is traditional Japanese confectionery, typically made using plant-based ingredients and with an emphasis on seasonality. Wagashi generally makes use of cooking methods that pre-date Western influence in Japan. It is often served with green tea.

Most of today's wagashi was born during the Edo period (1603–1868). This was a period of peace, economic and cultural prosperity, and increased domestic self-sufficiency in sugar.

During the Edo period, a type of wagashi called were made by kneading white bean paste, gyūhi, sugar, yams, and other ingredients, and formed into various colors and shapes based on seasonal flowers, animals, nature, events, customs, and other themes.

Definition

thumb|A bowl of [[matcha tea on a lacquered tray with wagashi]]

In Japan, the word for sweets or confectionery, , originally referred to fruits and nuts. Fruits and nuts may be eaten as snacks between meals and served as "sweets" during a tea ceremony.

In 1603, the first year of the Edo period (1603–1868), the term meant both confectionery and fruit, and was more commonly used to refer to fruit. For example, the Japanese-Portuguese dictionary of the time describes "quaxi" (菓子) as "fruit, especially fruit eaten after a meal." The term , which is used to refer to fruit today, is a remnant of the same term.

History

Before the Edo period

Jomon to Nara periods

It is believed that the first food eaten as a confection in Japan was a processed food from the Jomon period.

During the Yayoi period, were made from grain or rice flour. The udon was also very different from today's udon, more like wonton. (餛飩).

Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods

thumb|[[Castella|Kastera]]

During the Sengoku period, the Portuguese brought Western confectionery to Japan through the Nanban trade. is a typical confection based on these Western confections. Kasutera was the only exception because it was made from chicken eggs, while Japanese confectionery was made from vegetable ingredients. As trade increased, so did sugar imports. The prototype of was also brought to Japan through trade with Portugal and Spain.

From the Sengoku period to the Azuchi-Momoyama period, wagashi developed along with the Japanese tea ceremony, and delicate, beautiful, and aesthetically pleasing confections began to emerge. The Japanese tea ceremony was used as a secret meeting place for and as a salon for the upper class. Yatsuhashi is still a popular souvenir today, and according to a survey conducted by the city of Kyoto in 2022, 89.2% of Japanese tourists visiting Kyoto bought souvenirs, of which 10.7% bought Yatsuhashi.

Ame and amezaiku

thumb|[[Amezaiku in the shape of a goldfish]]

During this time, became popular with the common people. The ingredients of common people's sweets were often inexpensive grain-derived sweeteners rather than expensive sugar. The traditional Japanese scissors were indispensable for the production of amezaiku, and when the production of iron increased dramatically with the invention of the balance bellows in iron manufacturing (たたら製鉄), the production of scissors also increased, contributing to the production of amezaiku. During the Bunka (1804–1818) and Bunsei era (1818–1830), it was possible to obtain amezaiku with the same shape as today's amezaiku.

Japan's modernization and beyond

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During the Meiji era (1868–1912), when Japan began active trade with the West after the end of its , Western cooking utensils were brought to Japan. With the advent of the

modern oven, many baked confections such as and were born. is a very popular souvenir of Kyoto. According to a survey conducted by the City of Kyoto in 2022, 89.2% of Japanese tourists who visited Kyoto bought souvenirs, of which 31.6% bought Nama yatsuhashi.

In 2014, a wagashi shop in Yamanashi Prefecture created a from and water. The popularity of this wagashi has spread outside of Japan, and derivative products have been created.

