Toraya 'Shimokobai' Tea Ceremony Confection

While it is mid-winter here in Kyoto, we are getting ready for fruit blossoms already. In February the plum trees will bloom and the very fortunate will be treated to see plum blossoms in the snow! To me, plums blossoms are more beautiful and intoxicatingly fragrant than the over-appreciated sakura. The combination of delicate plum blossoms on a leafless, gnarled and contorted black plum tree with lichen and moss, amid snowflakes, all enveloped by the invisible yet penetrating fragrance of the blossoms is an experience with a depth of beauty that I have found unsurpassed.

I hadn’t seen a wagashi that expresses my ideal of plum blossom and snow until today when I dropped in at Toraya to have a look at their tea ceremony wagashi line-up for the second half of January. When I saw this one, I knew I had to show all you foodies out there in the 183 countries with KyotoFoodie fans.

Toraya 'Shimokobai' Tea Ceremony Confection

How to ‘Frost’ a Wagashi Confection: Shinbikiko
Flower shaped wagashi are very common but this one is covered in a kind of rice flour called shinbikiko (新引粉). Shinbikiko is similar to cornmeal in texture but is pure white. It is made with mochi rice that has been steamed, dried, ground and then roasted. The sticky mochi surface of this confection is dusted with shinbikiko creating an obvious yet delicate effect of frost.

Wagashi Frost: Shinbikiko - detail

How Did Shimokobai Wagashi Taste?
While I have complained on KyotoFoodie many times about theredundant and monotonous taste of tea ceremony wagashi, this one really got me. The sensation created by the flavors and textures was quite weird and otherworldly, but in a very subdued way. I loved it!

The filling is gooey but not too sweet white bean paste, it is very soft and creamy. The mochi covering that creates the red plum blossom is gyuhi mochi that very chewy, rather more al dente than normal mochi, like it had been stretched taut over the soft filling and allowed to dry a bit. The shinbikiko really got me though. It reminded me of poppy seeds on a muffin, but not crunchy at all, it was like damp poppy seeds, or damp cornmeal. The taste was ‘ricy’ and dry, yet damp in texture. Weird.

These three contrasting textures and flavors melting together while being chewed made it even more weird.

I found myself wishing for a whole plate to eat so that I could try to better apprehend and express the precious textures and flavors.

The 'kuromoji' traditional tea ceremony utensil is used to cut and eat namagashi.

When do Kyoto Fruit Trees Blossom?
February: Plum (ume 梅)
March: Peach (momo 桃)
April: Cherry (sakura 桜)
Due to global warming these fruit trees are often blooming earlier than they did traditionally. Forget the namby-pamby late spring sakura and seek out the ume!

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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

Kyoto Autumn Theme Wagashi 嵯峨野生菓子

While I haven’t seen any chrysanthemums in bloom yet this year, mine are just budding, the theme of culinary delights in Kyoto are changing from summer to autumn and I thought that the foodies of the world would like to see some photos. So, here you are!

This namagashi (wet, or raw confection) comes from one of my favorite stores in Kyoto. I want to do a proper article about them in the near future. Namagashi is used in the tea ceremony and it invariably anko (red azuki bean paste) covered in one of several kinds of mochi and is hand-formed into a seasonal motif usually from nature or classical Japanese literature, painting and so on. Namagashi is almost never flavored with anything other than the mochi and bean. I find this a bit disappointing sometimes and have complained about it in other KyotoFoodie articles about namagashi.

Kyoto Autumn Chrysanthemum Shaped Namagashi

Kyoto Autumn Chrysanthemum Shaped Namagashi

Chrysanthemum Shaped Namagashi – Cross Section

Japanese would never eat or serve a namagashi like this! This un-Japanese presentation is only for the benefit of our readers. Inside is anko (azuki bean paste) and wrapped in mochi hand-formed into a seasonal flower.

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This wagashi from a historic shinise store in Kyoto, Kameyama Yoshinaga, is reminiscent of fireflies on verdant green foliage of early summer.

Fireflies: Quickly Fading Beauty
Live while you can. Japanese love something fragile and rare and that is in season for a short period. The cherry blossom is the very best example, but fireflies are similar. Fireflies in Kyoto can still be been seen along some of the rivers and streams in the quieter and greener parts of the city, but they quickly fade and disappear after a few short weeks.

