japanese

Flowers and Wagashi: The Four Seasons
Traditional and Contemporary Japanese Confections

In Japanese culture, cherry blossoms are the flowers of the gods. So, in early Spring, the buds of the trees begin to emerge and the cherry blossoms suddenly open with glorious white and pink flowers. People all over Japan take time out of their busy schedules for flower viewing, eating, drinking, dancing and singing under the cherry blossom trees. The blooming of these trees, known as Sakura, was seen as the signal that the gods had returned to protect the fields.

‘Traditional Japanese confections are also part of the beliefs regarding the banishment of evil and the evocation of good fortune. At each turning point in the changing cycles of the seasons, one can only seek the goodwill and protection of the deities to assure tranquility and ward off catastrophe. Sweets are an inextricable part of the offerings made on these occasions’. (Kumakura Isao, Beyond Beauty and Flavor: The Traditions of Flowers and Sweets)

Japanese confections are served to guests when they visit and are eaten on special occasions. On Children’s Day, May 5, the Japanese have a custom of offering sweets to the gods. The sweets kashiwa mochi come from a tradition of serving rice on a kashiwa, a broadoak leaf. Traditional Japanese Wagashi confections have been made for at least 450 years by Toraya, the oldest confectioner in Japan. In contemporary society, many of these confections still exist and new ones are created yearly.

Karen “Suedy” Susaki and her sister Janice Murai invented cookie based “sushi” with chocolate and confections in 1994 in San Jose, California. Their company, Suedy’s Koo-ki Sushi, presents beautifully crafted handmade confections with the same simple elegance as fine sushi. Since these are confections imitating sushi there are playfully fooling us. This trickery with food is precisely what fancy food was all about beginning in the middle ages. From China to Europe, guests were entertained through food play and trickery and the hosts trying to outperform one another.