japantown’s physical and cultural development, when Nikkei who were still stabilizing their cultural community after war-time internment were faced with imminent urban redevelopment. The Benkyo-do Co. building may be seen as both a functional resource and as a symbol of mid-century Nikkei values associated with modernization, permanence, and the continuation of a culturally significant historic business. Its construction was related to the events of post-World War II Japanese American resettlement, to the physical redevelopment of the Western Addition, and to the history of the Japantown cultural community.