Firefly Namagashi

Kameya Yoshinaga
This shinise was established in 1803, the late Edo period, is now the 7th generation, being in business for over 200 years. In addition to producing excellent Japanese confections, Kameya Yoshinaga also offers confectionary making classes, unfortunately in Japanese only.

The store is famous for its well, the Samegai Well (醒ケ井).

Wells in Kyoto and Kyoto Water
This well is among the ‘top 3 wells in Kyoto’ (Japanese love a top 3 list). The others are Agatai Well (縣井), in the Goshi Imperial Palace and Somei (染井), in Nashinoki Shrine on the west side of imperial palace grounds.

Samegai well is located one street east from Shijo-Horikawa intersection, on very narrow Samegai-street, where Kameya Yoshinaga store is. Modern construction in Kyoto, especially the subway, disrupted the water flow to many shallow wells in the city and cause them to go dry. In 1991, the owner of Kameya Yoshinaga decided to revive the Samegai Well and deepened it to 80 meters.

The flow of water through the aquifer below Kyoto is quite brisk, so a steady stream of fresh and clean water percolated and purified down through the North Mountains produces water perfectly suited to Japanese cuisine. Kameya Yoshinaga uses Samegai Well water in all of its confections.

At the entrance to the store, there is a tiny garden with rocks and greenery and a black stone ‘well’ in the shape of the traditional Japanese well. The wet black stone, with clean fresh water continually flowing over it has a cooling effect on the Japanese psyche. How about for you?

Kameya Yoshinaga Entrance Garden and Samegai Well Revival

Kameya Yoshinaga Samegai Well Revival

Kameya Yoshinaga Samegai Well Sign

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

I collected some fallen ginkgo leaves on the grounds of a shrine and a church in northern Kyoto for this article, while shooting these photos I was particularly struck at how similar the namagashi really resembled the actual leaves, both in form and in color.

Ginkgo Leaves Inspire Confection
The ginkgo, or icho in Japanese, is a tree that has a leaf said to be shaped like a duck foot. Kyoto is best known for it’s maples in the autumn but around the city there are a number of remarkable and towering ginkgo trees that turn yellow and rain down thick, heavy leaves that never seem to dry out and thus are not easily scattered by the wind. They amass like snow beneath the tree.

The ginkgo leaf is the inspiration for a namagashi from a 300 year old shop in Gion called Kagizen Yoshifusa.

Ginkgo Leaf Shaped Wagashi

Ginkgo leaf shaped namagashi and real ginkgo leaves.

Sightseers Taking in the Autumn Colors in Kyoto 紅葉
Hanami 花見, or cherry blossom viewing of the spring in Japan is well known abroad, in the autumn koyo 紅葉 is just as popular. Kyoto has numerous places for koyo.

Kyoto Autumn Colors – Sightseers

Kyoto Autumn Colors – Sightseers

Kyoto Autumn Colors – Ginkgo Leaves

Kyoto Autumn Colors – Ginkgo Leaves

Kyoto Autumn Colors – Fallen Leaves on Shrine Roof

Kyoto Autumn Colors – Ginkgo Tree and Shrine

This ginkgo tree is one of Kyoto’s biggest.

Kagizen Yoshifusa Wagashi Shinise in Gion 鍵善良房
While we were walking back from some errands near Kiyomizu Temple, Miwa took me around to several of her favorite shops in the neighborhood. As she lived in the neighborhood for two years when she worked at Gion Hatanaka, she has many. Last we dropped into Kagizen Yoshifusa, a shinise known for it’s kuzu based wagashi that started around 1720. Kagizen Yoshifusa is especially known for it’s confections made with kuzu root.

When we walked in, this ginkgo leaf shaped namagashi immediately caught my eye. The simplicity and restraint in expression is representative of Kyo-gashi 京菓子 (Kyoto wagashi).

Kagizen Yoshifusa Noren

Kagi means key in Japanese. That is a key on the shop curtain, or noren. Now that’s an old fashioned key!

