Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I love Wagashi(wa-ga-shi)

Have yourself some Japanese sweets! Japanese sweets are very healthy. They are made using beans and grains rather than cream and butter. Beans are mainly made into a sweet paste and it's a typical feature of what "wagashi" is to be. Wagashi was gradually developed along with the Japanese tea ceremony which had been completed in 16th century and got into practice since then. Let put its historical story aside for now and just enjoy watching those, since "wagashi" is a work of an art, so to speak. If you go into a wagashi confectionery store, you'll be so anxious to know what all these tiny sweets represent to us. Most of them are molded into items of the four seasons, such as flowers, leaves, and even typical scenery from the four seasons which are often described in ancient poems. Like every work of paintings has its name or title, so does every wagashi.
Five wagashi in the pictures have each name, for example. You will see each name in the picture below. Does it make any sense to you? They are all representatives of spring. I'm pretty sure it is one of the ways for us to enjoy the four seasons in Japan respectively-----appreciate a shape of wagashi and feel the season out of it. It'll be perfect with a bowl of green tea.

9 comments:

Dionne said...

Oh this is so lovely. They look to beautiful to eat! But I am sure they taste great! SO pretty!

In response to your comment on my blog about the camera - I use a Canon Digital Rebel. I love it!

Anya said...

I drink green tea every day, but that Japanese sweets I have ever seen !!!!!!!!!!
What they look individually, I would like to taste them HEHE
They looks delicious :))))))))))
How sweet of you that you have make a picture of it, thank you very match that you show us that wagashi.

littletiara said...

ooo... that looks delicious... *drools all over* and looks pretty too, if I had them, I'd think twice before eating it...

Mekkan said...

Good Morning, friends. Thank you for kind comments. I'm glad you've enjoyed the post. To me it takes time to explain my country's culture in English and I'm always wonder whether it makes a sense to the readers but this is what I'd like to do in the blog. Be patient until I will be good at it. I've got to go now. See you later. And thank you again for reading.

Janine said...

hmmm, this looks so yummie, I love Japans food. But I never had the sweet ones. Thank you for explaning, and this very good pictures. Have e nice day, best wishes from jeany

Janine said...

Hi Mekkan, thank you for the so kinds words, I like it to visting your blog, must be because we are the same age, :). Have a lovely weekend, best wishes from Jeany

Dionne said...

You just made it into the swap! Hooray! I am glad you are taking part! Your partner is Kimberly, and the link to her blog is on my latest post.

Kimberly Ashby said...

Hi there Mekane -

Oh, oH, they are so LoVeLy - YuM!
I am very excited about the swap
And having you as my partner.
This will be oh so much fun!

My Email address is...
kimsea1@mac.com
We will chat later.

K.

Kimberly Ashby said...

MeKKaN, Mekkan -

I am so very sorry -
I forgot to fix your
Misspelled name - OOPS!
I am on my iTouch & I was
Rushing to get intouch
With you.
How awful!
Please forgive me.

K.