Few weeks ago, I wanted to introduce a very special place to my friends from Futatabi who are back to Japan now! They love dango as much as me, so Habutae was the perfect spot to eat some while gazing at a cute small Japanese garden through a window. Less than 5 minutes walk from Nippori station, an oasis of calm where time seems to slow down…

However, this haven of peace does no longer exist in this world. It literally broke my heart to realize that the building had actually been completely destroyed. I felt shocked; my hands were shaking… I couldn’t realize that the place became a big construction site. I hoped I was wrong and couldn’t remember clearly where Habutae was so I checked the whole street in details… Unfortunately, I didn’t forget where the store was and it really disappeared…

So today, where you can now find a pile of rubble, the dango store Habutae saw the light of the day in 1819. The place has been rebuilt 3 times before, but inside of the store, they kept a part of the first store (stairs and some walls) and few artifacts exhibited in glass cases. It felt like a window on the past.
Many Japanese writers and intellectuals often came here: Shiki Masaoka, Okakura Tenshin and even Natsume Sōseki who was inspired for his book I am a cat. Few years ago, the store started to offer dango sets named after the famous customers and composed by what they used to choose here.
I remember going there usually after a long walk, starving like never, to get the “Masaoka Shiki Manroku Set” (4 dango : 1 grilled and 3 azuki). I heard once from the staff that Shiki Masaoka himself could easily eat 4 dango even if he was sick and bedridden. One of my friend really had a thing for the “Okakura Tenshin Tozen Set” (cold sake and 2 grilled dango) and went there 2 times a month to enjoy it!

I really loved the dango here, the texture was just perfect… It was made from an exclusively Japanese selection of the finest rice. The azuki dango were not too sweet and the taste of the grilled ones was perfectly balanced. But I also came here for the atmosphere, for the cute Japanese garden, for the emotions that the place gave me.
I keep nice memories of relaxing here, getting lost in my own thoughts. I may sound weird but in a certain way, knowing Sōseki really liked this place and came quite often, I felt like « sharing » something with him.

Few months ago, I went there again to get a light oyatsu (snack) before a stroll in Yanesen. I didn’t take that much pictures of this place, but I want to share some of them with you. They are not so beautiful as I didn’t shoot them on purpose for sharing on blog or SNS… I hope you will like them though.

I wanted to show you a little bit more so I’m sharing few pictures from Gonzo Shouts (these pictures are exclusively belonging to Gonzo Shouts, please don’t use it or share it without credits).

  source: gonzo shouts

If the flagship disappeared, Habutae itself, still exists and opened another store, less than one minute walking distance from Nippori station. After checking their official website, apparently they destroyed the building to re-built a beautiful new one at the same place ; it will open in 2019.
I understand that we can’t keep buildings in the same state if it becomes dangerous but until now the flagship has been reorganized and miraculously escaped from WWII firebombing air raids and great Kanto earthquake, so I felt it was kind of sad to just completely destroy it… At the beginning I was really upset over the demolition, but now I just feel like I’ll miss the times I went there to relax, closing my eyes and almost feeling like I was time traveling. However, I’m really wondering how they are going to rebuilt it… I’m hoping they will display again the artifacts of the old building.
I’ll probably visit the flagship for the re-opening and even maybe share it here!

You can still give a try to their amazing dango at their most recent store.

HABUTAE1819 日暮里駅前 (Nippori ekimae)
Address: 6 Chome−60-61, Higashi-nippori, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 
(東京都荒川区東日暮里6-60-6)
Phone: 03-5850-3451
10:00〜18:00