Domestication of the adzuki bean (vigna angularis) involved the transformation of a small, wild legume into a widely cultivated crop valued for its nutritional content, ease of storage, and cultural significance especially in China, Korea, and Japan

It is cooked whole or as sweetened red bean paste in traditional dishes and desserts

Archaeological remains of domesticated adzuki beans have been from Peiligang neolithic sites and Jomon period sites
Evidence domesticated more than 10k years ago. (1)

Through selective cultivation, ancient farmers developed beans with:
Small or larger seed size; high (seeds scatter) Low (easier harvest) seed shatter; vine-like, sprawling growth habit; seed coat hardness (softer easier cooking); and, Seed yield.
These changes made the plant more productive, easier to harvest, and more useful as a reliable food source.

It can be eaten boiled or ground, often paired with rice or millet
It can also be crushed into a paste, as used in traditional sweets.

Because they store well and cook relatively easily, the beans were ideal for subsistence farming and ceremonial use
Providing a protein-rich, plant-based food source.

Deeply woven into the cuisine, medicine, and rituals of prehistoric and neolithic Asiatic cultures. Adzuki, 小 豆 , or red beans are still a major food crop and cultural staple. Check them out with some more neolithic architecture today!

Cite: 1) Takahashi Y, Nasu H, Nakayama S, et al. (2023). “Domestication of azuki bean and soybean in Japan: From the insight of archeological and molecular evidence” (https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/
article/jsbbs/73/2/73_22074/_html/-char/en). Breeding Science. 73 (2): 117–131. doi:10.1270/
jsbbs.22074 (https://doi.org/10.1270%2Fjsbbs.22074). PMC 10316305 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10316305). PMID 37404345 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37404345)

Bibliography: Yamaguchi H (1992). “Wild and Weed Azuki Beans in Japan”. Economic Botany. 46 (4): 384–Y (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992EcBot..46..384Y).
doi:10.1007/bf02866509 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fbf02866509). S2CID 22975059 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:22975059)

Kaga A, Isemura T, Tomooka N, et al. (2008). “The Genetics of Domestication of the Azuki Bean (Vigna angularis)” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2248364). Genetics.
178 (2): 1013–1036. doi:10.1534/genetics.107.078451 (https://doi.org/10.1534%2Fgenetics.10
7.078451). PMC 2248364 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2248364).
PMID 18245368 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18245368).

Kang YJ (2015). “Draft sequence of adzuki bean, Vigna angularis” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go
v/pmc/articles/PMC5389050). Scientific Reports. 5 (8069): 8069. doi:10.1038/srep08069 (http
s://doi.org/10.1038%2Fsrep08069). PMC 5389050 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P
MC5389050). PMID