Wagashi: Autumn Theme Namagashi

Wagashi: Autumn Theme Namagashi Wagashi: Autumn Theme Namagashi
Bells, flowers and leaves. While expressed in subtle terms, the simple beauty, the inventiveness in theme, the attention to season and the variety of the color palette of namagashi never ceases to amaze.…
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Omiyage: Kurikinton Autumn Chestnut Confection

Omiyage: Kurikinton Autumn Chestnut Confection 栗きんとん Omiyage: Kurikinton Autumn Chestnut Confection 栗きんとん
Boiled chestnuts mashed with sugar and twisted in fabric into shape makes kurikinton, an autumn delicacy and favorite souvenir of the mountainous areas of central Japan.…
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Wagashi: Gion Chigo Mochi

Wagashi: Kyoto Sanjo Wakasaya Gion Chigo Mochi (三条若狭屋 祇園ちご餅) Wagashi: Kyoto Sanjo Wakasaya Gion Chigo Mochi (三条若狭屋 祇園ちご餅) Gion Chigo Mochi covered in sparkly ice-like flakes, filled with sweet and salty miso has been a Kyoto favorite for about 100 years!…
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Wagashi: Kyoto Daimonji Namagashi

Kyoto Daimonji Namagashi 大文字 生菓子 Kyoto Daimonji Namagashi 大文字 生菓子
More Daimonji! The biggest of the big characters of the late-summer mountainside bonfires is ‘dai’, literally ‘great’ or ‘big’. Here it is on a sweet, soft and chewy tea ceremony confection.…
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Wagashi: Daimonji Okuribi Senbei and Kompeito

Wagashi: Daimonji Senbei and Kompeito 京都 大文字 送り火 せんべい こんぺいとう Wagashi: Daimonji Senbei and Kompeito 京都 大文字 送り火 せんべい こんぺいとう
Daimonji: A festival like non other in the entire world! Daimonji, literally means ‘great (big) character’. On a mid-August night massive bonfires are burned on 5 mountainsides surrounding Kyoto in the form of Chinese characters and pictograms to guide the visiting spirits back to the other world. Tawaraya Yoshitomi uses…
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