Abstract

Wagashi, traditional Japanese sweets, vividly capture the four seasons in a tiny world that fits in the palm of your hand.

Wagashi developed greatly in Kyoto during the Genroku era (1688–1704), alongside the culture of the tea ceremony. At the time, sweets made with generous amounts of precious white sugar were a great luxury. Their artistic designs and poetic names (kamei) expressed a shared love of nature and literature, and served as an important means of communication that enriched each once-in-a-lifetime encounter (ichigo ichie) between host and guest. That has not changed over the centuries. Like a punctuation mark in our hectic daily lives, a cup of tea and a wagashi remind us of the changing seasons.

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