WAGASHI

Wagashi, or Japanese confectioneries, are unique sweet cakes made mainly from rice, wheat flour, azuki beans and kanten (agar-agar). There are many kinds of wagashi and they are classified into two main categories: namagashi and higashi.

Manju

A kind of steamed dumpling made from wheat flour, rice flour or buckwheat flour filled with azuki an (a paste made from sugar and azuki beans).

Dango

Small, steamed dumplings made from rice flour or wheat flour kneaded with water. Skewered dango are grilled and coated with soy-based sweet sauce or azuki an.

Yokan
Yokan is made form a mixture of azuki an and sugar, shaped in a long mold, and steamed or cooled to set. It has jelly-like texture and is very sweet.

Monaka
This, crispy double wafer made from rice flour filled with azuki an.

Nerikiri
Nerikiri is made from the mixture of azuki flour, sugar and mijinko (glutinous-rice flour ground after the rice is steamed and dried). They are molded in various shapes and finished beautifully.

Ohagi
Small dumplings made by cooking glutinous and nonglutinous rice together, kneading and molding it into balls, and covered with kurogoma (black sesame seeds) and kinako (soybean flour). Ohagi are offered to the spirits of the ancestors in the spring and autumn equinoctial weeks.

Sakuramochi
Thinly-baked pancake made from wheat flour and shiratamako (glutinous rice flour) filled with azuki an. They are wrapped in a cherry leaf pickled in brine and the leaf can also be eaten. Sakuramochi are dedicated to the dolls displayed at momo no sekku on March 3.

Kashiwamochi
Rice-flour dumplings filled with an, folded into half and wrapped in the leaf of the kashiwa, or oak tree. They are dedicated to the dolls displayed at tango no sekku on May 5.

Kompeito
Kompeito are made by coating poppy seeds or granulated sugar repeatedly with the syrup of melted crystal sugar. They are shapes like horned spheres.

Taiyaki
Taiyaki is a kind of pancke made from wheat flour, eggs and water filled with an. They are molded in the shape of a tai, or sea bream.

Maya