Wagashi - Japanese Traditional Sweets

When we speak of wagashi you will notice that a particular Japanese ingredient, called Anko is very prominent. But it seems that Anko has a particular sweetness that isn't really popular for Western taste buds. Even among my friends from overseas, half of them like Anko while the other half does not.
Even so, Japanese people can't live without Anko! There are some days that I crave Anko so much - Anko is a general term describing a whole family with many varieties, such as: the strained red bean Anko, the crushed red bean Anko, the Ogura Anko, the Uguisu Anko, the white Anko, the chestnut variety of Anko, And then there is the sesame Anko, the Yuzu Anko, the green tea Anko, the Miso Anko, pumpkin Anko, and even a sweet potato An. As you can see there is many Anko varieties and some products have Anko as the primary ingredient others do not.　Sometimes I cannot tell what exactly what is Anko and what is not!

Wagashi is Low in Fat
First of all, let's compare the calories of Western sweets versus wagashi . Even though Japanese food is generally healthy, the amount of calories is the same as in western sweets, high! But the fat content is super low in Japanese Wagashi. In wagashi there is a huge amount of vegetable protein present with a nutritious vegetable base. There is almost no animal base fat that could be extremely bad for your cholesterol. So, the common ingredients are beans, vegetable gelatin and yams that contain so much fiber! All in all, wagashi is generally healthy compared to your average Western sweets.

The Importance of the Seasons
Wagashi is made to feature in seasonal events in Japan, always using seasonal ingredients. For example, the Sakura Mochi (cherry blossom rice cake) And the Kashiwa Mochi (rice cake wrapped up in An oak leaf) are available only in spring time. Also, wagashi which served in the tea ceremony, give a portrait of the season of the year.

Here is a list of a few seasonal motif:
Spring: plum, cherry blossom, rape blossom
Summer: hydrAngea, pink, water, etc.
Fall: Chinese bellflower, mum, autumn leaves
Winter: camellia, daffodil, snow
Please. Click here for photos of beautiful t varities of Wagashi

Styles of Wagashi
Jyo-namagashi
This is a very common type of Wagashi. An is included in the sticky rice cake and kneaded into a dough, then formed into different shapes, often used at formal green tea ceremonies.
Higashi
Includes ingredients like rice, red beans, soy beans, vegetable gelatin, special Japanese sugar called wasanbon toh are then pressed and shaped into a special forms and shapes.
Daifuku
Sheets made out of rice flour and sugar wrapped around Anko. Example: Mamedaifuku.
Dango
Sheets made out of high grade rice flour and sugar wrapped around Anko and steamed. Example: Tsukimidango. If you skewer a few, they become Kushidango.
Manjyu
Sheets made out of flour or Soba flour wrapped around Anko and either steamed or grilled. There is a custom in Japan, there is hot springs all over Japan and people use the steam from these hot springs to steam Manjyu.
Monaka
Crispy sheets of baked sticky rice flour dough sandwich tasty Anko.
Yookan
Anko and vegetable gelatin are mixed and hardened. Example: Mushiyookan (steamed) and Neriyookan (kneaded).
Senbei
Steamed sticky rice, flattened, dried, then grilled and seasoned with soy sauce and salt. Although this is a common type there are expensive varieties too.
Kawarasenbei
Flour and eggs, mixed, poured into forms and then baked.
Taiyaki
Anko is mixed in some dough and formed around a red snapper and shaped like an iron and then baked. The dough is just like a pancake dough very firm and thick. There are many other shapes the dough can be molded into like drum shapes, doll shapes and so on.

Other wagashi Link in English
Japan Times on the way of wagashi
Minatoya
Kicchoan
SFgate
Japan Thru Young Eyes

My top three favourite Wagashi
No.1: Oiwakedango's Non-sweet Daifuku(JP)
Sounds strange, but this is the Wagash product's name. Absolutely great. I can go for two of them.
1No.2 Aoyagi's Uiro
The texture of sticky rice and just the right amount of sweetness is this wagashi specialty.
I can't think of a western food product that can be compared to U-I-Ro-o. It is a stretch, but perhaps gummy bears? It's rather far fetched, but still the closest sweet I can think of.
No.3 Toraya's Yokan
I heard there's Toraya in New York city, but Toraya's kneaded Yo-o-Ka-N is like a full bodied wine. Rich and heavy and you might feel a bloody nose coming, yet it's very good. It just happens to be so expensive.