Traditional Kyoto Agesenbei: Amashoyu (Sweet Soy), Prawn, Curry, Chocolate and Assorted Mini Senbei by Ogura Sanso

Living in Asia, I have been exposed to common rice crackers like Wang Wang as a kid, but I never took a liking to them... until recently when I tried this traditional Kyoto brand called Ogura Sansou. This is a premium traditional brand found in department stores that even my local Japanese contacts living in Kyoto would buy as gifts and omiyage for foreign friends, so it is authentic and trusted even by the locals.

My favourite is their classic flavour called Amashoyu, or Sweet Soy. But over the years, I tried many others, including prawn and curry, which comes in more than one variation. Their mini senbei assorted packs have very interesting flavours as well, such as purple sweet potato, honey, maple and Kyoto pepper, and even one variety pack that contains chocolate with rice crispies.

I go through the different flavours and packets below.

Traditional Amashoyu Agesenbei (sweet soy sauce flavour, Meigetsu series)

This is the one in the main photo above. It is sweet soy-sauce rice cracker, done in a traditional Kyoto style. Called amashouyu agesenbei. It is part of their classic Meigetsu series, which is their standard large-sized rice cracker that is between 3-4 inches in diameter. 

The salty and sweet flavour was greatly accented, permeating the entire cracker so that there was not a bland spot as I munched away. They probably used a really high quality shoyu that is well-aged as the flavour was very rich with a lot of umami, and it was not overly salty unlike the standard supermarket soy sauce brands.

As you can see in the photo, the glazing/seasoning is thick enough that the cracker shines with it.

The crunch is also excellent... it is firm and crunchy not just on the surface, but all the way through to the middle. This is in contrast to many smooth rice crackers I've tried which are kind of hollow in the middle. I think the cracks play a role in its texture and how the seasoning coats it too.

I acquired this from the Osaka Takashimaya @ Namba branch. Unlike the store's other products which are individually wrapped and gift-worthy, this came in a happy bulk-bag with a ziplock mechanism.

2026 Update: They updated their packaging to be prettier. The theme of the updated packaging is similar to the Curry flavour packaging below. The new individual wrapper for the Amashoyu flavour is in this pretty photo directly below. It is not a pure plastic wrapper, but seems to be a plastic coated Japanese paper (washi) wrapper which has a transluscent look and fine silvery white fibres (which are even more obvious in the curry one below). It makes it an even more exquisite gift.

Traditional Ebi Agesenbei (prawn rice cracker, Meigetsu series)

This is a large-sized Meigetsu cracker. While the prawn senbei was of high quality, with a good crunch and a strong prawn flavour, it somehow didn't strike me as anything unusual or unique. Nonetheless, I took pictures in case you were curious.

Just for info, Ogura Sansou has many branches in Kansai and a few in Nagoya, Kantou and Kyuushuu.

(Updated from original post on 1 Oct 2014.)

Curry Agesenbei (curry rice cracker, Ogura Meigetsu series)

This is quite a well-done curry senbei. I've tried other curry-flavoured crunchy snacks such as Twisties in Southeast Asia, but this curry flavour was a lot richer, complex and fuller.

Overall, the umami flavour came through very strongly, and was probably the key taste that makes it so satisfying in a hearty way. Similar to the amashoyu flavour, this curry seasoning also permeated the entire cracker, even though the middle visually looked a little whitish. (Like the white part of the little chip that cracked off, towards the bottom right of the photo above.)

In terms of the specific elements, it leaned more towards the Japanese flavour of curry, as can be expected, which is stronger on the tumeric, and some other umami ingredient although I am not sure what that is. 

It could be because they have a whole host of umami ingredients in their recipe not usually found in other curries, such as shoyu/soy sauce, katsuo extract (bonito), meat extract (which many other curry-flavoured snacks might neglect to add) and even apple, although that probably doesn't have umami.

This complex medley of ingredients and flavours balanced and carried the intense curry flavour very well.

I did not think it was spicy, which is expected of something catered to the Japanese palate.

The crunch was also perfect - there was no soggy part, airy part or overly hard part. It was evenly and pleasantly crunchy without any uncomfortable hard bits.

Finally, these are the photos of the individual wrapper (front and back), the large bag that contained 13 of these pieces, and the ingredients list (click to enlarge text). Check out the pretty Japanese paper and beautiful silver threads on the individual wrapper.

Karuta Hyakunin Isshu Decorative Box カルタ百人一首 化粧箱

(Purple Sweet Potato Rice Cracker, Honey Rice Cracker, Maple Rice Cracker, Curry Rice Cracker and Kyoto 7-Spice Rice Cracker)

For a really fun gift, they have this special cube box with individually wrapped mini senbei of all kinds of interesting flavours that rotate in availability throughout the seasons. The term karuta hyakunin isshu refers to a traditional Japanese card game, in which you must find matching cards belonging to the same poem, as the lines of the poems are split between more than 1 card. On the individual wrappers of each of these mini senbei, half a line of the poem is written, so I am assuming that if you bought a whole box, you could actually play the game before eating them. The official product page is here, where you can check what special flavours are available this season.

For the season during which I bought the box, I thought some of the more interesting flavours were, from top left going clockwise in all the photos: purple sweet potato, honey, maple, curry and Kyoto shichimi (traditional Japanese 7-spice blend, Kyoto-style). However, it seems that as of March 2026, they have swopped out purple sweet potato for burdock (gobo). Another interesting flavour that I tried but didn't manage to photograph is burnt cheese.

Overall, some of the flavours are easily recognisable and distinct, but not all, and they tend to be not as intense and satisfying in flavour or crunch because of their tiny size. Nonetheless, it was super fun to try all the different flavours to see how the chef translated it into a rice cracker form.