Ginkgo Leaf Shaped Namagashi from Kagizen Yoshifusa – Wrapping

Ginkgo Leaf Shaped Namagashi and Ginkgo Leaves

Ginkgo Leaf Shaped Namagashi – detail

Ginkgo Leaf Shaped Namagashi and Ginkgo Leaves – detail

Taste
As is typical of namagashi, the confection looks remarkably like something in the natural world that with artful folding, pressing, wrapping or sculpting is formed from mochi and filled with a sweetened bean paste, either white or red.

The actual taste though refined and delicately sweet does become less unremarkable with time.

Perhaps I digress but; Please, someone try making namagashi that tastes like something different! Enough with centuries with nearly zero variation. How about some kaizen?!

Kuzu Root – Photo in Kagizen

The Yoshino region of Nara Prefecture is famous for it’s kuzu root which is used to make some kinds of traditional Japanese confections. This photo is in the entry to Kagizen. By the way, kuzu was not used in this namagashi.

Reference and Links
Kagizen Yoshifusa website (Japanese language)
Kuzu Wikipedia article

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.

Gion Oharameya Shinise 大原女家
The other day while passing through Gion, I dropped into one of my favorite wagashi shinise stores, Oharameya 大原女家 thinking that they ought to have some clever and attractive autumn namagashi, and I was definitely not disappointed.

Ohayameya, founded in 1897, is actually better known for some of it’s other wagashi rather than namagashi. I especially adore their yuzu flavored kamaburo かま風呂 wagashi. I find that their namagashi is particularly beautiful and always very colorful. Traditionalists may object to the perhaps excessive use of color used in some of their namagashi but Ohayameya’s namagashi always strike me as modern and free of that tea ceremony ‘attitude’ that is occasionally encountered.

I bought a delightful three-piece set of autumn themed Kyoto namagashi. The motifs are; Gion bell, tsubaki 椿 (camellia) flower and autumn maples leaves.

Autumn Theme Namagashi Set

Namagashi: Gion Bell

Namagashi: Tsubaki (Camellia)

I think that this tsubaki piece is a real masterpiece.

Namagashi: Autumn Maple Leaves

Autumn Theme Namagashi Set – detail

Ohayameya Previously on KyotoFoodie
By the way, one of our most popular articles here on KyotoFoodie, Father’s Day Wagashi also came from Ohayameya.

Oharameya website (no English, but nice photos)

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.
大 (dai) on Namagashi

The curved line of darker blue is the slope of the mountain and the lighter blue is the sky with gold leaf as stars. Mountains and night sky are not very blue, I am not sure about the color scheme here. Perhaps the blue is intended to convey ‘summer’, as in clear blue skies. An alternative theory would be that the blues in this namagashi look cool, so it provides some psychic relief to the sultry summer heat of the season.

About the taste, this namagashi tastes like nearly every other the incorporates sweet bean paste and mochi.

Now it occurs to me that some foodies may find a conundrum with namagashi because while the motifs, shapes, colors and so on are countless, the taste is always the same. Visually, namagashi should be on a seasonal and/or cultural theme, and this is very rich and varied. (Tea ceremony namagashi article) The taste is intended to balance the bitterness of maccha and is always the same. In a country where development of products and food happens at a dizzying pace, it could seem odd to many that the taste of namagashi doesn’t develop.

What do you think?

To read about Daimonji in greater detail, please see this article.

大 on Namagashi

Notice the azuki bean paste ball inside wrapped with mochi.

大 on Namagashi

Daimonji Namagashi Served

Dai – 大

Peko took this photo this year (August 2008).

Dai – 大

This is a photo from a few years ago, you can really see the smoke at this angle.

The finest wagashi for the tea ceremony are sweets for the mind, the motifs come from classical poetry and painting.

Suetomi Jyogashiya
We had an opportunity to visit one of Kyoto’s exceptional wagashi stores; Suetomi and interview the owner, Mr Yamaguchi who created a selection of Suetomi’s seasonal wagashi for us to photograph for this article.

Suetomi, founded in 1893 makes namagashi (生菓子), literally ‘wet confection’, for the tea ceremony. In addition to selling namagashi retail, today Suetomi creates confections for important customers such as companies, tea ceremony schools and temples. Some namagashi are not offered to the general public and are reserved for a certain customer only.

Suetomi is a jyogashiya (上菓子屋), the highest of the three varieties of wagashi stores. Traditionally, only jyogashiya were legally permitted to use sugar and they served the imperial household, the nobility and major temples.

