Wagashi: Early Summer Loquat (Biwa) Namagashi

Wagashi: Early Summer Biwa (Loquat) Namagashi 枇杷 (びわ) 生菓子

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.