The purple sweet potato senbei had the distinct honey floral sweet potato notes with hints of earthy notes. It strangely tasted like Nestle Honey Stars breakfast cereal, perhaps because of the combination of honey and earthy notes, but it was more floral than Honey Stars.

The honey senbei was nothing special - it just tasted sweet, without the floral, fruity, nutty or earthy notes.

The maple senbei also wasn't distinct, and seemed like a normal shoyu seaweed senbei for some weird reason.

The Kyoto 7-spice was exquisite and possibly my favourite. It was very savoury, with a very fragrant and spicy sansho (Kyoto pepper) flavour, including hints of the prickly numbing spice. The most interesting senbei I have tried.

The curry senbei was exactly the same as the big Meigetsu version reviewed above.

It is a pity that they replaced the purple sweet potato senbei, as it was one of the more distinct flavours. Perhaps they should have swopped out the honey or maple senbei for the gobo one instead.

Ogura Mountain, Spring & Autumn をぐら山春秋

(Arare & Chocolate Baked Type あられ&ショコラ ベイクドタイプ)

(assorted bite sized crackers and baked chocolate with rice crispies)

The baked chocolate rice crackers were another interesting variety. This is different from baking chocolate, but rather a Japanese confectionery that achieves a cookie-like crust on the outside with a chocolate-like interior upon baking, so you not only get the contrast of textures but also enjoy a type of chocolate that doesn't melt in your hands. (I featured other brands of baked chocolate in this post on Henri Charpentier's Assorted Pastries and Quolofune's Novotile.)

This variety pack was a combination of their normal assorted flavours of rice crackers (including the purple sweet potato senbei as you can see) along with 3 pieces of baked chocolate in milk chocolate, white chocolate and matcha flavours. 

Their baked chocolate was similar to other baked chocolates in texture, like a fudge brownie baked until the outside is slightly firm and cookie-like. But these were not quite crispy on the outside. Just firm. And on the inside, it was like a crumbly fudge texture (as you can see from the photo above). 

The respective flavours of white chocolate, milk chocolate and matcha were quite decent - average in their intensity and flavour profile, but they did not come across as artificial like the chocolates you purchase in the supermarket or the convenience store.

As for why a rice cracker specialist is selling this? Well, actually the link seems tenuous because it was mostly baked chocolate, BUT, there were small bits of rice crispies inside, which are the pearly-looking spheres you see more obviously in the milk chocolate one. They were decently crispy but also very slightly soggy, however, so I did not think it was a good product to purchase from them. If you really want baked chocolate, I highly recommend Henri Charpentier or Quolofune Novotile as mentioned in the other post.

Here's a photo of the packet it came in.

Since the baked chocolate is an unusual confectionery, I include the full ingredients list from their website below, translated into English by Google. Do note that this is for all the items in the packet, so it includes the rice crackers as well. It is an incredibly long list, but I suspect the main ones are probably either the chocolate or the chocolate coating. I doubt there is pie crust in this, thankfully so since that contains margarine.

Japanese:

チョコレートコーチング（砂糖、植物油脂、乳糖、全粉乳、加工油脂、脱脂粉乳、ココアパウダー、ココアバター）（国内製造、ベルギー製造）、チョコレート（砂糖、ココアバター、全粉乳、乳糖、脱脂粉乳、カカオマス、植物油脂）、パイシート（小麦粉、マーガリン、ココアパウダー、アーモンド、砂糖、食塩）、うるち米、もち米、準チョコレート（植物油脂、砂糖、全粉乳、ココアパウダー、カカオマス、ココアバター）、脱脂粉乳、五穀あられ（米粉、うるち米、もち麦粉、黒米粉、赤米粉、緑米粉）、植物油脂、砂糖、米粉、アーモンド、ごま、醤油、抹茶、味噌、シラップ、紫芋ペースト、赤ワイン、紫芋粉、食塩、発酵調味料、七味唐辛子、麦芽エキスパウダー、蜂蜜、みりん、醤油もろみ、でん粉、かつおぶしエキス、椎茸エキス、昆布エキス、ガーリックパウダー、白こしょうパウダー／乳化剤、香料、増粘剤（加工でん粉）、調味料（アミノ酸等）、着色料（カラメル）、香辛料、酸味料、甘味料（ステビア、カンゾウ）、（一部に卵・乳成分・小麦・ごま・さば・大豆・アーモンドを含む）

English:

Chocolate coating (sugar, vegetable oil, lactose, whole milk powder, processed oil, skim milk powder, cocoa powder, cocoa butter) (domestically produced, produced in Belgium), chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, lactose, skim milk powder, cocoa mass, vegetable oil), pie crust (wheat flour, margarine, cocoa powder, almonds, sugar, salt), non-glutinous rice, glutinous rice, semi-chocolate (vegetable oil, sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa powder, cocoa mass, cocoa butter), skim milk powder, five-grain rice crackers (rice flour, non-glutinous rice, glutinous barley flour, black rice flour, red rice flour, green rice flour), vegetable oil, sugar, rice flour, almonds, sesame, soy sauce, matcha, miso, syrup, purple sweet potato paste, red wine, purple sweet potato powder, salt, fermented seasoning, shichimi chili pepper, malt extract powder, honey, mirin, soy sauce mash, starch, bonito extract, shiitake mushroom extract, kelp extract, garlic powder, white pepper powder / emulsifier, flavoring, thickener (modified starch), seasoning (amino acids, etc.), coloring (caramel), spices, acidulant, sweetener (stevia, licorice), (contains egg, milk ingredients, wheat, sesame, mackerel, soybeans, and almonds)

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