Жапондық дәстүрлі тәттілер өнері: Вагаси

Traditional Japanese confectionery

Wagashi ([[wikt:和菓子) is a traditional Japanese confection that is often served with green tea, especially the type made of mochi, anko (azuki bean paste), and fruit. Wagashi is typically made from plant based ingredients with an emphasis on seasonality, and generally making use of cooking methods that pre date Western influence in Japan. Most of today's wagashi were born during the Edo period (1603 1868). This was a period of peace, economic and cultural prosperity, and increased domestic self sufficiency in sugar. During the Edo period, a series of delicate and beautiful fresh wagashi called :ja:練り切り; 練り切り were created with various shapes and colors that characterize wagashi. Nerikiri are wagashi made by kneading white bean paste, gyūhi, sugar, yams, and other ingredients, and made in various colors and shapes based on seasonal flowers, animals, nature, events, customs, and other themes.

In Japan, the word for sweets or confectionery, (菓子), originally referred to fruits and nuts. Fruits and nuts may be eaten as snacks between meals and served as "sweets" during a tea ceremony. In 1603, the first year of the Edo period (1603 1868), the term (菓子) meant both confectionery and fruit, and was more commonly used to refer to fruit. For example, the Japanese Portuguese dictionary of the time describes "quaxi" (菓子) as "fruit, especially fruit eaten after a meal." The term water confections; 水菓子; mizugashi, which is used to refer to fruit today, is a remnant of the same term.

It is believed that the first food eaten as a confection in Japan was a processed food from the Jomon period. During the Yayoi period, dumpling; 団子; dango were made from grain or rice flour. The udon was also very different from today's udon, more like wonton. (餛飩)

During the Sengoku period, the Portuguese brought Western confectionery to Japan through the Nanban trade. castella; カステラ; [[castella is a typical confection based on these Western confections. Kasutera was the only exception because it was made from chicken eggs, while Japanese confectionery was made from vegetable ingredients. As trade increased, so did sugar imports. The prototype of 金平糖; konpeitō was also brought to Japan through trade with Portugal and Spain. From the Sengoku period to the Azuchi Momoyama period, wagashi developed along with the Japanese tea ceremony, and delicate, beautiful, and aesthetically pleasing confections began to emerge. The Japanese tea ceremony was used as a secret meeting place for feudal lords; 大名; daimyō and as a salon for the upper class. Yatsuhashi is still a popular souvenir today, and according to a survey conducted by the city of Kyoto in 2022, 89.2% of Japanese tourists visiting Kyoto bought souvenirs, of which 10.7% bought Yatsuhashi.

During this time, candy; 飴; ame became popular with the common people. The ingredients of common people's sweets were often inexpensive grain derived sweeteners rather than expensive sugar. The traditional Japanese scissors were indispensable for the production of amezaiku, and when the production of iron increased dramatically with the invention of the balance bellows in ; [[Tatara (furnace) iron manufacturing (たたら製鉄), the production of scissors also increased, contributing to the production of amezaiku. During the Bunka (1804 1818) and Bunsei era (1818 1830), it was possible to obtain amezaiku with the same shape as today's amezaiku.

During the Meiji era (1868 1912), when Japan began active trade with the West after the end of its isolation policy; 鎖国; sakoku, Western cooking utensils were brought to Japan. With the advent of the
modern oven, many baked confections such as chestnut manjū; 栗饅頭; kuri manjū and castella manjū; カステラ饅頭; kasutera manjū were born. is a very popular souvenir of Kyoto. According to a survey conducted by the City of Kyoto in 2022, 89.2% of Japanese tourists who visited Kyoto bought souvenirs, of which 31.6% bought Nama yatsuhashi. This means that 42.3% of Japanese tourists who bought souvenirs in Kyoto in 2022 bought either Nama yatsuhashi or Yatsuhashi.