The other type is that eaten in everyday situations at home, and includes yokan and manju, unrelated to the seasons and available year-round, and kashiwamochi and o-hagi, with associations to specific times of the year. The word yokan consists of yo, meaning sheep, and kan, meaning soup. It was in fact thick soup containing lamb in the old days, and was brought to Japan from China in that form. However, Zen priests here were prohibited from eating meat for religious reasons, and therefor began substituting steamed arrowroot starch, flour, ground pulse, or other plant ingredients for lamb, which later developed into the current form of yokan. Kashiwamochi is one of the typical rice cakes of Japan. The habit of eating rice cakes became established in Japan as more and more ordinary people began to celebrate seasonal festivals.

As seen even today when fruit is referred to as"mizugashi" (juice confectionery),the Japanese word for"confectionery"originally stood for"nuts and fruit."While these were used to supplement the diet when supplies of staple grains were short, many of them were sweet and also served as luxury items.

From the Nara Period (A.D.8) and into the Heian, fried togashi cakes made from rice or wheat meal were introduced from China, and in time tea came along and the custom of tea-drinking developed.
Toward the end of the Muromachi Period,"castella"cakes and other nanbangashi were introduced from Portugal. They used large quantities of eggs, in those days still rarely used for food, as well as precious sugar, and came to have a great influence on Japan's confectionery.

With the popularization of nanbangashi and the introduction of dried rakugan sweets and other new varieties, this country's confectionery, particularly from Edo Period times, showed a sharp growth which continues to this day.

One of the many attractions of Japanese confectionery one might mention is that it is made by hand. This is a traditional craft which, excepting some bamboo spatulas and other small tools used as aids, is shaped almost entirely with the fingertips. Just as paintings and pottery hold the style of their artists, so with Japanese confectionery, factors such as color and size undergo varied changes according to the perceptions of the confectioner.

Another attraction is that it is made from healthful ingredients. Above all, it is rich in vegetable proteins and made almost entirely from vegetable materials, containing virtually none of what is known as the archenemy cholesterol as found in animal fats. And the an made from beans and gelatinous kanten found so often in confectionery are full of vegetable fiber vital to the human body. This means we automatically take in fiber when we eat it.

Japanese confectionery also offers the enjoyment of finding a feel and appreciation for the seasons. Something from nature is expressed in the small form of each cake by using specific colors, shapes, designs and names for the cakes, and this quickens our sensitivity to the seasons as they change from one to the next. The cakes are a little like the seasonal words used in haiku, don't you think?

Tasty and healthful, and letting us feel the seasons -- won't you, too, go ahead and try one of these confections?