Tuesday, June 02, 2009

The folktale behind the "Kibidango" sweets


These are one type of Japanese wagashi called "Kibidango(ki-bi-da-n-go)". Dango literally means dumplings but this "Kibidango" belongs to sweets and each one is wrapped in an illustrated paper and comes in a pretty box full of animated characters of a Japanese ancient folktale, "Momotaro(Peach Boy).

Momotaro is a hero from a Japanese folktale, who fights the evil demons for bringing back the peace in his land. His name "momo" means "peach" and "taro" is a typical name for boys.

Since this story is so well known and loved, it is associated with many ways in movies, books and in almost any way possible. This cute box of sweet dumplings is a good example. One confectionery in Okayama Prefecture took an advantage of its long history that they had been producing wagashi associated with a story of this folktale. They asked GOMI Taro, one of the famous illustrators and writers for children's books to design a package and wrapping papers featuring the characters of this story.
Oh, I like his illustrations so much and still keep many children's books I got for my kids. Now in a picture , can you tell the hero Momotaro, the dog, the monkey, the pheasant, and the devils? They are just so cute!-----even the devils are adorable!

Any children who have grown up in Japan know this story and they love to sing the story of Momotaro.

So here is an adventure story of "Momotaro" and his three followers of the dog, the monkey and the pheasant. (it comes up with a song. If you don't want a sound, turn off a sound before you click a link above.)
Hope you'll enjoy it.

9 comments:

Karin said...

I really enjoyed your post, these sweets are fabulous!...do they taste as good as they look? :o)

Dionne said...

Ooooh yummy. I love how these look, and how cute that they have illustrate wrappers that go back to a well-known story.

I am going to go check out your link to the story right now!

Thanks!

Pamela said...

Oh, I love how you share with us different cultural goodies from Japan! These sound so yummy.

I'm off to check out the story!! :)

Anya said...

Lovely post,
it looks yummie...........
I wish I can tast it ;)
Have a nice day !!

LenoreNeverM♡re said...

One thing i like about Japan is all the great visual delight...and that includes all the charming packaging! Lovely week dear!!

littletiara said...

ooohhh... Dango! I know a japanese anime with dango dango song as the soundtrack, my brother loves to watch anime so... well... I hear it almost everyday, and that looks so yummy and cute!

Pamela said...

Thank you for all your kind comments! I enjoy reading each and every one. :)

Mekkan said...

Thank you all for coming by and kind enough to leave your messages. Wait for me. I'll come by to each one of your blogs as I used to. And I'm happy to visit a new friend's.

Janine said...

it looks so nice, realy japan animation, I'm not a sweet cow, but It looks deligiace. Have a nice day, jeany