The adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) is a small, glossy, russet-red East Asian legume prized for a sweetness and nutty, faintly chestnut-like flavour unusual among beans. Long cultivated in China, Japan, Korea and the wider region — where it ranks second only to the soybean in importance — it is most famous boiled with sugar and mashed into anko, the sweet red bean paste that fills mochi, dorayaki, manju, taiyaki and countless other confections. Beyond the dessert table it colours and flavours the festive red-bean rice sekihan, thickens soups and porridges, and is eaten whole or sprouted; its small size, thin skin and natural sugar let it cook down soft and smooth far more readily than larger Western beans.