Food & Drink
Wagashi
和菓子わがしwagashiBean paste, rice and the seasons in miniature
Wagashi are traditional Japanese confections, made mainly from sweet bean paste, rice flour, glutinous rice, agar and sugar. Shaped to reflect the seasons and closely tied to the tea ceremony, they range from everyday rice dumplings to delicate works of craft.
The word wagashi was coined in the Meiji era to distinguish Japanese sweets from Western yōgashi. The tradition behind it is much older: rice cakes and fruit were the first 'sweets', Chinese confections arrived with Buddhist monks, and sugar, long an expensive import, became more widely available in the Edo period, when Kyoto and Edo confectioners developed the refined sweets seen today.
Wagashi rarely use dairy or fats. Their sweetness comes from bean paste and sugar, and their appeal from texture and form: a single fresh sweet for the tea ceremony may represent a camellia bud, autumn leaves on water or the first snow, and carries a poetic name.
Ingredients
Most wagashi are built on anko, a paste of azuki beans cooked with sugar. Smooth koshian is sieved to remove the skins, while chunky tsubuan keeps whole beans. White bean paste (shiroan) made from white beans is the base for coloured and shaped sweets. Glutinous rice and rice flours provide chewy mochi and dumplings, and kanten (agar from seaweed) sets jellies such as yōkan.
Anko
餡子ankoSweet azuki bean paste, smooth (koshian) or chunky (tsubuan).
Mochi
餅mochiSteamed glutinous rice pounded into a soft, elastic cake.
Kanten
寒天kantenAgar made from red algae, used to set jellies.
- 和三盆wasanbon
Fine-grained traditional sugar from Kagawa and Tokushima, used for pressed dry sweets.
Fresh, semi-dry and dry sweets
Wagashi are classified by their moisture content. Namagashi, fresh sweets, contain the most water and must be eaten on the day they are made; the finest are the seasonal jōnamagashi of the tea ceremony. Higashi, dry sweets, keep for weeks and are served with thin tea. Han-namagashi lie in between.
Nerikiri
練り切りnerikiriWhite bean paste kneaded with a little mochi, coloured and shaped by hand into flowers and seasonal motifs.
Daifuku
大福daifukuSoft mochi filled with bean paste; ichigo daifuku adds a whole strawberry.
Dango
団子dangoRice-flour dumplings on a skewer, glazed with sweet soy sauce (mitarashi) or topped with bean paste.
Yokan
羊羹yōkanA firm block of bean paste set with agar; a soft version, mizu-yōkan, is eaten chilled in summer.
Manju
饅頭manjūSteamed or baked buns filled with bean paste, derived from Chinese steamed buns.
Monaka
最中monakaCrisp wafers of mochi filled with bean paste.
Higashi
干菓子higashiDry sweets such as rakugan, pressed from sugar and rice flour in wooden moulds.
Seasons and festivals
Many wagashi belong to a particular time of year. Confectioners change their fresh sweets every few weeks, and families mark the calendar with specific sweets.
- 桜餅sakura-mochi
Pink rice cake wrapped in a salted cherry leaf, eaten in spring; Kanto and Kansai versions differ in the rice used.
- 菱餅hishi-mochi
Diamond-shaped layers of pink, white and green rice cake for the Doll Festival on 3 March.
- 柏餅kashiwa-mochi
Mochi filled with bean paste and wrapped in an oak leaf, for Children's Day on 5 May.
- 月見団子tsukimi dango
White dumplings stacked as an offering during autumn moon viewing.
- 鏡餅kagami-mochi
Two stacked rice cakes displayed at New Year and broken and eaten in January.
Regional confectionery
Kyoto, Kanazawa and Matsue are often called Japan's three great confectionery cities, each shaped by the tea culture of its court or feudal lords. Matsue owes its tradition to Matsudaira Harusato, the tea-loving lord of the Matsue domain known by his tea name Fumai. Many towns have a meibutsu, a local speciality sweet sold to travellers.
- 京菓子kyōgashi
Kyoto confectionery, historically made for the imperial court, temples and tea schools.
- 八ツ橋yatsuhashi
Cinnamon-flavoured rice-flour sweet from Kyoto, baked crisp or soft and folded around bean paste.
- 加賀の和菓子Kaga no wagashi
Tea sweets fostered by the Maeda lords of Kaga, including pressed dry sweets and gold-leaf decoration.
- カステラkasutera
Sponge cake introduced by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and made a speciality of Nagasaki.
- もみじ饅頭momiji manjū
Maple-leaf-shaped cakes filled with bean paste, the classic souvenir of Miyajima.
Wagashi and tea
In the tea ceremony, sweets are eaten before the tea so that their sweetness balances the bitterness of matcha. A moist fresh sweet accompanies thick tea (koicha), and dry sweets accompany thin tea (usucha). Guests take a sweet on a folded sheet of paper (kaishi) and cut it with a small pick (kuromoji).
Outside the tea room, wagashi are part of everyday life as gifts, offerings at family altars and snacks with a cup of green tea.
Frequently asked questions
What is anko made of?
Anko is a paste of azuki beans simmered with sugar. It is either sieved smooth (koshian) or left with whole beans (tsubuan). White bean paste (shiroan) uses white beans.
Are wagashi vegan?
Many traditional wagashi contain only beans, rice, sugar and agar and are plant-based. Some, such as castella and dorayaki pancakes, contain egg, and a few modern sweets use dairy.
How long do fresh wagashi keep?
Namagashi are made to be eaten on the same day, and mochi hardens quickly. Dry sweets and yōkan keep much longer.
Why are wagashi served before tea?
In the tea ceremony the sweet is eaten first so that its sweetness remains in the mouth and balances the bitterness of the matcha.
Related
Sources
- 1.全国和菓子協会 (opens in a new tab) — 全国和菓子協会 (Japan Wagashi Association)
- 2.和食文化の保護・継承 (opens in a new tab) — 農林水産省 (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)