Namagashi for the tea ceremony is of course sweet, often very sweet as it compliments maccha which is quite bitter. However, namagashi are not just for the stomach. The forms and motifs are always seasonal and natural and often based upon poems and paintings from classical Japan. This is a sweet for the learned and educated, to be enjoyed by the mind as well.

Reception
Upon arrival for the interview and photoshoot we were given late spring theme ajisai (hydrangea) namagashi.

Ajisai Namagashi

Paku Eating Ajisai Namagashi in the Reception Room

Inside Ajisai Namagashi

Notice the azuki bean paste inside.

Kyoto Jyogashi Namagashi Throughout the Seasons
This is a selection of Suetomi’s namagashi throughout the season. The following text explanations are from a Suetomi exhibition catalog.

January: Etogashi
Etogashi, literally ‘Chinese Zodiac confection’.
The concept of the zodiac signs are very familiar to Japanese people and these originated with the Chinese calender. Suetomi makes a New Year’s confection based on the zodiac animal of the year. This is a rat. This year, 2008 is the Year of the Rat.

Eto Nezumi – Year of the Rat

Eto nezumi literally means ‘zodiac rat’.

Eto Nezumi – Year of the Rat

This is a pretty cute rat! And, all made of sweet bean paste.

March: Hikichigiri
The confection is called Hikichigiri and has been indispensable for Girl’s Day (March 3rd). It was once used for the celebration ritual in the Imperial Household. A theory tells that it was originally made of only rice cakes. Suetomi has made it more elaborate and suitable for spring with white and pink on the top of green.

Hikichigiri – Wagashi for Girl’s Day

April: Miyako no Haru
Miyako no Haru, literally ‘Spring in the Capital’.
Kyoto’s spring beauty is in the cherry blossoms, people gathering to enjoy them with a cheerful mood. Here in Kyoto, sweets with various colors representing the colors of new lives entertain people’s tongues and eyes. Here, pink represents cherry blossoms and green represents budding willows.

Miyako-no-haru – Spring in the Capital

Miyako-no-haru – detail

It is incredible what sweet bean paste can be made into!

May: Karakoromo
The confections produced in Kyoto often represent the changing of seasons and the accompanying natural beauty. Karakoromo is based on the classical Japanese story, ‘Ise Story’. This famous poem features purple irises verdant in the month of May.

Karakoromo

June: Sawabe no Hotaru
Sawabe no Hotaru, literally ‘fireflies near water stream’.
Fireflies live near cool, flowing water and these insects emit a greenish light. There are a number of short poems featuring the mystic beauty these insects create. The image here is of a firefly emitting its light while on green grass.

Sawabe-no-hotaru – Fireflies Near Water Stream

Sawabe-no-hotaru – detail


September: Kisewata
Japanese people have celebrated the coming of new seasons on particular days in the year and September 9th is one of them. The chrysanthemum flower is the symbol of this special day. People pray for their long lives sometimes by wiping their bodies with its dew and by drinking Japanese sake with chrysanthemum petals floating in it. This confection is designed from a chrysanthemum flower of high grace.

Kisewata – Chrysanthemum

Kisewata – Chrysanthemum

Kisewata – detail

September: Koringiku
Korin Ogata was a painter active in the Edo period. We can see his paintings done with his excellent skills on kimono patterns and on Japanese paper slide doors, etc. The design of Korin Chrysanthemum, made of azuki bean paste and habutae mochi is based on one of his paintings.

Koringiku – Korin Chrysanthemum

Koringiku – detail

October: Momijiga
In the Momijiga chapter of Japan’s most well known novel, the Tale of Genji is a scene where Prince Genji dances. The design of this confection is inspired by the image of Hikaru Genji dancing in gorgeous clothing. The paper fan that the Shining Prince held while dancing is the motif of this piece.

Momijiga – Maple Leaves

Momijiga – detail

December: Carol
The deep green color, whether of the pine boughs or holly leaves of the season is the symbol of life. Christmas is, of course, a Christian celebration familiar to people all over the world. This Japanese version of Christmas cake is made with the wish to look back on the past year and celebrate the coming of the new year with a purified heart.

