Kyoto's seasonal Japanese sweets, shaped to match the tea ceremony and the changing flowers, codified at Kagizen Yoshifusa since the 18th century.

Wagashi crystallised in Kyoto around the tea ceremony in the 17th and 18th centuries. The form prioritised seasonal shape, colour and ingredient over sweetness; nerikiri sculpted-bean sweets, kashiwa-mochi spring leaves, mizu-yokan summer jellies, and Demachi Futaba's mame-mochi all read the calendar. Kagizen Yoshifusa from the 1700s, Sasaya Iori from 1716, and Kanshundo from 1865 are the city's reference wagashi makers. Today Kyoto wagashi is the country's reference form, supplying the imperial tea houses and the city's matcha-and-sweet sets.

Where to eat Wagashi in Kyoto

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Make it at home

Serves 860 minAdvanced

Ingredients

  • 200g shiroan (white bean paste, sweetened)
  • 20g gyuhi (sweet rice paste, optional, for elasticity)
  • Food-safe natural dyes: matcha green, sakura pink, kabocha yellow
  • 200g tsubuan or koshian red-bean filling, divided into 8 balls
  • A wagashi mould or sharpened bamboo spatula for shaping
  • A dry cloth and pastry tweezers

Method

  1. Knead shiroan with optional gyuhi to a soft, pliable dough.
  2. Divide into portions and tint each with a natural dye to match a seasonal flower: pink for sakura, green for new-leaf, yellow for chrysanthemum.
  3. Take 25g of tinted dough; flatten into a 6cm disc on a clean dry cloth.
  4. Place a red-bean filling ball in the centre; gather the dough edges up around the ball, sealing at the top.
  5. Shape with a wagashi mould or by hand: petals with bamboo spatula, dots with tweezers, leaves with a fingertip.
  6. Rest finished pieces under a damp cloth; serve fresh with matcha within 4 hours.

Editor tip. Wagashi is calligraphy more than cooking. Your hands must be clean, dry and quick; the dough seizes the moment you let it sit out.