Toraya's: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger'

Eto: Twelve Chinese Zodiac Animals and Japanese New Year’s Confections
According to the Chinese Zodiac cycle there are 12 animals and each year is associated with one of the twelve. 2010 is the Year of the Tiger and most wagashi companies and stores in Japan have Eto themed wagashi. The tora in Toraya also happens to mean tiger, literally tiger shop. So, I have to imagine that they went all out for 2010! Every year Toraya creates a unique Eto namagashi for New Year’s which I first discovered last year, the Year of the Ox. The design combines a fairly modern abstract sense the Japanese ‘kawaii’ cute.

Many of Toraya’s wagashi designs are centuries old like the frosted red plum blossom from 1699 but this one is a first timer. Toraya holds an internal competition soliciting designs for some of their namagashi, including this Sachi Tora. The design competition is open to all employees, from paper pushers in the office, store and cafe waitstaff to the wagashi craftsmen in the ‘workshop’. This year’s winner, the proud creator of Sachi Tora, was a male Toraya ‘veteran’ wagashi maker.

Toraya's: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger'

About the Design of Sachi Tora
The staff member at Toraya I spoke to about Sachi Tora said that it is intended to express a tiger face in a cute way and bring a year of much happiness and good fortune.

I asked about the cinnamon, assuming that it is brushed on as powder but that is incorrect. It is first dissolved in a syrup and then painted on wet. Interesting!

I like the design a lot. I definitely see the brown cinnamon ears at the top, but the ‘stripe’ mark in the middle throws me off a bit as it reminds me more of a tigers back than the face.

Whatever your visual interpretation, I think that you would have to agree that it is a very charming and novel tiger!

Construction Detail: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger' - side

Construction Detail: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger' - back

Construction Detail: Sachi Tora 'Happy Tiger' - cross-section

How did Sachi Tora taste?
Namagashi (生菓子, moist confection) is for the tea ceremony, so the taste is intended to contrast well with bitter maccha. That means that namagashi are very formulaic in taste — they all taste the same. If you are a regular reader of KyotoFoodie you probably know that I think that some more adventure and ‘kaizen’ is required in terms of namagashi taste. Sachi Tora uses cinnamon as a visual element and that does add some complexity to the flavor profile and that is welcome by me!

Availability: December 29, 2009 to January 15, 2010

Toraya Ichijo Storefront

There is a blend of sophistication, beauty, simplicity and cuteness in namagashi, especially Kyoto namagashi, that is just unlike anything else in the foodie universe. In food and non-food related design, the traditional Japanese sense is something from another, bygone world, but still seems so essential even in our time.

Year of the Ox Namagashi

Eto: Year of the Ox Motif in Food
I came across this New Year’s delightful and whimsical namagashi at Toraya the other day. 2009 is the Year of the Ox in the Chinese Zodiac system, or Eto 干支 in Japanese. Toraya is a very old and famous wagashi shinise in Kyoto that is probably best known for it’s sweet yokan ‘jelly’ made from azuki beans. Toraya also has a store in Paris.

Year of the Ox Plate

If you are a regular KyotoFoodie visitor, you may recall seeing these plates before. Each one in the set has one of the 12 Eto animals on it.

Year of the Ox Namagashi

Cinnamon Cow Spot
Sweetened bean paste is sculpted into this ox-like form that though extremely simple and cute, does not come off as childish or cheap. Red and white are colors associated with celebration in Japan.

The brown ‘spot’ on the ox head is a simple brushing of cinnamon. This is really great. Cinnamon came to Japan centuries ago and is still an exotic taste to many people, it used in the Kyoto’s Yatsuhashi wagashi souvenirs for sale where ever there are tourists in the city.

Year of the Ox Namagashi

Year of the Ox Namagashi


How Did it Taste?
I don’t recall ever having namagashi flavored with cinnamon before and I really enjoyed this. It had the conventional sweet bean namagashi taste, but made more complex with the addition of cinnamon. This, combined with the playful visual element made this namagashi a homerun for me.

Difference Between Kyoto and Tokyo (Edo) Wagashi
Kyoto: How much can be taken away and still say, ox (or whatever the theme is)?
Tokyo: How can we emphasize the ox theme?

Visually, Kyoto wagashi is different from that of Tokyo. Kyoto’s is simple, refined and subtle. Tokyo’s is more garish and pronounced. I think of it as the difference between art and communication; communication as in PR and visual design.

Year of the Ox Namagashi

Nodokana Ashita and Eternal Kyoto BS in the Year of the Ox
Toraya’s name for this namagashi is Nodokana Ashita のどかな朝, poetically meaning ‘peaceful and mild morning/tomorrow’. Toraya’s explanation of this namagashi says that “it suggests cows are eating grass in a pasture peacefully in soft, spring sunshine”. This is typical Kyoto shinise BS. There is nothing about this namagashi that suggests eating grass, a farm, spring or sunshine. Because Kyoto is Kyoto and shinise are shinise, they can often get away with just making up meaning that just isn’t there. Many people will literally eat it up. This is nothing more than sales talk, shinise style. The person who created this doesn’t believe these words. Not all shinise do this, but don’t be taken in by it.

The Japan Dento Spell
Because something is old and rare in the world today, many people are willing to believe something about it that just isn’t true. I remember seeing an article on Kyoto Journal a few years back. Someone photographed a concrete covered mountainside in Japan that had been completely raped by the construction of a new highway. The patterns created by the different planes of concrete stuck me as extremely ugly and completely un-designed. It was creation of a gear head with a calculator. However, the author of the article, under the spell of traditional Japanese aesthetics said that it was a typical example of how Japanese designed everything to be beautiful. Take a walk around Tokyo, Osaka, or even a lot of Kyoto, look at the modern city and tell yourself that Japanese design everything to be beautiful.

Don’t be cast under this spell, there is plenty in Kyoto and Japan that is authentic to be be inspired by.

It is too bad that Toraya makes up this kind of exaggerated sales talk because this wagashi, on it’s own, without any BS is, in fact, completely remarkable. Wouldn’t you agree?

Year of the Ox Namagashi – Cross Section

I cleanly cut this in half to illustrate how the namagashi is constructed. Japanese wouldn’t cut it apart like this.

Year of the Ox Namagashi – Package

This is what it looks like when you get it home and open the box.

link: Eto 干支 (Chinese Zodiac) Wikipedia article

link: Yokan 羊羹 Wikipedia article

link: Toraya English Website