Types

thumb|Hotaru (firefly) wagashi

thumb|A plate of six wagashi

thumb|Wagashi served with [[matcha tea]]

  • Akumaki: one of the confections of Kagoshima Prefecture
  • Anmitsu: chilled agar jelly cubes (kanten) served with sweet red bean paste and fruit
  • Amanattō: simmered azuki beans or other beans with sugar, and dried—amanattō and nattō are not related, although the names are similar.
  • Botamochi: a sweet rice ball wrapped with anko (or an, thick azuki bean paste)
  • Daifuku: general term for mochi (pounded sweet rice) stuffed with anko
  • Dango: a small, sticky, sweet Japanese dumpling, commonly skewered on a stick
  • Domyoji: wagashi made with anko (red beans) wrapped in sticky rice
  • Dorayaki: a round, flat sweet consisting of castella wrapped around anko
  • Gokabou: a sweetened cake made of rice and mixed with sugar
  • Hanabiramochi: a flat, red and white, sweet mochi wrapped around anko and a strip of candied gobo (burdock), shaped like a flower petal
  • Ikinari dango: a steamed bun with a chunk of sweet potato and anko in the center, it is a local confectionery in Kumamoto.
  • Imagawayaki (also kaitenyaki): anko surrounded in a disc of fried dough covering
  • Kompeito: crystal sugar candy
  • Kusa mochi: "grass" mochi, a sweet mochi infused with Japanese mugwort (yomogi), surrounding a center of anko
  • Kuzumochi
  • Kuri kinton: a sweetened mixture of boiled and mashed chestnuts
  • Manjū: steamed cakes of an surrounded by a flour mixture, available in many shapes such as peaches, rabbits, and matsutake (松茸) mushrooms
  • Mochi: a rice cake made of glutinous rice
  • Monaka: a center of anko sandwiched between two delicate and crispy sweet rice crackers
  • Oshiruko (also zenzai): a hot dessert made from anko in a liquid, soup form, with small mochi floating in it
  • Rakugan: a small, very solid and sweet cake which is made of rice flour and mizuame
  • Sakuramochi: a rice cake filled with anko and wrapped in a pickled cherry leaf
  • Taiyaki: like a imagawayaki, a core of anko surrounded by a fried dough covering, but shaped like a fish
  • Uirō: a steamed cake made of rice flour and sugar, similar to mochi
  • Warabimochi: traditionally made from warabi and served with kinako and kuromitsu
  • Yatsuhashi: thin sheets of gyūhi (sweetened mochi), available in different flavors, like cinnamon, and occasionally folded in a triangle around a ball of red anko
  • Yōkan: one of the oldest wagashi, a solid block of anko, hardened with agar and additional sugar
  • Yubeshi
  • Karukan
  • Kurobo

Classification

There are several ways to classify wagashi, including classification by moisture content, ingredients, and production method.

The most common classification method is based on moisture content, which is very important because it affects shelf life.

According to this classification, sweets with a moisture content of 30% or more are classified as , those with a moisture content of 10% to 30% are classified as , and those with a moisture content of less than 10% are classified as .

When classified by production method, each type of wagashi is classified as neri mono, which is made by kneading ingredients; mushi mono, which is made by steaming; yaki mono, which is made by baking; age mono, which is made by frying; nagashi mono, which is made by pouring ingredients into a mold; uchi mono, which is made by mixing powdered ingredients and sugar into a mold and then hardening the mixture; kake mono, which is made by pouring syrup over the ingredients; and ame mono, which is made by boiling down the sugar and hardening it, and so on.

  • (steamed confectionery)
  • (baked confectionery)
  • (Flat pan baked confectionery)
  • (oven　baked confectionery)
  • (fried confectionery)
  • (half-wet confectionery)—contains 10%–30% moisture
  • (baked confectionery)
  • (Flat pan baked confectionery)
  • (oven　baked confectionery)
  • (dry confectionery)—contains 10% or less moisture
  • (baked confectionery)
  • (candy confectionery)

See also

  • Chinese desserts – Chinese confections
  • Hangwa – Korean confections
  • Bánh – Vietnamese sweet or savoury snacks and confections
  • Turkish delight – Turkish confections
  • Sugar in Japan
  • List of Japanese desserts and sweets
  • List of Japanese snacks

References

General references

Inline citations

  • Japan Wagashi Association
  • Video of how it is made at YouTube