Mikura: I like both Wagashi and Western confectionary. I’m fond of both Anko (sweet red bean paste) and chocolate confectionary and can’t say which I like more.

Yabu: It depends on how we feel in situations in our daily lives. Sometimes, we may feel that we’d like some chocolate because we’re tired and sometimes we may opt for biscuits because we want to drink coffee. In my case too, I like Wagashi, but I’m also very fond of cake.

Food gives us the energy we need to live. But I imagine that no-one tries to get energy just from confectionary, but from regular food. Looking at the matter from the standpoint of food we need to live, we don’t really need confectionary. So, why do you think confectionary is so popular?

Mikura: I think it serves as a reward to ourselves and to satisfy our spiritual needs rather than our dietary requirements.

Yabu: That’s right. Confectionary is very important as food for the soul and spiritual sustenance and wellbeing. For spiritual sustenance, we need to feel that eating satisfies our needs. In other words, what’s important is whether or not the food we eat is tasty.

Yabu: Now, on the subject of “The Sweetest City, Tokyo,” I’d like to talk about the history of Wagashi in the Edo Period (1603-1868). The Edo Period was a special time in our history. Before this time, while places such as Kyoto and Osaka were cities that had been more or less completed, Tokugawa Ieyasu established his Shogunate in Edo. This process began with urban development.

Dividing the 300-year Edo Period into early, middle and late periods, the early period was dedicated almost exclusively to urban development. During this period, waterways were built to transport goods and a castle was constructed. This was a period of non-stop work. People in those days lived on two meals a day – breakfast and dinner. The thing is, we use up energy when we work, don’t we? We feel the need to eat something between meals. What people used to eat between meals in those days were “Oyatsu (snacks).” However, such snacks that were only sweet and nothing more were not enough to provide energy. This is why items such as dumplings and Daifuku (rice cake filled with sweet red bean paste) that were a good source of energy became popular in the early Edo Period.

Mikura: Really? I didn’t know that!

Yabu: Basically, Sakuramochi in Osaka is made using steamed and dried glutinous rice flour called “Domyojihoshi,” which is made at the Domyoji Temple in Osaka. This type of rice flour was eaten after being softened using cold or hot water or used as portable rations in times of war. The origins go back to the days of Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar and politician, long before the Edo Period. Therefore, confections with names such as “Tsubaki (camelia) mochi” using Domyojihoshi existed before the Edo Period.

On the other hand, Sakuramochi in Edo was a confection wrapped in a pickled cherry leaf, so, leaving aside the differences between baked rice cake or Domyojihoshi wrappings, I think it’s safe to say that Sakuramochi started in Edo. Incidentally, do you peel off the pickled leaf before you eat Sakuramochi?

Mikura: No, I eat the leaf with the wrapping and bean paste filling.

Yabu: If you eat the pickled leaf with the rest, the taste of the leaf overpowers the taste of the rice cake and bean paste filling. You can’t appreciate the sweetness of the rice cake and bean paste. So, really, the pickled leaf should be peeled off first and its lingering scent savored. The fragrance of the rice cake and the sweet bean paste harmonize with the lingering scent of the pickled leaf to create a satisfying whole. The true taste of Sakuramochi eaten this way is really enjoyable.

So, when we get to the mid-Edo Period, confectionary became rapidly refined. Here we find Sukesoyaki (Sukesoufunoyaki), a confection that would later evolve into Dorayaki and Yokan (jellied confection made from red bean paste, agar, and sugar), a confection that has its origins in the Muromachi Period (1333-1573), also grew in popularity during this period. By the way, do you know why the word “Yokan” is written with the characters “Hitsuji (sheep)” and “Atsumono (broth made with fish and vegetables)?”

Mikura: No, I wonder why.

Yabu: The word “Yokan” refers to a bowl for soup containing mutton. Because animal flesh was not eaten after the arrival of Buddhism in Japan, ingredients such as red bean or wheat flour were kneaded and put into the broth. These ingredients were removed from the broth and then evolved into confectionary. This was the origin of “Mushi Yokan,” or “steamed Yokan.”

Actually, the “Neri Yokan (kneaded Yokan)” that we are familiar with nowadays originated in the mid-Edo period. That’s because agar was invented around this time.

On their way back to Kyoto as part of the “Sankin Kotai,” a system under which feudal lords in the Edo period were required to spend every other year in residence in Edo, lords of the Shimazu Clan would stay over in inns called “Minoya.” Here, left-over “Tokoroten,” or gelidium jelly, a dish served at the inns, was put outside. Because the winters in Kyoto are cold, this left-over jelly froze. If left, the jelly would melt the next day and then freeze again once it had liquefied. Finally, the jelly would dry out naturally. This is one theory of how agar came originated.

Mushi Yokan was made by mixing wheat flour with sweet red bean paste to solidify the consistency, and agar was also mixed in to promote solidification. Japanese people really have an enterprising spirit, don’t they?

Mikura: A lot of sugar is used in sweet red bean paste, isn’t it? Wasn’t it a luxury item?

Yabu: Availability of sugar grew from the mid-Edo Period. Lord Yoshimune also made efforts to grow sugar in Japan. Until then, sugar was an extremely expensive commodity and food flavored with salt was probably common.

Yabu: From the mid-Edo Period, competition between the “Kyogashi (traditional Kyoto-style confectionary) of Kyoto and the “Jogashi (high-grade confectionary)” of Edo began to grow. Competition engenders improvements on both sides.

Culture spread both ways thanks to the “Sankin Kotai” system, and this led, for example, to differences between “Kyoyuuzen (dyeing technique originating in Kyoto)” and “Edo Komon (dyeing technique used in Edo) for kimonos, differences between the white Tabi (traditional Japanese socks) of Kansai and the navy blue Tabi of Edo, and also differences in confectionary. While colorful fresh, moist confections were common in Kyoto, the confectionary of Edo tended to be typified by subdued coloring. Such individuality gradually became more and more pronounced.

Mikura: The same can be said of sushi, can’t it? For example, “Edomae-zushi (Edo-style sushi)” features all kinds of clever ideas.