Carol – Christmas

Location
Suetomi now has two locations. The original mainstore is located in central Kyoto near the Gojo Station on the Karasuma Subway Line and the other in the food court of Takashimaya Department Store.

Honten – Main Store Front

Suetomi Store Sign

Suetomi Takashimaya Branch

English:
English menu: none
English website: none
Service/Staff: so-so
Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm, closed Sundays and national holidays.
Price: 500-1,000 yen.
Location and Access: 5 to 7 minute walk from either Shijo and Gojo Stations (Karasuma Subway Line)
Address: Kyoto-shi Shimogyo-ku, Matsubara-dori, Muromachi Higashi-iru
(京都市下京区松原通室町東入ル)
Telephone: 075-351-0808

Takashimaya Branch: Takashimaya Department Store is located in central Kyoto at the Shijo-Kawaramachi intersection. Takashimaya is open from 10am to 8pm and is closed on January 1st only. English language guidance and maps are available at the information desk on the ground floor.

Map:

View Larger Map

As early summer becomes midsummer, the days muggy and the nights no longer cool, the loquat, or biwa in Japanese, is a common sight in Kyoto; both in discount supermarkets and fine fruit boutiques and on the streets and sidewalks, fallen from large leafed trees overhanging a walled garden — and in the namagashi case at one fine wagashi store.

Thematically, wagashi for the tea ceremony, namagashi, is inseparable from the season and this delicate biwa wagashi is painstakingly crafted to be both a near match to the actual fruit and have its own confectionary identity.

Biwa Namagashi and Biwa Fruit

Biwa Namagashi – detail

Biwa Fruit – detail

Biwa and Namagashi

Note: As the loquat is a rare fruit in the regions of many of our readers, for comparison, we photographed this namagashi with biwa fruit; however, namagashi are meant to be eaten with maccha, not fruit.

May 5th is Children’s Day in Japan. Two important icons for this day are the Koi-no-bori (flying carp banner) and the kabuto, or armored battle helmet worn by samurai. At Suetomi, we found some delightful and unique koi-no-bori and kabuto themed wagashi, traditional Japanese confections.

We stopped by Suetomi to get their Kodomo-no-hi namagashi set. Namagashi (生菓子) literally means raw, or wet ‘kashi‘, confection.

Traditionally Kodomo-no-hi was known as Boy’s Day (Tango-no-sekkyu) and Girl’s Day was on March 3rd (Hinamatsuri). In 1948, May 5th was designated a national holiday for the happiness of all children. The symbols of May 5th are still decidedly masculine and continue unchanged from the traditional Boy’s Day. The March 3rd Hinamatsuri symbols are also unchanged.

The armored helmet is symbolizes masculine strength and the flying koi banners health and vigor.

Suetomi creates a manju with the koi-no-bori branded on it and a namagashi in the shape of the kabuto helmet. Also, below is a mochi wrapped in kashiwa oak leaf.

The Package

Three Piece Set Served

From left to right; manju with koi-no-bori yaki-in (brand), kabuto shaped namagashi and kashiwa mochi.

Three Piece Set – detail

Kashiwa (Oak Leaf) Mochi

This popular mochi is wrapped in a fresh kashiwa oak leaf.

Kabuto Namagashi

The samurai’s kabuto helmet is beautifully rendered in soft, moist mochi. The dark form slightly visible inside is azuki paste.

Kabuto Namagashi

Koi-no-bori Yaki-in Manju

The Koi-no-bori is branded with a hot iron, called yaki-in in Japanese.

Taste
The taste of these three wagashi was excellent but the flavors themselves are not unique to the Boy’s Festival, just the shape and decoration. Kashiwa Mochi is a springtime wagashi, usually available in April and May. The taste of the mochi itself is conventional but the kashiwa leaf does impart a light and fresh flavor and fragrance.

Miniature Yoroi (armor) Display for Boy’s Day

Peko photographed this at Takashimaya Department Store a few months ago, this detailed and beautifully crafted display costs about $10,000USD!

Kabuto (Samurai Helmet)

photo credit: robizumi

Child and Miniature Kabuto Display

photo credit: egg on stilts

Koi-no-bori

photo credit: teseb

Koi-no-bori – detail

High quality koi-no-bori are still hand painted and quite expensive.
photo credit: qa™design

Children’s Day Google Logo