The recipe is based on that for nanrakukan (a sweet made by drying the kneaded mixture of wheat flour or rice flour and starch syrup and fat, which is said to have originated from the western and central Asia and to have subsequently been introduced to China in the Yuan Dynasty era) produced in the Ming Dynasty era in China; the nanrakukan was introduced to Japan in the Muromachi period through the Japan-Ming trade (the trade between Japan and the Ming Dynasty in China) and became popular along with the rise of the tea ceremony.
製法は明時代の中国における軟落甘（小麦粉・米粉を水飴や脂肪で練り固めて乾燥させた菓子。西～中央アジアに由来するといわれ、元(王朝)時代に中国に伝来した）に基づき、室町時代に日明貿易で伝わり、茶道の勃興によって広まった。