Wagashi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations. |
Wagashi (和菓子?) is a traditional Japanese confectionery which is often served with tea, especially the types made of mochi, azuki bean paste, and fruits.
Wagashi is typically made from natural based (mainly plant) ingredients. The names used for wagashi commonly fit a formula — a natural beauty and a word from ancient literature.
Generally, the confectionery that was introduced from western Europe after the Meiji Restoration is not included in wagashi. Most sorts of Okinawan confectionery and those originated in Europe or China that use ingredients alien to traditional Japanese cuisine, e.g., kasutera, are rarely referred as wagashi.
Contents |
[edit] History
 |
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Ancient
In ancient Japan, it seems that people were eating fruits and nuts as confectionery and sweet, to supplement nutrition in addition to grain, such as rice, wheat and millet. In an excavation of a Jōmon period archeological site, the carbonized remains of what appeared to be baked cookies made from chestnut powder were discovered.
According to the Kojiki, Emperor Suinin ordered Tajima-mori to bring Tokijiku-no-Kagu-no-Konomi (登岐士玖能迦玖能木實 a kind of orange?) from the Eternal Land. About 10 years later, when he brought it, Emperor Suinin was already dead. He mourned since he could not carry out his mission and took his own life.[1] By tradition, Tajima-mori is worshipped as spirit like a patron saint among confectionery craftsmen.
Grain processing technology evolved through rice cultivation. People began to produce a parched rice (yaigome), sun-dried cooked rice (hoshi-ii), rice flour, dumpling (dango), mochi, ame (made of saccharified rice malt) and so on. Thus, ancient people's confectionery was very simple.
[edit] Tang confectionery
Japan sent envoys to the Sui and Tang Dynasty from the Asuka period to the beginning of the Heian period. They conveyed eight Tang confectioneries (唐菓子 Tō-gashi or kara-kudamono?) and 14 grain flour-based confectioneries (果餅?) with the production technique. The Tang confectioneries were kneaded wheat flour and rice flour, and fried in oil. These were more advanced than the confectionery technology of Japan in those days. They were served at the Imperial Court and offered to Shintoist and Buddhist deities. According to one view, a dark brown sugar was also conveyed by Jianzhen who came to Japan from the Tang in this period. However, since sugar-refining technology was not introduced, it was very rare and was treasured like a medicine. Generally, the syrup which boiled the sap of Grape ivy down (甘葛煎 amazura-sen?) was used as sweet taste.
During this period, many diaries and tales were written among upper class and aristocrats. For instance, The Tale of Genji, The Pillow Book and The diary of Izumi Shikibu have some episodes about confectionery. Moreover, the records manifesting a life situation also increased with improvement of a government institution.[clarify] They are how we know confectionery culture of those days.
- Tang confectioneries
- Major eights: Baishi, Danki, Hichira, Kakko, Keishin, Tensei, Tōshi and Tsuishi.
- Others: Buto, Fuzuku, Heidan, Hōtō (According to one theory, it is an archetype of Hōtō), Kakunawa, Konton, Magari, Mugikata and Sakuhei.
- Aozashi: It is made of parched green wheat flour and twisted like a thread.
- Kezurihi: Shaved ice flavored with amazura-sen syrup. It is called kakigori today.
- Some mochi-based confectioneries. For example:
- Tsubaki mochii: A mochi flavored with amazura-sen syrup.
- Inoko mochii: A mochi shaped as a wild boar piglet.
[edit] Introduction of tea
- See also: History of tea in Japan
The first introduction of tea in Japan is unclear. In 729, Emperor Shōmu was held a ritual of the tea party after sutra recitation. As well in 815, Emperor Saga was dedicated a cup of tea by the high priest. But during the Heian period it seems that the customs of tea drinking had not established outside of Temples and Buddhism, and had gone gradually behind progressing of domestic culture. Therefore, its introduction of standard is in 1191, the famous Zen priest Eisai brought back tea seeds to Kyoto. Then, confectionery was improved as a snack or a light meal for tea drinking.
