Dorayaki is a baked confectionery made by mixing wheat flour with eggs and sugar, then sandwiching bean paste between two fluffy pancake-like skins. The most widely accepted theory about the origin of the name is that its shape resembles a gong, a percussion instrument.

Another alternative theory is that when Musashibo Benkei injured his hand and received treatment at a local home, he gave him a token of appreciation by dissolving wheat flour in water, rolling it out thinly, drawing it over a heated gong, and then wrapping bean paste in the dough, which was then baked, and serving it to the public.

By the way, in the Edo period essay "Kiyu Shoran," there is a passage that says, "Today's dorayaki is also called kintsuba-yaki."

"The name "dora" originally referred to the large size of the instrument, which resembled a gold drum. However, today it is smaller and is called a "kintsuba."

It also says, "Dorayaki and kintsuba, which are now made with completely different ingredients and have completely different flavors, were once the same thing, and the larger ones were called dorayaki and the smaller ones were called kintsuba."

Furthermore, Edo period dorayaki did not contain eggs and were made by wrapping bean paste in a single wheat flour skin and folding it into a square, allowing the bean paste to be visible from the sides, so it is speculated that their appearance was similar to modern-day kintsuba.
It is said that it was around the end of the Meiji period or into the Taisho period that it became customary to sandwich bean paste between castella dough made with eggs, as is done today.

In the Kansai region, dorayaki is known as "Mikasa" or "Mikasa-yaki." This name comes from the name of Abe no Nakamaro, one of the "Hundred Heads"

"Looking back at the heavens, I see the moon rising over Mount Mikasa in Kasuga."

It is said that the name comes from the full moon that appears over Mt. Mikasa in Nara, or from its likeness to Mt. Mikasa.

It is also fascinating to imagine, from the delicious, fluffy dorayaki, musical instruments producing stately, rich sounds, and the majestic mountain scenery towering over the hometown that this great poet longed for.