In 1349, Rin Jōin (林淨因?) who came from Yuan to Japan with a Zen priest. He lived in Nara, and sold a steamed filled dumplings. However, since the meat eating was a taboo in Japan in those days, azuki bean paste which was sweet by juice which boiled down the honeysuckle, was put into it for replacement. This was very popular and was presented to the Imperial Court repeatedly. Then, Rin married and was naturalized in Japan. The manjū store which his posterity opened still continues in Tokyo as Shiose Sō-honke (塩瀬総本家?). Moreover, from 1949, Rin was worshipped as ancestor of manjū in Hayashi shrine (it is in Kangō shrine) in Nara.
[edit] Nanban confectionery
In 1543, Portuguese drifted ashore to Tanegashima Isle. Some of confectioneries which had origin in the western Europe, was established in Japan during Nanban trade. These were called as nanban-gashi (南蛮菓子?), it became a production method of wagashi with a new wind.
In Japan, the stock farming was not prosperous, therefore the confectionery not using milk or a cheese was established easily. Especially, castella, kompeito, aruheitō, karumera, keiran sōmen, bōro and bisukauto is continued till the present.
[edit] Edo period
During the Edo period, the production of sugarcane in Okinawa became highly productive, and low quality brown sugar as well as heavily processed white sugar became widely available. A type of sugar, wasanbon was perfected in this period and is still used exclusively to make wagashi. Wagashi was a popular gift between samurai, in significance much like a good wine. Wagashi is served as part of a Japanese tea ceremony, and serving a good seasonal wagashi shows one's educational background.
[edit] In modern days
|
|
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Types of Wagashi
- Anmitsu - chilled gelatinous cubes (kanten) with fruit.
- Amanattō - simmered azuki beans or other beans with sugar, and dried. Amanattō and nattō are not related although the name is alike.
- 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 mochi, commonly skewered on a stick.
- Hanabiramochi - a flat red and white sweet mochi wrapped around anko and a strip of candied gobo (burdock).
- Ikinari dango - a steamed bun with chunks of sweet potato in the dough, with anko in the center. It is a local confectionery in Kumamoto.
- Imagawayaki (also kaitenyaki and so on) - anko surrounded in a disc of fried dough covering.
- Kusa mochi - "grass mochi", a sweet mochi infused with Japanese mugwort (yomogi), surrounding a center of anko.
- Kuri kinton - a sweetened mixture of boiled and mashed chestnuts.
- Manju (food) - steamed cakes of an surrounded by a flour mixture, available in many shapes such as peaches or rabbits.
- Matsunoyuki - "the snow on the pine", a sweetened mochi in the shape of a pine tree, sprinkled with a whipped sugar.
- 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 kaitenyaki, 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.
- Warabi mochi - a wagashi 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.
- Yokan - one of the oldest wagashi, a solid block of anko, hardened with agar and additional sugar.
[edit] Classifications / Categories
_in_Nara_Park.jpg/330px-Chaya_(teahouse)_in_Nara_Park.jpg)
Wagashi are classified according to the production method and moisture content. Especially, moisture. Content is very important since it affects the best-before date.
- Han namagashi (半生菓子?) (half-wet confectionery) - contains moisture 10% - 30%.
[edit] Wagashi in fiction
- NHK aired a morning drama series called Asuka. The overall theme of the series is wagashi.
- The male lead in the visual novel D.C.: Da Capo has the power to create wagashi, which he uses at various times in the game.
[edit] References
- Aoki, Naomi (2000). 図説 和菓子の今昔 Zusetsu wagashi no konjyaku. 株式会社淡交社 Tankosha Publishing Co.,Ltd. ISBN 978-4473017628.
- ^ ^ Chamberlain, B.H. (1882-1919) The Kojiki - translated by Basil Hall Chamberlain Public Domain (Published before copyright): SECT. LXXIV.--EMPEROR SUI-NIN.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- (Japanese) Japan Wagashi Association
- (Japanese) Wa-Gasi, a blog devoted to wagashi
- (English) Toraya - An old wagashi maker dating back to late 16th century.
